It was always my dream to open a Surf Museum on the Sunshine Coast, but as a business venture it wasn’t exactly viable.

I’d collected surfboards for years and had quite a few gems stashed away; my problem was finding a place to showcase them.

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In late 2014, my wife Mel was looking for a new office space to run her business. We came across Brisbane Road in Mooloolaba, where most of Level 1 had been vacant for years, and the rest was rented to a tattoo studio. The ceiling was black, the tiles were dark green, the walls were brown, and the windows were sealed off with fake walls. Aesthetically, it wasn’t what we were looking for at all.

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The rest of the building wasn’t much better: very low ceilings, big open plan, no floor coverings; it was no surprise that this property had been vacant for so long. But having spent most of my professional life in property management and development, I could see this place was brimming with potential.

Once we moved in, we realised we’d never be able to use all of the available space, so we decided to divide it into individual offices and sublease them to other businesses.

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The renovation process was exhausting. We’d done a complete 180, but with the freedom to do what we wanted, it wasn’t long before two individual concepts began to merge as one.

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And so the surf museum/ shared office space we now call The Boarding Office was born.

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Seemingly out of nowhere, we’d created a space that spoke to who we were and what we valued - both in life and in business.

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Our doors opened in April 2015 and we’ve never looked back.