I was ready to quit from day 1.. maybe day 2. The job was obviously not right and the small town island life was hard to adjust to. City boy and all. So I started conceiving of fantastic ways to get fired. “NBO” is a well known term on these island resorts, and simply means “Next Boat Off”. If you break any one of the rules that receive the penalty of NBO, you better have your shit packed in a hurry because you're catching the next boat off the island. This is not an option. You're outta here. Many things can get you nbo'd. Contraband. Being too “friendly” with the guests. Mooching about in a Guest's room, unless you're cleaning it. And all the traditional reasons to get excused from employment. But I guess I lacked the liquid courage to do any of those things. Well, at least I lacked the courage to do those things and parade in front of management. So for a couple days I stewed in my own twisted thoughts. Bored. Gotta Leave This Island. Gotta Get the HELL outta Housekeeping. Finally, I went and talked to the capital B Boss. It took me all day to finally track him down, but in a brief conversation standing under a grass thatched roof, partially hidden from a slight rain, I somehow tripped into setting a meeting to go over my proposal for resort photographer. Until that day I hadn't really considered anything like it. But after a quick conversation with a woman I work with, it all seemed to fall into place. I won't give her name as she values her privacy too much to be penned as the catalyst for my courage to “quit”, but the conversations with her helped me greatly. And from our last one came this possibility. Why not resort photographer? Would be the sweetest gig going. Take photos all the time, all the time getting paid, and finally enjoying the paradise which in I'm in. Who knows if it will stick, but even it doesn't, I'm once again unstuck.

The last two weeks have been spent pointing my lens at the scenery and activities that make this island great. I've jumped on a cruise of the whitsundays, capturing the white sands and blue waters of one of the world's top beaches. Hung from one hand off the mast of a forty foot yacht getting the group shot below. Spent countless nights at the backpacker bar on the other end of the island, a setting that usually would have resulted in NBO, had it not been for my assignment. And on the days in between, getting pics of watersports, golf, and sunset cruises. I sense the end is probably near. A couple more shots of the island, and they'll most likely realise that I've held onto a job that is too sweet. Another trip in a helicopter, and they'll realise no one deserves to smile this much. But until that day comes, that smile is mine. And that stuck is gone.

So that's the latest from Australia. And you know what? It's laundry day. But it's just a couple pairs of jeans and my usual compliment of white t-shirts that have shrunk from careless drying. Funny, I always hated doing laundry, but I'll never look at it the same way again. At one point in my life I was in housekeeping. Hee-hee. Hoo boy. Where the hell is this whole adventure heading? I have no idea.. but I'll be sure to let you know in another month or two.

Say Cheese!
JB

For more pics click:http://jbradstreet.smugmug.com/gallery/1739985