Do you remember a few months ago when the best job in the world was advertised? If you’re one of the few who don’t, then basically it was to become caretaker for the idyllic Hamilton Island, part of the Whitsunday islands off the coast of Australia.
The lucky applicant would spend their days surfing, diving, swimming, playing tennis and golf, and indulging in all kinds of pursuits normally associated with a luxurious holiday. As you can imagine, thousands upon thousands applied for the position.
Was there a catch? Well no not really, not if you enjoy spending your days alone with your laptop writing about your every experience, posting videos of what you’re up to and uploading photos by the dozen. Hey sounds cool.
Recently Tim Richards travelled to the islands as a guest of Virgin Blue and Club Med and spoke to Ben Southall, who beat almost 35,000 others to land the job, and from what he learned perhaps the job is more challenging than what we might have thought.
When Southall goes walkabout on the islands, he carries “the office” with him which is a kit composed of a “Canon Legria HF20 digital video camera, which works 40 metres underwater, a Canon PowerShot D10, rated for 10 metres underwater, a MacBook Pro, two iPhones, a Palm Treo and a GPS device”.
Admittedly, that’s maybe quite a heavy load to bear, especially in the heat, but we’d cope wouldn’t we. So what else?
“People were saying: ‘Why aren’t you blogging often enough?’” Southall told Richards as they sat by the pool.
I suppose he can’t please all of the 127,000 people who choose to follow his blog, but come on, this is the best job in the world, and surely it can’t be too difficult to share your experiences with the rest of us who dipped out.
“The sun is shining and there’s a beautiful view across the resort’s golf course but is it possible to relax entirely when you know you’ll have to write about it later?
Maybe he has a point there.
“I was blogging every three days but that’s not often enough for some readers. I like putting bits of video in and well-edited and decently tagged photos and that’s time-consuming.
“That’s why it takes time to get the blog out. Putting together a YouTube video, editing it well, getting the facts about the fishes’ names or whatever right takes a long time to do.”
Don’t know about you but it doesn’t sound too bad to me at all.
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I would love to have that JOB! The best job in the world. If i had that job, i would’ve blogged every day! Every three days? That’s a long wait.
Tim
Still doing the best job and still loving everyday of it too! Working like a Trojan but that’s the way I like to live my life too.
Hope your well and great article
Ben
Hi Ben , Sounds awesome , thanks for taking the time to come and leave a comment
… if you have anything unedited or any information about your job-trip-stay on the island just send it along and we will update the page..
Thanks Dave (admin-owner geekwithlaptop)