Brit lands top job down under
Brighton foodie and entertainer Rich Keam has defeated thousands of entrants worldwide to secure one of six ‘Best Jobs in the World’.
In his new role as ‘taste master’ of Western Australia, he now has a six-month contract and a salary of around £61,000 to basically eat his way around the state, finding the finest produce and uncovering the best bars and restaurants.
A musician and costume designer, he has spent the last week in Australia with 17 other international finalists undertaking a series of adventure, nature-based, culinary, social media and photography challenges, as part of a rigorous final selection process.
Tourism Australia MD Andrew McEvoy said the competition, which has secured plenty of international press for the destination, had been extremely tough.
"We’re delighted to have another British winner this time round – after Ben Southall from Hampshire won the ‘Best Job in the World’ as Island Caretaker on Queensland’s Barrier Reef in 2009.
"We know Brits have a strong affiliation with Australia and we hope this competition will encourage more young people from the UK to consider a working holiday Down Under."
The five other dream job offers were made to:
Andrew Smith (USA): chief funster (New South Wales)
Roberto Seba (Brazil): lifestyle photographer (Melbourne, Victoria)
Allan Dixon (Ireland): outback adventurer (Northern Territory)
Elisa Detrez (France): park ranger (Queensland)
Greg Snell (Canada): wildlife caretaker (South Australia).
A seventh job was awarded by Virgin Australia to Cameron Ernst from the US, who will fly the length and breadth of the country as the airline’s new ‘High Flyer’, championing Australia’s best customer service experiences.
The six successful candidates were selected from over 330,000 applicants worldwide.
The competition was part of a major international marketing push to promote tourism opportunities provided by Australia’s Working Holiday Maker (WHM) programme.
Since it was launched, Tourism Australia’s working holiday maker Facebook page has grown from 150,000 to more than 440,000 fans.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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