9 Ideal jobs

N = Nick W1 = Woman 1 etc. B = Ben N: You’re looking at the office of what purports to be the best job in the world. Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, where the post of caretaker comes with a luxury beach–side home, a refreshing plunge pool, and an even cooler eleven thousand pounds a month. A global recruitment drive with the trappings of a TV reality show, that was really a tourism marketing campaign. And a winner from Britain who beat thirty-four thousand applicants from two hundred countries. W1: The new caretaker of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, from the United Kingdom Ben Southall. B: Hi I’m Ben, or otherwise known as the adventurous, crazy, energetic one. N: Ben Southall is a thirty-four year old charity worked from Hampshire, with a sense of adventure, and a dose of online charisma. He ’You Tubed’ his way to victory. B: All of the activities and all of the things we’ve done has been an incredible challenge it’s been very testing, we’ve – we’ve failed in sleeping for the last few nights I think, we’ve all been very nervous today, but to go away now as the Island Caretaker for Tourism Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef is an extreme honour. N: At a time when the Australian tourism industry is in the doldrums, this internet phenomenon has provided an unexpected bonus. W2: The Tourism Queensland says they’ve got about fifty-five million pounds’ worth of free publicity and I imagine a lot of other tourist boards will be looking at that and thinking they’d like a bit of that as well. But of course nobody wants to be ‘me too’ and you know the best job in the world’s gone, you don’t want to have the – the second best job in the world. B: Wahoo!! N: So a genuine rarity, a contest where the Poms and the Aussies can both claim victory. Nick Bryant, BBC News, Sydney.