Wandering the streets of downtown Surfers Paradise, an unexpected big thing came into view. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Odditorium 
has joined the list of Australia’s Big Things with The Big Octopus.
The big octopus sits above the entry of Ripley’s, a 9-metre blue-ringed octopus with glowing rings. The tentacles have hold of a street sign for Cavill Av and a surfboard with Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on the top of it. The glowing rings were green and orange, oddly they are not blue. Then again, hanging onto a surfboard and street sign isn’t typical of a blue-ringed octopus either.
A competition to name the big thing started in December 2020 to win cash and lifetime passes to Ripley’s – I didn’t win. Ring-O became his name-O.
There were some interesting and funny name suggestions, like Callum Mari, Tangles, Occy, and Steve. The popular Occy name is more than an association of being an octopus. It is also the nickname of Mark Occhilupo 
, an Australian surfer and winner of the 1999 Association of Surfing Professionals, with the surfing connection holding the surfboard.
The name suggestions were great but the competition was for a vote from names already determined – Goldie, B.R.O., Jimmy, and Ring-O. Ring-O ended up the winning name but I think Occy would have been the pick if it was on the list.
There are entry costs to go into Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Odditorium, however, the Big Octopus is outside and available for adding to your big things collection at any time.