Tumbrella

You may have missed out on “the best job in the world”, but despair not. Several tourist operators Down Under are offering the “second best” job in the world.

Ben Southall from Hampshire, UK, was named caretaker of Hamilton Island in Australia’s spectacular Whitsundays. The six-month job, which comes with a rent-free villa, a A$150,000 salary and requires little more than snorkelling, feeding tropical fish and writing a blog.

It was a massive publicity coup for Tourism Queensland and now other tourism bodies are getting in on the act.

Voyages, an upmarket Australian tour operator, is advertising for a general manager for its Lizard Island resort. The post comes with a two-bedroom house overlooking the Great Barrier Reef.

Interested candidates for the Second Best Job in the World should contact Voyages on: travel@voyages.com.au

Also in Australia, the Gold Coast wants a caretaker on South Stradbroke Island, as does the owner of an organic orchard in the Queensland rainforest, according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

Applications are also being sought for the “really Goode job” of wine-taster/blogger in Sonoma County, California, USA.

The Murphy-Goode winery will pay the successful applicant $10,000 a month for tasting hundreds of wines. Deadline for applications is 5 June.

If we haven’t posted for a while, you know where Tumbrella has gone…