Now I’ve spent nearly six months here in the tropical paradise that is Queensland and so far I thought I’d done particularly well at avoiding any contact with any of the dangerous critters that consider this part of the world their home. I’ve avoided being boxed by a kangaroo, nibbled by a shark and bitten by a spider or a snake – but then in my final few days on Hamilton Island I fell foul of a miniscule little creature known as an Irukandji.

Irukandji jellyfish are tiny and extremely venomous jellyfish that are in the tropical waters of the Queensland coast between early October and May, and which cause symptoms collectively known as Irukandji syndrome. Its size is roughly no larger than a fingernail of an adult’s little finger.

I was enjoying a post Christmas jetski session with some friends at a quiet beach on Hamilton Island and as I climbed off the back of the ski and onto the beach felt a small bee-like sting on my forearm, I didn’t think too much of it at the time as it disappeared very quickly and left the beach to head to a sports massage appointment I had.  As I arrived I noticed that my feet and hands were tingling slightly and before I started my treatment commented on the chain of events which had led to this – the member of staff immediately suggested that I get the symptoms checked out and within minutes had the islands security there to escort me to the doctor’s room, only a few hundred metres away.

I was feeling pretty hot and sweaty, had a headache and felt pretty sick too, together with pain in my lower back and a tightness in the chest and a really high blood pressure – all classic symptoms of Irukandji syndrome! This was not what I’d wanted at all and had caught me little off guard to say the least – I’m supposed to be relaxing in my last few days on Hamilton Island.

The doctor knew instantly what it was and straight away started the course of treatment to get me on the mend, I had a couple of injections which immediately took away the uncomfortable pain I was feeling and I slipped into a comfortable sleep after an hour or so, waking to say hello to a couple of friends who arrive to see if I was ok! Bre was there the entire time tending to me like a little Florence Nightingale!

Once I’d recovered sufficiently I was discharged that evening and allowed to go home to sleep the effects off and only really knew what had happened when Bre told the full story the next morning – I had been very lucky.

I’d had a minor brush with what can be a very serious jellyfish and has led to people being hospitalised for a number of days, my slight knock was enough to tell me that it’s not something to be messed around with and I really should have been wearing a full stinger suit, as it recommended at all beaches here at this time of year…even if you’re in the water for just a couple of seconds as I was!

This is what I should have looked like:

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So no excuses here I’m afraid I just haven’t had the time to be able to feed anything onto the site as I hoped I would and my periodic posts haven’t given you the insight I was hoping into the behind the scenes world of the Island Caretaker! Life has been incredibly good, chaotic and full-on ever since starting the job back in July and now that I’m almost at the halfway point there is some sort of routine to my otherwise abnormal existence!

Bre headed back to Canada for a member of her family’s wedding a few weeks ago and will be back out here in a few days time so we can get back to having the crazy adventure and fun we have in this particularly mad time in our lives. It’s easy to have the experiences by yourself but it means so much more when there’s someone special there to do it and remember it with you. See you at the end of the month Brester!

Since my last post here on the site I’ve been getting bang up to date with my diving qualifications and am almost all the way through my PADI Advanced diver course. I racked up 25 dives and all have been in different locations so there no getting bored with the same sights every time for me – Heron Bommie, The Cod Hole, S.S. Yongala, Wheeler Reef are all rated amongst some of the best in Australia and I feel privileged to be under the water in some of these locations and frequently have to pinch myself to realise it’s actually happening.

I’m typing this from onboard the Fantasea launch which is taking me across to the mainland where I’m joining up with the crew from catamaran ‘Emperors Wings’ where I’ll be for three days between the middle and outer reef taking in some more of the marine world which has hypnotised and keeps taking me back for more, I have eight dives during my time onboard and should return to Hamilton Island as a qualified Advanced Diver.

It’s something that a few years ago I thought I’d never do having lost a best mate to a diving accident back at the turn of the century but it made me realise that life is out there for living and if you don’t do these things you miss out for good…I am so glad that I learnt last year in Lake Malawi and thank you so much to Sandy from Aqua Africa for getting me through that terrifying mask-clearance session, I thought my days were numbered.

From there I head to Long Island and the Peppers Palm Bay resort which is another couples retreat – not that good as my girl is away in Canada still but the chance to get onto the water in a kayak or catamaran should never be missed and I’ll be out there as often as I can.

It’s then back to basics as I return closer to home and have two days camping and exploring Whitsunday Island and aim to reach the highest point, Whitsunday Peak, at 435m as bit of training for the Hamilton Island Triathlon at the end of November.

A little concerned about this as it’s my first multi-discipline event and will be in front of a big crowd  making it all the more important not just to turn up for the wooden spoon! It consists of:

• 750m Ocean Swim
• 20km Bike Ride
• 5km Run

I don’t have a problem with the running or swimming it’s just the bike ride so Steve from the gym on the island has kindly lent me his bike to train on but oh my god how Hamo’s hills kill you! I did do the ‘Run the Whitsunday Great Walk’ at the weekend, a 28km undulating track through the forest finishing in Airlie Beach, and now two days later feel fully recovered…surprisingly! The only thing that is suffering since I got this job is my fitness, having no routine has really knocked it back so I find I’m getting up earlier and earlier to train leaving the house well before the sun comes up but it does make a great way to explore a new destination when I arrive there.

My thoughts are firmly focused on what I’ll do after the Best Job has finished in January and I have a very important meeting with Tourism Queensland to discuss my next endeavour which is more than likely going to be an expedition to kayak the length of the Great Barrier Reef in on of these little beauties. Suffice to say there is still a huge amount of planning and preparation to be done and from previous experience (www.afritrex.com) I know that it won’t just happen overnight.

Hopefully my choice for next year's project

I will try to retrace Captain Cook’s route along the inside of the reef from south to north to utilise the trade winds which blow during July and August, the only feasible time to do it as the temperatures are bearable then. Several people have already expressed an interest in joining me for legs of this adventure and if you have any similar thoughts please get in touch – you never know!

As I pull into the harbour and start another fun-filled chapter in life may I wish you well wherever in the world you’re reading this from.

Ben

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The pace of life at the moment is totally fantastic and everyday brings new and exciting things to do, one huge fear however is that by the time I blink it’ll all be over and the contract will have drawn to a close. Every so often I have to pinch myself and take a step back to check it’s all happening for real.

Spent the last few days filming with the Getaway travel show which goes out nationally throughout Australia and hit the airwaves on Thursday 13th August – a great idea to compare the host, Natalie’s job and mine. Best Job v’s best job. I win of course!

Headed out to gain my first sailing qualification on the ocean around the Whitsundays aboard the yacht ‘Another Fiasco’ with the help of Explore Whitsundays and had an amazing time with Matt the skipper and my crew of Nick, Anthony and Ian – it holds me in good stead for the upcoming Hamilton Island Race Week which takes place at the end of August and if the rumour is true I’ll be sailing on board ‘Wild Oats‘ – an incredible Maxi yacht which has won the Sydney – Hobart and is owned by Bob Oatley, the owner of Hamilton Island. Hold your breath Ben – this one’s going to be mental!

We spent a few days on Hayman (yes the place whose name I spelt wrongly in my first week on the job and got crucified by the press!) relaxing in the sunshine, snorkeling, bush walking to try and find wallabies and enjoying the opulent hospitality there.

Today and tomorrow are days off, well as close as I can get – only a huge website update for both here and islandreefjob.com, a couple of phone interviews and an 800 word piece for The Observer newspaper by Friday night. Headed to Airlie Beach on the mainland for another dentist appointment and I hope they’ve sorted it this time for good….

Over the weekend I head south on the Queenslander train service to Gladstone before relocating on Heron and Wilson Islands for some real bush camping in tents…..5 * tents of course – you can’t expect me to back to normal ones just yet can you!?!

The weather’s been blustery and warm, the tan is starting to feel right again after a few pasty months in the UK and the ocean is becoming more like a playground as I try loads of new things – jetskiing, sailing, diving at night, snorkeling in rip currents in front of the house etc!

I’ve picked up the pace of life and feel it all fits rather well – I could do this for a long time you know!

Only 5 months left and counting. Time to start looking at the next project and getting things under way for my circumnavigation of Australia departing in the early part of 2010. Any ideas of good endurance challenges people??

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Sorry for the delay in getting anything new onto the site, I have set myself the task of writing some new script for you tomorrow morning, in the mean time have a look at our first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef when we descended to 10 metres to dive with some Potato Cod and Reef Sharks.

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Its amazing how much today I take mobile phone reception for granted and when I loose it all normal functions, updates and blogging just disappear off the radar. It’s actually quite refreshing, life can continue without being tied to the keyboard and it gave me a chance to enjoy Lizard Island to the full. The downside though is this site has neither changed nor evolved in the last week and for this I can only apologise….so here I go!

After a few days on Hamilton Island and in the surrounding Whitsundays, Bre and I headed to Cairns and the north of Queensland. Its the furthest north we’ve both been so far on the trip and the change in temperature was really obvious as we left the plane and suddenly felt a rush of warm air as we left the plane, finally Bre may be warm enough in the evenings to not need to wrap up as though she’s at home in Canada!

I’d really looked forward to heading out to Lizard Island as so many people had recommended it, this is one of the Voyager resorts and by all accounts probably one of the most luxurious destinations we’ll visit during the next six months…plenty of real celebrities come here to get away from everything….people, internet, mobile phones – everything!

The flight we took on Hinterland Aviation over the outer ribbons of the Great Barrier Reef was awe-inspiring, we swept low over the coral cays with the deep aqua blues and sandy bottom really standing out, some of the little sandbanks are only exposed at low tide and you can really imagine parking off on one for lunch and a snooze, maybe sometime I’ll be able to do it but not this time. We made the final approach to Lizard and touched down on the runway, full of anticipation for the coming few days adventure….

Bliss, perfection and total utter spoiling…just some of the words which can only start to summarise what awaits you if you ever make it out to Lizard Island. This is one of those retreats that the rich and famous make it out to, its remote, there’s only ever 40 guests on the island at any one time and you feel like someone really special as the staff treat you with a very personalised touch, add to that the fact that it’s one of the most picturesque tropical islands I’ve been lucky enough to make it to and you’ll see why I’m pouring so much praise onto it.

There’s a wealth of things to do here, it not just the ’sit on the beach and fry’ sort of retreat as there’s activities galore to experience; diving, snorkeling, sailing, dinghies for hire, bush walking etc. During our few days on Lizard we had a good go at most of them. The Cod Hole is a famous dive site on the GBR, famed for its huge Potato Cod which are so tame they actually accept food from the dive master and brush right past you in the process. As they power away from any threat the shockwave their acceleration creates can easily be felt through the water, my first ever experience of this which gives you an idea of their strength….don’t get in the way! I loved the dive here, the second of the day, which had given the tide a chance to drop offering some protection from the swell and surge of the outer ocean and allowing the clarity of the water to increase giving us amazing visibility of around 20 metres. We swam with Black Tip Reef Sharks, Trumpet Fish, Barracuda and Mackerel. The variety of corals here both soft and hard are very impressive – there’s other areas where I’ve snorkelled which maybe don’t quite come up to scratch with what I’d expected from the GBR but the Cod Hole truly delivers. Here’s a selection of images to try to highlight this, apologies for the lack of colour in these images – I only received the camera just before heading underwater and hadn’t changed any of the settings to suit the marine environment. Will do better in the future….

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Still loaded and prepared from last weekend’s exploits up in Scotland at the LAMM; Jon, Paul and I left in the Colonel (my trusty Land Rover and home for all of 2008) on Thursday and headed down the A303 towards the west country ready for a weekend of ocean based activities.

There’s something great about going away on a mini adventure even if its just for a few days; the long drive, the camping, the little country lanes, the sounds and smells of the ocean and the countryside are all a welcome reminder that you’re somewhere different that needs exploring!

Six hours after we’d left we dropped down the final descent from St Keverne into the sleepy hollow of Porthkerris where Dave and Turkey live to find their perfect little world exactly as I remembered it….but this time with Turkey running the catering wagon, flippin‘ burgers, blending cheese and generally amusing the locals with his own brand of questionable humour!

Being able to take time out from a hectic lifestyle is essential and something I really don’t do enough of; its only when I get the chance to breakaway and head to one of the more remote parts of the country that I actually realise its good for the human soul to rest up, relax and let the sound of the ocean massage the brain into a trance like state – a one of the first real
opportunities to think about the job as the Island Caretaker.

Inside the head of me…..

Since May 6th back on Hamilton Island when Anna Bligh made the announcement that I’d won the job with Tourism Queensland life has been even more hectic than normal. I thought I used my days up pretty productively, planning a festival, plotting the next expedition and in between all of it trying to keep as fit as possible…but this has turned even my energetic lifestyle on its head.

Every day I talk to someone new, every day there’s a different person contacting me from a another country and its truly amazing to have the chance to speak to everyone of them. We have a chuckle at each others accents, we struggle to understand each other sometimes and very often the time zones of the world just aren’t taken into account as my phone rings deep into the night waking me as I dreamily ponder what the next few months will bring; adventure, the ocean and a vast amount of discovery.

As I count down the final days to my departure from these shores the last week has provided me with an interesting insight into just how the press can work, I have the deepest sympathies for some of the ‘real’ celebrities out there and can now understand how they have to watch everything they say just in case its taken the wrong way, let me explain….

Situation is this – I meet up with a good friend Ben Patterson on the way back from Scotland who’s organised a meeting with a lady from the Press Association. We take a few, photos on the beach where I used to go as a child on holiday as a bit of promotion for the tourist industry in the north east (Bamburgh, Northumbria), she asks me a question….

“What will you miss about the U.K.?”

I answer as honestly as I can…..Mum’s Sunday roasts, long summer’s days, music festivals – genuine answers to a genuine question.

However the way the Sun newspaper in the UK and several in papers in Australia decided to take the answer in a slightly different way and labelled me the ‘Whingeing Pom’ – brilliant and totally taken out of context. Oh you gotta love the media. Have a look here and here for my response a day or so later….yet more laughs!

Those good bods at Tourism Queensland are right behind me though and came back at the papers with their total support for me in a few articles which followed up on the story, a taste of things to come I think.

As I sit here in my hotel room, having just come from Talk Sport Radio where I was a guest presenter for an hour on Ian Collins show, I’m thinking about the amazing opportunity ahead and the incredibly exciting six months of adventure and experiences which lie ahead.

The clock is ticking and the final week here in the UK is going to fly by, I have two full-on days of promoting the BBC documentary (which is out on July 2nd, 9pm BBC1) to come next week, an evening meeting the Governor of Queensland and then two days to pack everything I need into my bags before hopping on a plane to the other side of the world again where I’ll meet my girlfriend Bre and move into the Blue Pearl residence under the watchful eye of the assembled world media once more! I cannot wait.

The limited details I’ve been given so far of the first six weeks of the job look jaw-droppingly exciting…diving at Cod Hole on Lizard Island being one of the obvious highlights as I try and dive as often as possible in an effort to get my Advanced PADI certification, I really want to dive on some wrecks and to do that I’ll have to pass another course but they’re all things which I look forward to …maybe with the exception of sitting another exam!

This week has been particularly busy with three full days of interviews and appointments, I’ve tried really hard to give something back to the younger people in my area by organising some presentations at local schools, visiting my old primary school where I went for a year at the age of 10. It was so amusing going back to Ropley School and seeing quite how its changed, the secretary, Mrs Price, is still there and very kindly showed me my excerpt from the year book of 1986 along with a very embarrassing picture which the children all laughed at as only they can!

My 20 minute presentation told them all about last year’s project Afritrex along with a little glimpse of what the Island Caretaker role will involve over the coming six months. Its amazing how different and almost nerve-racking it is presenting to 100 children….but they listened like mice and ooo’ed and ahh’ed in the right places as I showed them pictures of the African wildlife. A very rewarding experience all round.

On a bit of a roll I repeated the presentation to Liss Junior School this week, but this time there was the added pressure of addressing 250 children whilst being filmed by a French TV crew from the TV1 channel. It doesn’t get much tougher than this.

Nicholas and Arnaud are filming a short feature for a current affairs program which goes out late in July and for their take on the story had me swimming in the Solent, chatting with friends Paul and Rachel over dinner and even came with me as I recorded the voice-overs for a BBC program called Inside Out, which I guest presented and goes out in September. Its been a busy week.

I have to mention another local adventurer from the Petersfield area where I live, Tom Heal who together with his good friend Will Smith who leave the UK at the end of the year in an attempt to become the youngest team ever to row an ocean. Find out more and support them at http://www.atlanticrowyt.co.uk/

We spent an amusing hour together having some photos taken for Life in Petersfield magazine around the lake in our fantastic home town! Best of luck to them both with their fundraising and training. Arghhh hours on the rowing machine – my least favourite item in the gym.

Being my final weekend in the UK I’ve organised another farewell party at the Mill Tavern, which people are welcome along to if your in the area, and then the countdown really is on….

In a week’s time I’ll be flying out to Brisbane to start a new job

AND I CANNOT WAIT WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

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