It is a blessing that my partner and I work seasonally, sometimes we have to remind ourselves how lucky we are. We work in Mallorca, Spain (more specifically, party resort Magaluf) for 7 months of the Summer Season, April to October. After 7 months of a work hard / play hard attitude, we reward ourselves with what we love to do best... Travel!
We have a rather good habit of always heading straight to South East Asia. This winter I headed over earlier than usual, arriving in Pai, Thailand. Pai is a 'hidden gem' of the northern territory, deep within the jungle, snug between the mountains. It is a peaceful little town, full of art, and a gorgeously quirky and hippy vibe.
Here I began my month of winding down, volunteering at a Backpacker Hostel. My aspect of volunteering was to provide night time entertainment, which more than often resulted in spending 3-4 hours Face Painting the guests.
After 3 years of doing only Air Brush body paint, comfortably and quickly creating with stencils, I wanted to extend my field of knowledge. So what better way than to learn a new skill, than to practice. (And practice, and practice some more). In just 1 month of nightly painting I couldn't believe the progress I had made.
Sadly leaving Pai, but excited for my next adventure in Australia, I equipped myself with some basic paints and brushes to see me through the beginning of my trip. Which was gratefully done so, as we spontaneously ended up spending our first 2 weekends of Australia at music festivals.
Beginning with Bohemium Beatfreaks, I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, the amazing people, the colourful outfits and crazy decor surrounding the stages. What better place to begin my trip! I spent the mornings based on my rooftop tent of our Nissan 4x4, painting and glittering everyone with all my hearts desire. I did this for donation only, and it became an extremely efficient way to casually work at a festival. (As you can imagine, donations rarely come in cash form.)
On hearing the following weekend was Jungle Love festival only a few hours north, of course this was the next destination we were bound to! And there I did it all over again, however this time we were volunteering at the festival (free entry/camping/some food!) I was based on a crossroads in the middle of the Festival path directing traffic, which was very infrequent, meaning I had an opportunity to set up a pop-up glitter station in the middle of everything. The weekend flew by and I once again had many happy sparkly customers.
This takes us to now running low on cash, driving up the East Coast of Australia. Usually my summer work in Mallorca funds me for all of my winter travels, but of course, this was never going to be the case in Australia. I was tipped by a lovely girl I met in Pai, to go to the Whitsundays, more specifically Airlie Beach - "You'll get work there for sure! And it's beautiful!" We took the risk along with a 14 hour drive and arrived at Airlie Beach. I could not believe my eyes, the beautiful blue ocean, with countless islands scattered into the horizon.
Falling in love with the Whitsundays was easy, finding a job however was not. We set up base on the grounds of Nomads hostel, and started distributing our CV's. My partner received his response first, from the very hostel we were staying at, in regards to a Promo position (later to be dubbed "The Promo King") for the two bars located on site. However there wasn't any availability for girls, so I kept searching.
The weather took an awful turn with a cyclone circulating the east coast of Australia, halting my search for work even more. So, out of pure boredom, one Thursday night I took matters into my own hands. I offered to set up free face paint at Boaty's bar, which they responded "Sure, we don't see why not! We can't pay you though..." I said not a problem, I just needed to paint again. I set up on a table by the bar, with my alluring tie-dye top sheet and fairy lights, a quickly put together "Free Face Paint!" sign and a cheeky tip jar to the side.
I started by painting all the girls behind the bar, of which they loved. My supplies were low after the festivals, I only had a rainbow split cake, and black and white. Turns out this is all I needed. I experimented with various designs, pushing my creative boundaries, and in no time at all the customers were raging for it. I had to quickly form a queue system and painted the night away.
The following day the manager came up to me, exclaiming her gratefulness, saying it was a huge hit! Followed by her inviting me to do it as an hourly paid position, with all material expenses paid for, as often as possible!
I spent 2 months living in the Whitsundays, painting at Boaty's bar weekdays and The Shed bar on weekends, on a $27 p/h wage, including tips. Christmas, New Years and Australia Day were an absolute hit for me! I loved being in such a fun environment, giving out free paint which was so greatly appreciated by the customers, with no pressure of sales. I also introduced "Glitter Sundays" using my leftover stock from my previous season in Mallorca, charging just a few dollars for some sparkle, which went down an absolute treat with the backpackers!
At the end of January marked the end of our time in Airlie Beach. I cried so much saying goodbye to a whole bunch of amazing people. We resumed our travels, road tripping all the way down the East Coast. I took a break from painting until we arrived at our final Aussie destination in Melbourne, where we had been transferred to for 1 week to work at the Nomads hostel of St Kilda beach in exchange for cheap accommodation and drinks. And by coincidence, that weekend it was St Kilda Festival - the largest free festival of all Australia. You can bet I got the glitter out, and made enough money to pay for the whole last week of me in Oz.
I had low expectations when I arrived in Australia all those months ago, knowing I would have to work, and prepared to do something I wouldn't particularly enjoy doing, even considering farm work. I proved to myself that:
- You can always take your fortune in your own hands.
- If you spend 100+ hours practicing anything, you're gonna get good at it.
- Gift economy is real. Give something for free, you never know what you might get back.
That's how I achieved doing what I love to do, and making enough money to travel Australia, followed by a trip to the Philippines! I hope my story can inspire and encourage you to always chase to do what you love to do, no matter where in the world you are. I'd love to hear your stories of Make Up and Body Painting around the world!
Captain Sparkles
x
Truly inspiring Captain Sparkles! What an adventure we have had, spreading love in the form of glitter and paint for all the people of the world to see and enjoy! Amazing :-)