The moment we have all been working towards and waiting for finally took place about two hours ago: the announcement of the Island Caretaker for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef! Give it up for Ben from England!!!
The past few days have been incredibly overwhelming, fully packed with the most exquisite activities, personal and professional guidance from the Tourism Queensland crew and a countless number of WOW’s and fun. The other 15 candidates and I got spoiled all along the way and the overall feeling is that any high expectations we had, have been exceeded.
This morning I had my application interview with the lovely selection panel and they asked me who I would choose if I was not to be the Island Caretaker. I told them without a moment of hesitation that had to be Ben. He is such a wonderful, easy to love and sincere guy. Count with that his world wide travel – experiences and his great sense of humour (are you English wordly well-known for that?!) and there you go… I can tell you now he was my favorite among the 15 as he is authentic to the bone and showed his true interest in how I was doing these days. He made the wittiest comments all the time and I have ended up almost wetting my pants because of this.
When I told him yesterday that I was sure about him getting The Best Job in the World, he told me “I don’t think so” and mentioned another candidate that in his opinion would be the lucky one. If only he knew he could trust on my intuition!
At this moment I have 12 Kakatoos on my balcony, no joke! They’ve seen me eating some crackers and now they do THEIR Best Job to get a piece by screaming at me and giving me the look my dog Lluna also got so well in. Sorry mates, get into the wild again and find yourself some juicy fruits hanging in the trees.
Back to the event now. By giving some interviews to the Dutch and international media, I noticed clearly they actually wanted to see me sad and – desirably – in tears. But I just don’t feel disappointed, guys! Of course I “wouldn’t have mind” to get to stay and extend living the luxury life here, but I am sincerely happy with the outcome and so grateful for everything I have had the chance to experience so far! On top of that: who knows what might be next? This sure might have opened some doors to finding my Next – Best Job in the World, where ever that may be! So do consider this last phrase as an open invitation to let me know about that great job you have waiting for me to rock ‘n roll!

In the 70m2 hotel room next door, other candidate James Hill is playing some cheerful music and I’ll be joining him in a bit for a shaking off the last nerves – dance before we will have dinner and a street party here in Hamilton Island with the other candidates, the amazing TQ crew, some media, tourists and staff of this magical island.

I just got my cutest pink stinger suit delivered which I was wearing while snorkelling the other day; another freebee to stuff my overpacked backpack with! It might come in handy as we get to have an extended itinerary, starting tomorrow. I’m teamed up with George from Ireland, a funny, sarcasm – loving bloke. We will get to visit, among others places, Wilson Island and Rockhampton. Thank you Tourism Queensland for extending our luxury life style in one of the most beautiful parts of the world!

Many, many thanks to the government for funding this hugely successful campaign, Tourism Queensland and its crew (who in my opinion do have the Second Best Job in the World), all tourism organisations for the spectacular activities and transfers, the Nicest Selection Panel, in the World and the Reef View Hotel for the most exlusive hotel room with the best sea views I have ever stayed in. Last but not least… the 15 candidates who showed their endless skills, creativity, openness, caring and energy worth building some longlasting & long distance friendships on.

Cheers to all of you, I have to get changed for The Best Street Party in the World!

Posted from Hamilton Island with Vodafone Mobile Internet on my notebook

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