A British charity fundraiser who beat 34,000 candidates to win a six-month deployment in the 'best job in the world' said today that it was an 'extreme honour'.
Ben Southall landed a $150,000 (€83,000) contract to serve as the caretaker of a tropical island in Queensland, Australia.
The 34-year-old, from Petersfield in Hampshire, starts work on 1 July and will be required to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef while writing a blog to promote the area.
The 16 finalists from 15 countries, including George Karellas from Bettystown in Co Meath, spent the past four days on the island for an extended interview process, which involved snorkelling the reef, visiting the islands and blogging on their experiences.
Mr Southall said: 'We have had probably the most incredible three or four days of our lives so far.
'Just getting involved in the media, all the activities has been an incredible challenge, it has been very testing.
'To go away now as the island caretaker for Tourism Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef is an extreme honour.
'I hope I can fill the boots as much as everybody is expecting, my swimming, hopefully, is up to standard.
'I look forward to all the new roles and responsibilities that the task involves.'
The job is part of a tourism campaign to publicise the charms of the north-eastern Queensland state.
Mr Southall has worked as a charity project manager and fundraiser and a tour guide in Africa.
In his application he said: 'The most important thing to me in life is to have an exciting job that makes me happy, puts smiles on people's faces and achieves challenging goals.'
He plans to take his Canadian girlfriend, Bre, with him when he moves into a rent-free three-bedroom villa, complete with pool, on Hamilton Island.
His job includes a weekly blog, photo diary and video updates on his explorations to attract visitors to the reef's 900 islands.
Below the water, the Great Barrier Reef stretches for 1,600 miles across 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands and is the world's largest coral reef system with an abundance of wildlife, according to Tourism Queensland.
About 2m tourists visit the islands each year, but most stay on the mainland and visit only on day trips.
