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The Briton who won a competition for the "Best Job in the World" arrived on Australia's idyllic Hamilton Island Wednesday to begin his leisurely six-month posting in the tropical paradise.
Ben Southall, 34, started by sending a video blog from Brisbane airport departure lounge where he filmed himself alongside his girlfriend, Breanna Watkins.
"When we get there we're going to explore our house, and it's the first chance to drive the golf buggy as well, which is one of the massive perks of the job," he said.
The outgoing charity fundraiser beat off thousands of competitors for the job in a hugely successful marketing campaign that captured the world's imagination and earned international awards for its creators.
His brief as "caretaker" is to snorkel, swim and sail around the balmy Whitsunday Islands and send daily blogs and video blogs with the aim of promoting the destination for Tourism Queensland.
His movements will be recorded in exhaustive detail on two websites, www.islandreefjob.com.au and www.bestjobben.com, as well as social networking site Twitter.
Southall earlier courted controversy when he admitted he would miss Britain's long summer days and traditional roast dinners, prompting newspapers to accuse him of being a "whingeing pom".
"So when asked about the things I'd miss about the UK it appears I have to play my cards close to my chest for fear of reprisal by the tabloid newspapers both here and in Australia!"
However, he later complained he had been placed in economy class for the long journey from Britain to Australia.
"Can you believe it....I'm in economy!! Oh well can't change the habit of a lifetime," he tweeted.
Tourism Queensland chief Anthony Hayes insisted Southall would have to work hard and said the 'best job' stunt would help keep the industry afloat in the global downturn.
"Today is the beginning," he said. "All the publicity's been great but now it's about communicating with people who really will want to come to Queensland for a holiday.
A government report this month warned Australia's tourism industry was at risk of losing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in income after its share of global tourism dropped 14 percent between 1995 and 2008.
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(Agencies)
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“世界最好工作”的英國(guó)得主已于本周三抵達(dá)澳大利亞風(fēng)景如畫(huà)的漢密爾頓島，開(kāi)始了他在這個(gè)熱帶天堂島嶼為期半年的休閑般工作時(shí)光。
34歲的本?索思豪爾上任做的第一件事是在澳大利亞布里斯班機(jī)場(chǎng)的候機(jī)大廳發(fā)布了一篇視頻博客。他在那里拍了一段自己和女友布麗娜?沃肯斯的視頻。
他說(shuō)：“我們到了以后會(huì)參觀一下房子，而且我們還將第一次開(kāi)高爾夫球車(chē)，這也是這份工作帶給我的諸多‘紅利’之一。”
這位外向的慈善募捐人從數(shù)千名競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者中脫穎而出，贏得了這份工作。競(jìng)聘活動(dòng)的推廣獲得了巨大成功，全世界為之浮想聯(lián)翩，也為發(fā)起者贏得了全球褒獎(jiǎng)。
他身為“護(hù)島人”的職責(zé)主要包括潛水、游泳，環(huán)繞氣候溫和的降靈群島航行，并每天更新博客、上傳視頻，為昆士蘭州旅游局宣傳該地。
他的活動(dòng)將被詳細(xì)登載在www.islandreefjob.com.au和www.bestjobben.com兩個(gè)網(wǎng)站，以及社交網(wǎng)站Twitter上面。
之前，索思豪爾曾坦承自己會(huì)想念英國(guó)漫長(zhǎng)的夏日以及傳統(tǒng)的烘烤餐宴。他因此而招致非議，報(bào)紙指責(zé)他像個(gè)“怨婦”。
“因此當(dāng)有人問(wèn)我會(huì)想念英國(guó)的什么時(shí)，看起來(lái)我不得不為自己保密，以防被這里和澳大利亞的小報(bào)抓住小辮子。”
但他隨后就抱怨道，從英國(guó)到澳大利亞的長(zhǎng)途旅行自己被安排乘坐經(jīng)濟(jì)艙。
他嘀咕道：“你都不會(huì)相信，我坐的是經(jīng)濟(jì)艙！我一輩子都改不掉這個(gè)習(xí)慣了。”
昆士蘭州旅游局局長(zhǎng)安東尼?海斯堅(jiān)稱，索思豪爾要努力工作，“最好工作”這個(gè)噱頭將使旅游業(yè)在經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退時(shí)期平穩(wěn)發(fā)展。
他說(shuō)：“今天工作就開(kāi)始了。之前的推廣都做得很棒，而現(xiàn)在到了和那些真正想來(lái)昆士蘭州度假的人們好好交流的時(shí)候了。”
本月的一份政府報(bào)告提醒稱，澳大利亞旅游業(yè)面臨裁員數(shù)千人，收入銳減數(shù)十億美元的危險(xiǎn)。在1995年至2008年，該國(guó)旅游業(yè)在全球所占市場(chǎng)份額下降了14%。
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（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 實(shí)習(xí)生許雅寧編輯）
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