Skippy, Skippy, the Kiwi kangaroo

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

SKIP TO THE 'ROO: Phil Guerin of Designart Signs in Stoke applies the finishing touches to a five-metre high inflatable kangaroo made by Nelson company A-Flex Technology.

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A Nelson-created inflatable kangaroo was to launch Australia's bid for the Fifa World Cup today, which is Australia Day.

Nelson's A-Flex Technology designed and built the five-metre-high marsupial to mount on the front of a Manly ferry, where he will spend the rest of his life encouraging his countrymen to support Australia in its bid to host the 2018-2022 World Cup.

Richmond's Designart Signs painted the PVC kangaroo, which owner Phil Guerin nicknamed Skippy.

Mr Guerin said he'd worked on a few weird things in his time, but Skippy was the most unusual. Painting him required trestles, ladders and "a good couple of days up there with the airbrush".

Because Skippy had been towering in their Main Rd Stoke property for a few days, he had been attracting plenty of funny looks, he said.

When the Nelson Mail visited, several drivers tooted as they passed.

One of those who stopped to get a closer look was Wellington tourist Craig Anderson, who was going to take a picture of himself with it.

"We were driving along and I just thought it would be a good photo," Mr Anderson said.

A-Flex co-owner Karen Stratford said Skippy had taken several weeks to make.

"Patterning takes a long time – to get everything right and scale it, then it's just a matter of cutting out the real one and sewing it up," Ms Stratford said.

Much of A-Flex's work was "all sorts of things" for overseas clients who found the Haven Rd company throught the internet, she said.

"We do a lot of giant inflatables [for pools] that go all around the world and we are getting into the continuous air flow marketing-type balloons [like the kangaroo]."

Because of the Aussie propensity for claiming New Zealand icons as their own, Mr Guerin and Mrs Stratford had ensured Skippy's birthplace wasn't forgotten.

He'd been shipped to Australia wearing a "Made in New Zealand" vest to remind them where he came from.