Ben Southall

Ben Southall from the United Kingdom was the winner of the job title, “best job in the world”   in the year 2009, as caretaker of the Hamilton Island. Ben loves travelling all over the world because it is his way of meeting new people and making new friends. Every time he travels, he likes to keep people updated about his whereabouts and experiences. Africa is one of the places Ben visited in the year 2007 among many others. Before Ben won the job of being the caretaker of Hamilton Island with Tourism Queensland, he was a guest presenter with the Ian Collins show. His duties as a caretaker involve taking care of guests, animals and the Island as a whole. He feeds the different species of fish and collecting the Island mails as well as guide tourists who go visiting to ensure they have a good time. He is also expected to prepare blog and photo diary to attract tourists. His interests include swimming, travelling and fitness, which makes him enjoy his job because of the activities involved.

From my observation, his job description seems to be tiresome but interesting at the same time because it involves a lot of adventure. According to his photo diary, Ben reveals the various places he visits in the company of the tourists who visit the Island. Even though, most of his work sounded adventurous it was exhausting because of the reports he had to give regarding the events of his day with the long hours of work and demanding job expectation, he had to meet. Ben’s confession about his job being the busiest and dangerous comes after a poisonous jellyfish stung him, which is in contracts with the report he has to give. This is because while he has challenges in his job, the world expects to hear only good things about the Island that will attract people to visit the place. Apart from the jellyfish, other poisonous and dangerous species of fish in the Island include poisonous stonefish and sharks

Despite the challenges, Ben performed well at his job and was branded tourism ambassador. Through this, he developed new skills such as filming, presenting, public speaking, editing and television work. During his job, he lost his girlfriend but later found love with one of the tourists. From a short interview, when a reporter asked Ben what inspired him to take on the challenge of accepting the job, he stated the job description was appealing with the many offers it had. This is because he had travelled all over the world and so the sound of adventurous activities such as living in the Great Barrier Reef, diving, travelling and recording every details of the job impressed him since he was not new to such activities. He also said that his personal and life changing experiences were those with wildlife and huge marine creatures, for instance,  watching a whale give birth inspired him watching the whale caring for her young one completely changed his view on animals.

In addition to this, Ben stated that his most scary encounter was during one his visits in Africa where he accidentally knocked down a woman, and an angry mob surrounded him. His best dive has been at the southern tip of the Barrier Reef the great. He added that tourism has strongly uplifted the economy of the United Kingdom. Despite the various challenges of facing poisonous species and a demanding job, he gained life skills and had a life changing experiences that he counts rare for many people.