Australian tourism authorities said a British man has been chosen for the best job in the world, a caretaker position on a Great Barrier Reef island. Tourism Queensland said Ben Southall, 34, of Hampshire, England, was chosen from a pool of 34,000 applicants from around the world for the six-month, $106,000 position as caretaker of Hamilton Island, The Times of London reported Wednesday. Southall's duties will include updating a weekly blog as well as video and photo diaries with details of the fishing hiking, sailing, snorkeling and exploring he performs while on the island, Tourism Queensland said. Tourism officials call the caretaker position the best job in the world. The new hire, who said he has never before visited Australia, is being lodged in a three-bedroom villa on the island. It's amazing, Southall said.

Australian officials are seeking applicants to fill a dream job that includes swimming, sailing and living rent-free in a villa with a pool. Anthony Hayes, chief executive of Tourism Queensland, said the agency is searching for someone willing to spend six months on the tropical Hamilton Island while blogging and posting pictures and videos to draw tourists to the area, the BBC reported Monday. Hayes said the caretaker, who would be paid $103,000 for six months, would also be charged with feeding some of the island's exotic fish and collecting mail addressed to the island. It doesn't sound too bad does it? We are looking for someone to tell the stories of the Great Barrier Reef and we have come up with what we think is the dream job, Hayes said. There are hundreds of islands scattered along the Great Barrier Reef, he said.