Am I qualified to live on an Island and tell the world about it?

Welcome back to “Aussie Island Bound”, the last time I wrote, I was still digesting the possibilities of the “Best Job in the World”. Now, a week later I am more excited about the job than ever. The chance to live in Australia is appealing in itself. Add to that the opportunity to be paid to dive and live on the Great Barrier Reef and this job would be my greatest dream come true. This would be more than just a dream this would be a real job. Just like any other job, you are hired based upon your skills and experience for the position. So, I’ve been thinking about what my qualifications for this job would be. I’ve never lived for six months on an island, though I have fed fish and cleaned a pool before. Some might see this as a disadvantage, however, I believe my inexperience with living on Hamilton Island, is one of my greatest qualifications for the job. Tourism Queensland is looking for someone to experience and promote the Whitsunday Islands. Who better to tell the world of the holiday possibilities, than someone who is experiencing it all for the first time themselves?

I spent last weekend pouring over the “Best Job in the World” website, reading all of the links; the responsibilities and expectations of the job. After reading through the description, I am realizing that this is a marketing and sales position. Where I may not have ever lived on an island in Australia for six months, I do have five years of Marketing and sales experience. My current occupation as an Admission Counselor for a small public liberal arts college is essentially marketing and sales. I travel around the United States and promote my college and the town in which it resides, to prospective students. I help the prospective students “see” themselves at my college, by sharing my personal experiences and discussing how my school can meet their educational goals. Another aspect of the “Best job in the World” is to keep a video diary and blog about my travels and experiences. I pioneered and for the last three years, have used social media and web video to promote and connect with prospective students. With all of this experience and more, I feel that professionally I am qualified for this job. Then there are my recreation and travel qualifications.

Key to the “Best job in the World” is being able to fully experience the Whitsundays. After doing a bit of research on the Islands, I am realizing the islands have a little of everything for everyone. Environmentally of course the best known attraction is the World Heritage Site of the Great Barrier Reef, but there are also rainforests, grasslands, rivers, waterfalls, and beaches galore. The recreation and Holiday possibilities are endless. There are the water sports on, under and around the Great Barrier Reef and camping, hiking and luxury above the water at the 10 resorts of the 8 inhabited islands of the 74 islands of the Whitsundays. This is where I feel that I am definitely the best person for the “Best job in the World”. I have been traveling since I was a little kid. On every family vacation my parents always taught me to seek out the authentic experience. This authentic experience encompassed everything from what activities we participated in to what food we chose to eat. This was easy to do as a kid, because my parents made the majority of the choices. Now as an adult, I am the one who makes the choices. When I recently traveled to Italy it was up to me to research the possibilities and logistics. Being an experienced traveler helped me to secure all of the necessary admissions and choose between the “pedestrian” and more “unique” experiences, which I feel made the tour of the Ufizi and Pompei even more amazing. Tourism Queensland will be arranging some of the tours and activities that I will be experiencing on the Whitsundays, and then on those free days, I will be planning my own excursions. My plan is to experience as much as possible through as many eyes as possible. There will be more on that later though, right now I have to get back to developing my script and deciding how to fit all of this experience and passion into a 60 second video. Stay tuned for the launch of my application video!