Broken glass, dark corridors, and no electricity are all big red flags when it comes to looking for a flat, but for the students seeking an adventurous trespass onto abandoned properties, these signs are as good as gold.
Urban exploration (often shortened to urbex) involves exploring human-made structures, from underground tunnels, to abandoned buildings, to rooftop passages. “Urbex is about exploring liminal spaces the average joe would often walk past without knowing they were there,” said Ben*, a third year student who has been doing urban exploration for six years. As hobbies go, it’s on the riskier side, with the threat of physical injury or arrest for trespassing. So why do some students love it so much?
When asked what draws urban explorers to the past-time, the sense of adventure is a recurring theme. Kat said that “the thrill of the unexpected and unknown, as well as the discovery and feelings of accomplishment” are what excite her about urbex. Stan reckoned that it's “such an adventure to find out what's around the next corner and once you get going, no matter the fear of ghosts, rotten upper story floors, authorities… you just can't stop!”
Urbex offers students a reprieve from the monotonous grind, allowing them to feel truly alive if only for a short moment. “When I try to remember cool moments in my life every single urbex moment stands out as one,” said Jacob, who has either had some epic urbex experiences or a pretty dull life.
As cliché as it sounds, Kat said that urbex involves “learning about yourself”.
“I recently found out my great-great grandmother was one of the women who died in the Seacliff [Lunatic Asylum] fire!” said Milly, who had spent many hours scrambling around the public reserve area near the where the abandoned asylum once stood, just north of Dunedin. “There is something poetic about abandoned man made structures, glimpsing into the past and the future simultaneously,” said Hamish.
Urbex can have more practical purposes too. With Starters having shut down and the economic impacts of Covid on clubs and bars, new gig venues are in high demand and some see urbex as a way of finding new spaces. “There was ‘ye olde abandoned building’ that some old friends put a gig on in because it had a piano, and imagine the scene, big ol’ shelled out five-story place with fairy lights everywhere, people playing tunes or doing art on the walls, rooftop views,” said Stan. “We had to haul gear and the audience up this three-story ladder and through a broken window in the dead of night,” Milly recalled.
For many, urbex involves trespassing, and breaking the law comes with a lot of risks. “There's been plenty of times First Security or feds have pulled up,” said Ben, “but so long as you're wearing black and flattening yourself against a rooftop, they can't usually catch you.” Ben also mentioned he’d had run-ins with people that live or work in places he’s snooped around. “If you act all composed they usually let you off with a warning, although it's hard to say how much of a role being privileged, white and male-presenting has to do with it.”
Stan loves living life on the edge, sharing that he “had a sneaky little run away from some police after going around some roofs once, [and] had a couple Campus Watch classics too,” before hastily adding, “But long live Campus Watch, those guys are heroes!” For some, like Jacob, urbex is a political activity involving “disregarding the imaginary boundaries set by laws and restrictions in favour of adventure and a life worth living,” and so breaking the law is an integral part of it. But it is still breaking the law.
Even ignoring the legal risks, urbex is not for the faint of heart. Ben described sleeping on a concrete ledge in an underground tunnel: “It’s uncomfortable and cold, you always feel like you're gonna roll off the edge and die, and the slapping water makes it sound like someone is perpetually walking towards you.” On the other hand, the presence of “lots of dick and balls drawn on the walls” would have made any student feel right at home.
There are real risks of physical harm to oneself, and some places are riskier than others. One specific ruin, enticing due to its size and history, is generally considered too risky to attempt. Despite a large gate and signs warning of 24/7 surveillance cameras, Ben reasoned that “I don’t see no cameras, therefore no cameras see me.” Nonetheless, he cautioned that the ruin was full of structural instabilities: “[It] would be cool if you can stand in [the ruin] without dying.” But nobody stood in the ruin.
Out of all the deserted urban spaces, another particular site on the fringe of the city stuck out to experienced explorers as a particularly risky local escapade. The place is a mess; broken furniture, glass and debris lie strewn across the shredded carpet, graffiti covers the walls and old flyers remind anyone walking through of the abandoned building’s past life. Come nightfall and this place is straight out of a horror film.
Ben described a time when he and a few friends visited the site in the dead of night: “Are those footsteps?” said Miriam, bringing the group to an immediate standstill as they strained their ears while looking at the ceiling, petrified. “It was at that point ‘slow coffee’ [a Midi acoustic ringtone] played, completely shattering the silence like how the porcelain plates shattered as we jumped,” said Ben. Everyone’s next move was “getting the fuck out”. But “It makes for a good Tinder date if you’re the adventurous type,” concluded Kat, who was also there at the time.
On the flipside, there are plenty of cool and interesting spaces that don’t require you to be an adrenaline junkie. The students we spoke to discussed many other places around Ōtepoti that they described as far less risky. An abandoned building near the CBD reportedly makes for an “exciting but relatively low risk evening excursion”. Aside from an area filled with flapping pigeons and their poop, the wide open floor plan decreased the risk of being caught off-guard, but explorers still risked legal trouble for trespassing if they were caught.
Some of the veteran urban explorers described a tunnel complex underground which is apparently accessible, but said it was agonising to spend hours crouched in a tight space. On one trip, Miriam mentioned that “I had to consciously close my mouth to stop the bugs hitting the back of my throat,” but even without the bugs, the fact that “it smells and tastes like Castle Street” should be enough to put anyone off.
Those who do it tell us that urbex is best enjoyed in the company of friends you trust, and who know what they’re doing. “The critical part of urbex is treading the line between pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and not making yourself so uncomfortable or unsafe that you never go back,” said Kat. “You don't want to go with people who are too scared or cautious, but you don't want to go with people who are too bold, loud, or overconfident,” said Miriam.
As Jacob saw it, “the world is a playground for the rich and at first it seems like there's no fun to be had unless you get on the beers, but your life can be a movie if you're willing to get amongst.” Ben was generous enough to share his expert advice with Critic: “Shut up, turn off your torches, make it quick, and you'll be fine.”
*names have been changed