Issue Number One Hundred!

Thinking outside the box, I made a great living in Surfers Paradise...Issue #100

ifOnlyi…could have stayed for more than two weeks, living and loving life in Surfers Paradise, "The Gold Coast," of Australia, what could have happened?
Today, my biggest wish is to make it to 100 Subscribers in celebration of my 100th publication.

Now that I have been dropped off in the Gold Coast town of Surfers Paradise, I need to find my bearings and figure out how I will find a place to stay. I was walking around, carrying all my luggage, which looked unusual to some folks, but it gave me a chance to ask where to find affordable places to stay.

I knew I had to get settled and find the courage to make money by giving these so-called manicures with the new tool Peter had given me. Once I found a place to stay by the beach, and its price didn’t scare me, I checked in. I changed into a bathing suit and grabbed my fins along with a few of these files.

I decided it was time for me to go body surfing. The waves were well known for surfers; I guess that’s why it’s called “Surfers Paradise.” After a few hours in the water, I decided it was time to walk the beach and start asking ladies if I could give them a manicure while they were basking in the sun.

It didn’t go well in the beginning, as people were used to going into professional shops for their manicures, and they couldn’t understand how I could polish their nails. So, I started by giving people on the beach free examples. They were stunned by how beautiful the nail looked without any polish.

Very soon, people started to pay a little. My price was $10.00, and soon I was getting dozens of people every day. I even started selling my nail products for $20, which were the ones I was given as a gift to get me started. I was thrilled, but I was running out of nail buffers fast.

I held on to the two buffers I had left to keep cash coming in. There were times when I was asked to visit hotel rooms and give a three-sided nail polish, as a gift from their friends. I got paid $15 for going the extra mile.

I was getting known as the man with the glow. But, I came up with another idea.

STEALING!

Yes! Just once, though. What I did was steal a fire hydrant off the wall, drain it, and load it with suntan oil. I then added water and paid to pressurize it back to normal.

I charged people $2 to spray their front and an additional $2 to spray their back. Often, people gave me a little extra. My overhead was water, tanning oil, and the cost of getting it pressurized. I was doing well with my newfound business. I had money, and I was now starting to save money.

Why, because I met a bartender in Surfers Paradise, he was a good kid and offered me his place to crash so I could get out of my hotel bills. This way, I had beer money, I could eat better, and save some money too.

I was getting paid to get tanned, which was how I viewed my two weeks there. I had to look tanner than anyone else; that was my marketing ploy. It was my job to look the part so that people would pay me, and they could look tan like me. LOL

I was body surfing every day, and now people would come to me to get sprayed down.

I was reminded of an event from my time living in Sydney, specifically body surfing. I would always go out wearing my body surfing fins and a scag tied to both the fin and my leg so that the fin riding the waves wouldn’t come off. I was with a few friends on a small beach with big waves.

I went out and as I did my riding, I felt a tug on one of my legs as if I was being pulled into the ocean. I pulled hard and rode to the shoreline. When I got out to take off my fins, I noticed that about one-third of the front of one was gone. I went and showed my buddies, and they all said almost at the same time, “Did you not hear?”

“Hear what?” I asked, bewildered by the question. “Last night, a surfer was out, and the only thing they found early in the morning was his surfboard, partly eaten.” “EATEN by what?” I asked.

“A Shark! Do you see anyone else in the water, Ollie?” “Well, no, come to think of it, do you think I got mine caught in a reef?” “No Idiot,” replied one, “the Shark must still be out there.” WTF.

Needless to say, that was the last day I went to that beach. I had to buy another matching pair of fins as mine came from the States. I thought about calling my Mom’s secretary again, to tell her that I almost got eaten by a man-eating shark, LOL, and would she please ask her to send me my one contact lens.

But, I didn’t!

Back to my trip now, and John, the man who gave me the longest part of my ride in his Mercedes, to arrive safely on the Gold Coast. I had promised to visit him, so I took a break from my busy beach business, got a cab, and off I went. As he had suggested, I asked for his assistant, and she took me around upon my arrival at Dreamland, as promised. It was his pride and joy.

What a place he and his sons created! I was beyond words. It was like a miniature Disneyland, after all; he had hired designers from Disneyland and Disney World to guide his dream.

His assistant informed me that John wanted to see me, so she escorted me to his office. John shook my hand and offered me a drink, and we sat so that the two of us could talk. Talk about what I wondered, Ideas I might offer him, since I had spent so much of my youth at Disneyland, my home state, and Dad's relationship with Walt Disney before his passing.

We connected easily again, as if our driving trip hadn’t ended.

I told him what I was doing to make a living in Surfers Paradise, and he loved it! He was impressed that I was genuinely thinking outside of the box. I confessed to my minor theft of the fire hydrant, but he said that was what made the entire experience worthwhile.

He asked if I was taking it back to Sydney with me. “No, John, I would not do that.” “Great, then return it before you leave, consider it as a loan.” That’s just what I did!

During our lengthy conversation, John offered me a job in Marketing. He said that if I could get an extension on my Visa, I could stay there, and he would put me on his payroll. He thought he could work things out once I applied for a long-term work visa.

Shocked! “I would love to stay, but I have an issue, John. I was notified by one of my parents' employees back home that I now had a warrant for my arrest. The police came knocking on my parents’ door recently, looking for me.” “For what?” he asked. I explained that before I left, I got a DUI, and I paid a lot of cash to an attorney and local city councilman where I lived to handle it. The Lawyer’s words to me were “All will be fine, Ollie, I will handle everything, so go enjoy your time in Australia”.

He did not keep his word, so now I have to return and deal with the mess when I leave Australia after a few days in Melbourne.

“Understood, and sorry you have to go through this,” was John’s response. He then offered me a car ride back to Surfers Paradise. I instantly said, “Yes, please, that would be fantastic.” I couldn’t thank him enough. What a kind man!

I had one more day to go before I had to leave Surfers Paradise. I went out drinking, and out of the corner of my eye, my good eye, I saw Baz! Baz was the DJ and barman in the disco club at Rogues, where I had worked. I ran over, giving him a high five (hugs weren’t popular back then) and asked what he was doing here. “Surfing Ollie,” He and some friends had come up for three or four days to surf, after all, it was paradise.

“Baz, what are the odds I could bum a ride back the 850 km drive home with you all?” I asked. “Ollie, he said, “with all our surfing gear and boards, it is going to be a fully packed car.” I could tell he was giving it some extra thought before saying another word. “OK, Ollie, we will find a way to make it work.” The two of us got along so well during the five months I worked at Rogues, and his girlfriend also worked there in the restaurant.

Baz went to talk with his pals and came back, said If you can wait two more nights, we will bring you! Yes’ Yes! Yes. Yes, yes, I’ll even buff your car, Baz. I have one more nail buffer!

They say Ireland is the luckiest place in the world, but I felt that Surfers Paradise had to be the luckiest place in the world for me. That was long before I visited Ireland!

We all piled in, along with our luggage, and started the drive. It was nonstop, except for the occasional gas stops. I helped out with some of the gas costs, and Baz had to make it back in time for work. The only obligation I had was to catch a flight to Melbourne to visit Samantha, who had worked at the Australian General Council’s office in Los Angeles, before travelling back to her home in Melbourne.

It only took one full day of driving 850km to get back to Sydney; it took me two nights and eleven rides to cover the same distance going the opposite way. It wouldn’t have been such a fantastic journey with stories to tell without those rides, for sure.

Bazt dropped me off at Sydney airport to catch my flight to Melbourne. I called to check if Samantha could pick me up when I arrived. Everything was arranged; next stop, Melbourne!

Today, my biggest wish is to make it to 100 Subscribers in celebration of my 100th publication.

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ifOnlyi…short stories follow my true-life journey. If you've just found me, you can check out my publication and choose a story of interest or start from # 1.