Briton Ben Southall wins 'The Best Job in the World' contest!

"He has ridden an ostrich, bungee jumped, scuba dived and crossed deserts.

Now, Ben Southall has landed a six-month job strolling the white sands of a tropical island after being crowned the winner of "the best job in the world" contest.

The 34-year-old Brit will spend the next half-year as  caretaker of an island off Queensland, Australia, where he will feed the fish, clean the pool and file weekly Internet progress reports.

He will live rent-free in a three-bedroom beach house overlooking the Great Barrier Reef with his Canadian girlfriend.

"It's amazing," Southall told The Times of London, all decked out in his regulation boardshorts and flip-flops.

"You think of a three- or four-bedroom house in England and it has nice red bricks and is quite small. But this house is a dream. It's enormous and looks out over the Coral Sea and at least four or five people can stay at any one time."

The contest generated worldwide interest, and Southall, who used to work in fundraising, beat off 34,000 other applicants.

Southall will earn $100,000 in the job, which begins July 1. His new pad also comes equipped with a swimming pool and golf cart.

The contest was part of Tourism Queensland's plan to bring more visitors to the 600 islands around the Great Barrier Reef.

Some 16 finalists were flown to Hamilton Island on Monday for interviews with a four-person panel before Southall was picked.

"I just can't wait to start," he said.

"There's a lot of different things to do over the next six months. I hope I can sell the reef as much as everybody is expecting."

From NY Daily News by Christin Boyle