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34,000+ wannabe caretakers apply for Best Job in the World on Hamilton Island
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Sailing in the Whitsundays, which includes Hamilton Island, is a breeze. Photo by Max Frause
More than 34,600 would-be Island Caretakers from more than 200 countries applied for Tourism Queensland's Best Job in the World. Applications closed on Feb. 22, 2009.
The campaign has been one of the most successful tourism promotions in recent years, with 2.3 million people visiting the www.islandreefjob.com website. The focus now is selecting the successful applicant for the role of Island Caretaker of Queensland’s Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
A total of 34,686 applications were received, with 7,500 arriving in the final 48 hours before the deadline. The U.S. had the largest number of applicants with 11,565. They were followed by Canada with 2,791; Great Britain with 2,262; and Australia with 2,064.
More than 200 countries were represented and included writers, tour guides, marine biologists, environmentalists, students, bloggers, "mums" and dads and retirees. There were celebrity applicants, too: an Amazing Race winner, a New Zealand travel show host and a former Young Australian of the Year.
The winner of the Best Job in the World will spend six months as the Island Caretaker, exploring the 600 islands of the Great Barrier Reef and reporting on his/her experiences. The Island Caretaker will be based on Hamilton Island in Queensland's Whitsundays and live in a luxury oceanfront villa. He/she will snorkel, dive, sail and island-hop. The salary is $150,000 AUD ($97,578 US) for the six months of the contract.
The next step of the competition is to narrow the entries down to the Top 50, which will be announced on March 3, 2009 on the www.islandreefjob.com website. From there, the 50 will be reduced to a final 11. Ten will be selected by Tourism Queensland and the 11th wild card applicant will be selected by popular vote online. The 11 finalists will fly to Hamilton Island for the selection process and the winner will be announced on May 6, 2009.
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