04 March 2009

Brits proud of their four short-listed hopefuls for Australia's dream job

As part of Tourism Queensland's latest ploy at bringing global attention to its gem of the Barrier Reef – Hamilton Island – fifty people have been shortlisted to be in the running for Australia's dream job.

The caretaking job, coming with a salary of $150,000, is a six-month post in a beachside villa on the idyllic Hamilton Island.  The lucky applicant who gets the post would have to write a weekly blog for the Tourism Queensland, describing their adventures around the Great Barrier Reef.

With 34,000 applying for the dream job from around the world, organisers were faced with a tough prospect of creating a short-listed 50.  Just days after the release of the shortlist, the UK's Telegraph newspaper has bulletined Briton's four lucky applicants to be in the running.

In her one-minute pitch, Sarah Louise Lane filmed her application while hitchhiking on the back of a truck in Peru, describing one of her best talents being the ability to crack open a coconut on a rock while naked. 

Holly Smale rhymed her way through her video application with an "Ode to Oz", ending with the line "there's 900 island out there [on the reef], but I only want one".

Ben Southall snorkelled the icy waters of a British river to get the attention of the judges, declaring himself "pretty much one of the fishes", and used his driving trek across Africa as one of his selling points.

The fourth - business student Douglas Stidolph - said he would "love the chance to market the Whitsunday Islands to the world".

Being aged between 18 and 30 years, if any of the above four were to win the post, they could apply for an Australian working holiday visa, which would allow them to work for Tourism Queensland for the six-month period then holiday for six months or work for a different employer thereafter.  If they have already held an Australian working holiday visa then they would need Tourism Queensland's sponsorship to get an Australian working visa.

---

The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with emigrating to Australia.