'Best job in the world'

Caretaker of Hamilton Island - best job in the world? What gets your vote?

15 years ago, March 1st 2009 No: 21 Msg: #64390 Delete Edit

D Posts: 24.6K

Has anyone reading visited Hamilton Island? If so, post your photos and blog links to it here.

Mel Reply to this

15 years ago, March 1st 2009 No: 22 Msg: #64396 Delete Edit

B Posts: 11.5K

Part of the job entails writing blog entries and doing video blogs. I'm wondering if the successful candidate will be prevented from blogging for 'non-official' sites during and/or for a certain period after.

Given the interest the whole thing has generated I sure they would be able to sell their story to some newspaper or magazine.

Be a shame if a TBer got the gig, but couldn't tell us all about it....... Reply to this

15 years ago, March 2nd 2009 No: 23 Msg: #64486 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

So today is the day for the shortlisting. Are any of your friends on it Ali? Reply to this

15 years ago, March 3rd 2009 No: 24 Msg: #64588 Delete Edit

Maisondubonheur
Pierre-Alexandre

B Posts: 1,583

Hi,

Queensland tourism has organized an amazing marketing trick...

We did enter with my family...didn't put much effort in it and when I see the quality of the videos in the short-list...I can understand why we were not taken...

But out of the 50 pics...I did look at some of the videos, it is interesting to see...not a single family, not a single couple...not a single person seems to be above 40 or 45 years old. There is one candidate for the all of Africa, none from South America...The countries were the candidate come reflect in proportion where the tourist targets are coming from for QT...not really the % of applicants from each countries who applied...40% of the applicants where americans...12% made it to the final 50!

What is beautiful is today the minimum hotel rate your are going to find around Hamilton Island is above 100usd a night...with an average rate easily around 400-500usd a night....not really your backpacker paradise. If you do speak to Australians, they'll tell you this is the most expensive place of all Australia, it's cheaper for them to go to Fiji.

So single, in a 3 bedroom appartment and you own swimming pool....in a place who has nearly no nightlife...my vote will definetely go for the guy/girl which look the most rebelious and independent...at least it could be funnier.

For the 10 QT will chose, quite obvious, at least one Japanese, one Chinese, one Indian, the russian girl...all this simply because these are today the biggest future markets for them.

Curious to see what other people have to add to all this...

QT has done an amazing job...some of the people in these videos are impressive....but some of these videos are so "pro"...that I'm wondering if you bring your own team with you when you move to the Island.

Very curious to see the last 11! And will keep looking at the videos to see which one I'm going to vote for...for the moment I like the teacher in Singapore... Reply to this

15 years ago, March 3rd 2009 No: 25 Msg: #64599 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

Astute observations PA. I also note that there was supposedly huge interest from the UK, yet they seem to be under-represented here. Interestingly though were the high number of Candians - they had six - which equalled the number of Aussies in the top 50. Not sure how many of them entered. I also saw that there were people from Indonesia and Singapore - and attracting tourists from the southern part of Asia is another goal of Queensland Tourism.

Upon seeing the final 50, I concur that this is a young person's game - but the overwhelming majority of entries were young people. The top 11 will be those that match their ideal of being "Australian" - someone who is young, energetic, slightly irreverent and brash - all strong Australian qualities.

I too will wait with great interest as to the country of origin of the final 11. I've lived in Queensland for more than 30 years and we initially relied on Australian interstate tourists, then heavily relied on Japanese tourists, and that has now shifted to Chinese tourists. The winner of this will be chosen with further shifts in tourist promotion in mind. Reply to this

15 years ago, March 3rd 2009 No: 26 Msg: #64640 Delete Edit

system
TravelBlog System User

H Posts: 1,526

5 posts moved to this new topic: Hamilton Island - who has been there? Reply to this

15 years ago, March 3rd 2009 No: 27 Msg: #64645 Delete Edit

Ali
Ali Watters

B Posts: 5,200

Well - Julia from the Russian Federation is streaking ahead at the moment - and having watched the hilarious video...

It's seems to have broadly gone in two directions;

Video skills vs. nationalism - least for the voting section.

In the initial press they talked about sailing, diving, biology and presentation skills - mostly down to presentation skills I think - and winning this voting thing 😉 Reply to this

15 years ago, March 5th 2009 No: 28 Msg: #64914 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

Here is a related thread.

Is the Great Barrier Reef for WHITE PEOPLE ONLY?

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15 years ago, March 5th 2009 No: 29 Msg: #64944 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

Looks like the young lass from Taiwan (Clare) has stormed ahead now - 38,000 votes versus 20,000 for Julia from Russia. Clare's selling point on the global reach of her language skills (Chinese and English) is convincing. Reply to this

15 years ago, March 19th 2009 No: 30 Msg: #66561 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

Breaking news: the second most popular candidate, Julia, is a late scratching. It appears there is another video of her that is more "revealing".

Russian out of world's best job quest over porn claims.

I am a big fan of the videos from both Clare (Taiwan) and Mitchell (Canada).

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15 years ago, March 20th 2009 No: 31 Msg: #66566 Delete Edit

Maisondubonheur
Pierre-Alexandre

B Posts: 1,583

That's a good one Shane....wondering what else is coming...could be a lot of fun! Reply to this

15 years ago, March 20th 2009 No: 32 Msg: #66613 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

Breaking news: the second most popular candidate, Julia, is a late scratching. It appears there is another video of her that is more "revealing".

I wish so many competitions were not reduced to this sort of thing. 😞 Should her husband and/or her past really be taken into consideration for the Worlds Best Job competition.

That's a good one Shane....wondering what else is coming...could be a lot of fun!

Yeah, what piece of gossip will be aired next. Mel rolls eyes.

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15 years ago, March 20th 2009 No: 33 Msg: #66615 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

I think the other candidates will be thinking hard about their past exploits and hoping that none of them are salacious enough to gain attention in the public arena.

With all the publicity put into this campaign, anything less than a squeaky clean candidate is going to cause them problems, for we know what the media will focus on - and it won't be their latest blog from Hamilton Island! Reply to this

15 years ago, March 20th 2009 No: 34 Msg: #66616 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

Umm! I just read all of Shanes link in msg 30. Julia does seem a bit odd after all. If I understand rightly, she showed the people who are running the competition a naughty video of herself. One has to wonder what she was thinking when she did that. Reply to this

15 years ago, March 20th 2009 No: 35 Msg: #66619 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

A bit of a caveat here, the Courier-Mail (Brisbane's main paper) has a variable record on its journalistic integrity. But having said this, it would be the closest paper in the world to the machinations within Tourism Queensland.

I cannot work out why it took so long for this news to filter out, I think it is a pity for poor Julia, but applicants would have known that the scrutiny of candidates would be intense.

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15 years ago, March 26th 2009 No: 36 Msg: #67159 Delete Edit

monika2610
monika

D Posts: 3

Best job on the world is renting yahts in some beautiful marine 😊

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15 years ago, March 28th 2009 No: 37 Msg: #67388 Delete Edit

Jo Trouble
Jo McCarthy

B Posts: 11.5K

Clare Wang has won the wildcard entry;

Island caretaker 'dream job' wildcard announced by Tourism Queensland news.com.au Reply to this

15 years ago, April 7th 2009 No: 38 Msg: #68498 Delete Edit

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

B Posts: 7,300

Final 16 has just been announced - it was originally going to be the Final 11 (10 chosen and 1 wild card) but they expanded the field - the reasons become apparent later on.

A broad cross-section of people - every northern hemisphere continent is strongly represented, including the markets of Japan, China, India, South Korea - all sought by Tourism Queensland.

PA's prediction in message 24 has been proven correct: "... at least one Japanese, one Chinese, one Indian, the russian girl." The only reason the Russian isn't there is because of an errant video. I thought the Singapore candidate would get through, but the Indonesian one did not.

The list is contained on The Best Job in the World website. In case the link is down, the finalists are as follows:
Europe: 1 England, 1 Ireland, I Netherlands, 1 France, 1 Germany
North America: 1 USA, 1 Canada
Asia: 1 India, 1 South Korea, 1 Singapore, 1 Japan, 1 China, 1 Taiwan
Oceania: 1 New Zealand, 1 Australia + 1 Expat Australian in London.

Notice anything here? Apart from the expat, 1 person per country - spread those finalists around is all I can say! Hence the increase from 11 to 16 finalists. Also, no-one from Africa and South America - the latter two not big markets for Queensland - though South America is increasing recently.

This is a marketing campaign of inspired genius. Reply to this

15 years ago, April 7th 2009 No: 39 Msg: #68500 Delete Edit

Maisondubonheur
Pierre-Alexandre

B Posts: 1,583

Hi Shane,

I didn't look at it in details, but this is somewhere frightening! After having more than 40% of USA candidates, they are down to...well, 1 out 0f 16 is 6%!

But what is impressive is the spread of 1 candidate per country! We should have look at how much all of these got in terms of votes. Clare was way way ahead of everybody, would be crazy not to chose her only for that reason!

I'm sure they can come with one more little scandal before the next stage...what a marketing plot! Reply to this

15 years ago, April 8th 2009 No: 40 Msg: #68710 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

So, when will the actual winner be announced? Reply to this

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