It’s 10:30am, the day after I found out that I wasn’t picked to be on the Top 16. I’m feeling a cross between a bad hangover and positive wishes for the friends that I’ve made along the way who made it through to the next round. The very first thing that comes to mind is to thank Tourism Queensland for the opportunity to be a part of this amazing journey. I have learned so much in the past few months about the power of initiative and that will help me onward.
Second thing that comes to mind is to thank all my friends and fans who has been voting and hoping along with me over the past few weeks. You’ve been amazing. Being based in the U.K., I couldn’t be in the country to do most of the legwork myself, and for a campaign that was purely-online and managed half way across the world, 25th place on the leaderboard was freaking phenomenal!
They say timing is everything and today, I feel that couldn’t be more true. When I had heard about The Best Job in the World something moved me to apply for it. So I began channeling my energy toward a standard that symbolizes the epitome of human happiness and I found myself pursuing, and surprisingly making the Top 50 out of 34,000 applicants. The past few weeks of being one of the Top 50 have been nothing short of amazing.
I have learned immensely about myself over the past two months that no other experience would have taught better. Queensland became a vision of something better to aim for, a kind of utopia that suggests that there exists a heaven on earth that is God-breathed. Brightest blues, clearest waters, and freshest greens to take you away from the illogical madness of sadness and an urban chaos that can overwhelm.
Although I feel as though I have let a nation down and know that some of my die hard fans and friends are bummed out on my behalf, beyond my ability to do the job there is the reality of a larger strategy at work and priority markets to consider that is beyond the control of one’s individual pursuit. There was also a resource and logistics factor which made my PR efforts challenging, but most importantly I’m not even sure if it would have made a difference because the final shortlist is looking to be market-driven.
I think that the other Top 34 applicants who did not proceed further must recognize that the Best Job in the World isn’t a personal validation mechanism but a strategic PR campaign for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Not going through to the Top 16 is merely a punctuation that now opens new doors for our grand stories to continue its course.
So some people are wondering where I’ll be going from here? I am planning to give the U.K. another look-around before exploring the possibility of going to Shanghai. Depending on where I’ll be and how the bank account looks, I’ll either be a brain-for-hire or I’ll be fiddling with my personal projects of “hopefully” sharable genius. As for losing the opportunity to enjoy all the sun and sea in Queensland, I plan to visit should one of my previous rivals gets the job. Hopefully that’s when I’ll get to hug a koala for real! 
