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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”的英國得主已于本周三抵達澳大利亞風景如畫的漢密爾頓島，開始了他在這個熱帶天堂島嶼為期半年的休閑般工作時光。
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場的候機大廳發布了一篇視頻博客。他在那里拍了一段自己和女友布麗娜?沃肯斯的視頻。
他說：“我們到了以后會參觀一下房子，而且我們還將第一次開高爾夫球車，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千名競爭者中脫穎而出，贏得了這份工作。競聘活動的推廣獲得了巨大成功，全世界為之浮想聯翩，也為發起者贏得了全球褒獎。
他身為“護島人”的職責主要包括潛水、游泳，環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。
他的活動將被詳細登載在www.islandreefjob.com.au和www.bestjobben.com兩個網站，以及社交網站Twitter上面。
之前，索思豪爾曾坦承自己會想念英國漫長的夏日以及傳統的烘烤餐宴。他因此而招致非議，報紙指責他像個“怨婦”。
“因此當有人問我會想念英國的什么時，看起來我不得不為自己保密，以防被這里和澳大利亞的小報抓住小辮子。”
但他隨后就抱怨道，從英國到澳大利亞的長途旅行自己被安排乘坐經濟艙。
他嘀咕道：“你都不會相信，我坐的是經濟艙！我一輩子都改不掉這個習慣了。”
昆士蘭州旅游局局長安東尼?海斯堅稱，索思豪爾要努力工作，“最好工作”這個噱頭將使旅游業在經濟衰退時期平穩發展。
他說：“今天工作就開始了。之前的推廣都做得很棒，而現在到了和那些真正想來昆士蘭州度假的人們好好交流的時候了。”
本月的一份政府報告提醒稱，澳大利亞旅游業面臨裁員數千人，收入銳減數十億美元的危險。在1995年至2008年，該國旅游業在全球所占市場份額下降了14%。
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（英語點津 實習生許雅寧編輯）
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