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A Vietnamese-American backpacker who got stranded in NZ due to Covid-19 is heading for the Hibiscus Coast this month, as he attempts to skateboard the length of New Zealand to fight human trafficking.
John Addicks O’Toole, known as John AO or Jayo, is steadily skating his way from Bluff to Cape Reinga, raising funds as he goes for the Catalyst Foundation, which works to prevent human trafficking in his birth country of Vietnam.
However, he had never even stood on a skateboard until a year ago, when he moved to Mangawhai to work at the Wood Street Pizzeria. While there, he met local Scottish-Italian pro-skater Umberto Skinner and after hanging out with him at the Mangawhai Activity Zone skatepark and the No Limits Surf & Skate shop, John had a go and was hooked straight away.
“I’ve done other sports, but I’d never skated. I just loved it, and every day since then it’s been ridiculous, I’m like a kid, six hours a day everywhere I went,” he says. “I’m still not even that good, but I just love it.”
John first came to New Zealand in 2020 and didn’t intend to stay that long. However, the first lockdown soon followed, and he had no way of getting back to his adoptive US family in Minnesota. So he decided to start working and see more of the country, which is how he ended up in Mangawhai last year.
When he decided to move on and travel again, he had the idea of skating from one end of the country to the other while trying to raise $2500 to build a home for his birth family in Vietnam, who live in a poor rural area. However, when that total was realised in just five days, John raised the target bar to $20,000 to raise funds for the Catalyst Foundation.
“Raising money for this project will do a lot of good in Vietnam,” he says. “But I also want to use it to spread the stoke of skating and my love for New Zealand, and show off NZ’s landscape and scenery in a way many people will never get to see.”
John is sharing his journey on Instagram, with videos of people he meets along the way, and he’s trying to visit as many skateparks as he can.
“My favourite thing is meeting up with local people at skateparks, I’ve met lots of people that way – it’s cool to be in that network,” he says.
John says the worst aspect of his trek is the weather when it’s wet and he gets sprayed with water by passing traffic.
“The biggest challenge is just the rain,” he says. “But I can waterproof my stuff in about three minutes now – I’ve been doing fire drills with that.”
He expects to reach his journey’s end at Cape Reinga by early May.
“But I’m not in a rush, I’m just seeing how it goes and enjoying the experience. This is an opportunity to see New Zealand and show it off to people,” he says.
John will probably stay in New Zealand until the end of the year, then he hopes to visit Vietnam to see his birth family and how the money he has raised is being used.
John should be passing through the Hibiscus Coast region in late April, with a stop planned in Silverdale. He would appreciate it if anyone could offer him accommodation – email him at john.addicksotoole1@gmail.com For details of John’s progress, visit www.jayoskatesnz.org or @jayo_skates_nz on Instagram. Donations can be made on the website.
