The best job in the world?

Let's see. Do you fit this description?

• • You want to work about 12 hours per month;
• • You have an 'adventurous attitude' and a 'willingness to try new things';
• • You have 'a passion for the great outdoors';
• • You're a good swimmer, snorkeler and scuba-diver;
• • You like to feed turtles and watch whales;
  
• • You're willing to live rent-free in a three-room house with amazing views on a South Pacific island;
  
• • You want to get paid at the rate of £70,000 (US $105,000) per year to do those things.

Well, if you fit that description, the Queensland Tourist Board in Australia has a job for you! According to the Daily Mail:

It is the perfect job to help you forget freezing, credit-crunch Britain.

Tourist officials in Australia are looking for somebody to look after a desert island.

Hamilton Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

The salary equates to an astonishing £972 (US $1,465) an hour based on a flexi-time schedule of a 12-hour working month.

In year-round sunshine - the top temperature this month will be 29c (84f) - they will stay in a three-bedroom villa with 'unbeatable' views of a crystalclear lagoon ringed by palm trees and white sandy beaches.




Free return flights, transfers, and transport around the island are included. Motor vehicles are prohibited, so golf buggies are the most common form of transport.

The cost of relocating any family members will have to be met by the new caretaker.

The offer might sound too good to be true, but the Queensland Tourist Board insists there is no catch.

It says the role is an ideal opportunity for Britons to swap the rat race and the cold winter for a more relaxed life Down Under.

Jonathan Sloan, who works for Tourism Queensland in the UK, said: 'This is the best job in the world, there's no question about it.

'It has everything most people dream of - white sandy beaches, blue skies, warm seas and friendly people.




'It also boasts a generous salary package and requires only a few hours of relaxed work with minimum effort per week.'

Described as a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity', the role of 'Island Caretaker' is being advertised in 18 countries. Starting work on July 1, the successful applicant will have few responsibilities and can decide how best to fill their days.

But they will be required to produce a weekly online blog, photo diary and video updates of their time on the island.

They will also have to give media interviews and email reports to chiefs at Tourism Queensland at the organisation's HQ in Brisbane.




Interested parties can apply by submitting a 60-second video outlining the reasons why they deserve to be picked. Applications close on February 22.

Tourism Queensland will select 11 potential candidates who will be flown to Hamilton Island for a selection process. The lucky applicant will be named on May 6. More information can be found at www.islandreefjob.com.

Why do I get the feeling that half my readers will be clicking on that last link, and compiling video resumés with frantic haste? I suppose I should warn you that when I clicked on it, the server was so overloaded that it took more than five minutes to display!



Peter