Ben Southall beat 35,000 applicants from across the globe in 2009 to win the “Best Job in the World”. Tourism Queensland’s smashingly successful publicity campaign allowed this British charity worker from Petersfield in southern England to act as “caretaker” of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef and blog about it – for six months. Margie T Logarta recently sat down with him to recall the once-in-a-lifetime experience and where his new adventures now take him.
Had you been anywhere out of the UK before Australia?
I travelled to South Africa in 1997 to work at the Round the World Yacht Race, which stopped in Cape Town. I enjoyed the city so much I decided to stay for six months and spent the time going up and down the coastline of what I consider to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
Once I got back to the UK, I started to find everything a bit drab and ordinary, so I spent the next six years living and working between South Africa and the UK. I made a few road trips into neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, Zambia, etc, which whetted my love for Africa and led to the “big one” where I spent a year driving around the entire continent – visiting 31 countries, climbing five of the highest mountains and running five full marathons, which raised US$50,000 for charity.
Was the “Best Job” really work?
I was pretty damn busy, really! I spent all those months travelling the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, visiting 62 different islands along the way.
Daytime was usually filled with incredible crazy adventures – diving, bush walks, sailing, fishing. But at night, I had to keep awake and write for the website and edit the photos and videos I’d shot during the day to publicise the location I had been in. The job required someone who could travel and blog at the same time, and having had an adventurous lifestyle helped me no end.
Doesn’t having to blog all the time cramp the travel experience?
It certainly can if you don’t learn the right balance. When I head off for a weekend holiday with my girlfriend, I stop “working”, ie tweeting and blogging. When I visit somewhere new, I always absorb it first as a human being, then photograph it as my hobby and then consider if it’s interesting enough to share with other people through Twitter, Facebook or my blog.
Can anything after the “Best Job” top it?
I (now) work for Tourism Queensland as their Tourism Ambassador and continue to have adventures around the state. There’s so much to do here it’ll take me a while before I get bored.
Ever been in a life-threatening situation?
You can travel anywhere and get yourself into trouble if you try hard enough. There have been times when I’ve felt threatened, but smiling, welcoming people with an outstretched arm and being a friendly person has to help. As travel journalist Alan Wicker said: “No one shoots you if you’ve got a smile on your face.” I like to live by that.
