65,000 km and 38 African countries had already been covered by Ben Southall when he won the The Best Job in the World in 2009.
35,000 people took part in the event organized by Tourism Queensland, but only Ben managed to prove that it was exactly he who deserved the job (PHOTOS).
The British man was to become the explorer of Hamilton Island for half a year. His duties included feeding tortoises, looking for the most beautiful places for tourists, keeping a blog, as well as a photo and video diary.
After the end of the project, Ben continued to follow the voice of an adventure seeker’s heart.
2011 saw Ben embark on his next challenge: 1600km kayak along the Great Barrier Reef retracing the route of Captain Cook back in 1770. And in April 2013, Ben took part in the Aussie 8 and set a world record for the fastest ascent of the tallest mountain in each state in Australia.
In the expedition New Zealand 9, Southall and his friends Luke Edwards and Pat Kinsella set another world record. Three of them came and ran 60 km on average every day.
Currently, 41-year-old Ben and his wife Sophee are travelling from Singapore to London by a Land Rover.
Ben shared with Armenian News – NEWS.am his memories on the time spent on Hamilton Island, experience obtained during his travels and what gives people genuine feeling of happiness.
Ben, what changed in your life when you were living on the island?
My time living on Hamilton Island was incredibly exciting and very artificial at the same time. The Best Job in the World competition was a publicity campaign designed to generate international interest in the islands of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland, and my role was to help publicize its locations, wonders and beauty to a global audience.
Living in the media spotlight was an interesting experience. It’s certainly opened a number of doorways since and has allowed me to get back to what I love; travel, adventure and introducing other cultures, countries and achievable adventures to my online audience.
Having six months to explore a playground as vast and unique as the Great Barrier Reef opened my eyes to the beauty of the underwater world, but also taught me how fragile it is. Every day as individuals we make decisions that have consequences for the environment on a local, national and global level and it’s the responsibility of governments to harness and steer these for the future protection of World Heritage icons such as the reef.
I definitely become more aware of my actions and try to use my voice to speak to an audience about how they can influence governments and corporations in their decision-making to better protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Have you faced difficulties? Please describe your island life...
Hamilton Island isn’t the desert island that lots of people expected it to be during the application stage of the competition. It’s an international resort with many levels of accommodation, a yacht club, golf club and an average population of over 2,000 people – very different from the one Robinson Crusoe was stranded on!
Having a golf buggy to get around in, a luxury three-bedroom villa to live in and anything from a helicopter to a yacht to get from island to island meant life was pretty incredible.
Would you like to have your own island?
I would love to have my own island, but nothing as big as Hamilton maybe. My perfect little lump of rock would be much smaller, something like a kilometer around the outside, no more, so that it’s easy to manage.
Since Best Job I’ve stayed on a few different islands, so I think I’m able to narrow down on what my ideal pad would look like pretty well. Something with a lovely luxury house, bathed in glass, wood and natural fibres overlooking the water. It needs to have good swimming, snorkeling and diving potential too as I love anything and everything to do with the water.
Most people in the world dream of traveling. At the same time many people are simply afraid of travelling. How to overcome travel anxiety?
I think pushing your limits and boundaries is a good thing in life and it’s something I continue to do today with my more adventurous overland travel. 15 years ago I travelled to South Africa for the first time and back then it was a real mental challenge for me. Since then I’ve grown to love the place, have lived there for 6 years on and off and now have been to some of, what are perceived to be, the more dangerous countries in the world like Nigeria and the Congo.
To overcome your fears, I think you need to travel with friends or family you feel comfortable with, take baby steps and don't try too many new things at once.
In your blog you have written that travelling around the world has taught you that it's not necessary to be rich to be truly happy. I wonder what money means to you. How does money move through your life? And what is “enough” money?
Money has never been my driving force when it comes to finding a job or following a route through life: It’s more about having great experiences, meeting inspiring people and challenging myself so that I don't go to the grave with any regrets about things I didn’t do in life.
Of course, when you base a life around travel and adventure, there has to be an income from somewhere and turning that into a source of sustainable revenue is one of the most difficult parts.
Writing a book, working as a public speaker and developing a film production company based around tourism all give me the chance to earn money doing something I love as a result of my expeditions and projects.
Having enough money is reaching exactly that tipping point, when all of my travels, experiences and adventures start to bring in funds to pay for the next one!
You have traveled to various countries. Where do you feel at home? Is there something which you are especially connected with?
I think I’ll always have a home in the UK. My friends, family and the years I spent growing up there really cemented my passion for the country and it feels good every time I return. Since then I’ve lived in South Africa and now Australia. I have built up a strong affinity with both countries and have fallen in love with the lifestyle of the southern hemisphere.
After our current expedition, the Best Life in the World, we’re returning to our life and home in Australia but I suppose we’ve always had a little piece of home with us during the entire journey – my 1986 Land Rover – Colonel Mustard, who’s probably the most important personal possession I have.
In the last 11 years I lived in him for 2 of them and have driven all around Africa and now from Singapore to London covering over 100,00km so he has a special place in my heart.
Do you plan to stay in Australia permanently? If not, where do you see your future place of residence?
I think the place Sophee and I end up will have to be in the southern hemisphere – I love the climate, lifestyle and can embrace winter so much more than when I was living in the UK.
Australia would be the perfect place to bring up a family but it really doesn’t challenge you as a country. Everything is far too easy there and in a lot of ways it’s very backwards in its way of thinking when it comes to global affairs, the environment and many other important issues compared to other parts of the world.
You once said, during your trip from Singapore to London with Sophia, that you will try to find the answer to the question what gives people outright happiness - family, friends, money or simply a roof over their head. Have you found the answer to your question?
The one answer that seemed to crop up wherever we went was the value of family to each and every person. Some people see too little of them, some too much but the overriding feeling was that if you are close to them emotionally and physically, it brings the greatest happiness.
Why did not you include Armenia in your route? What do you know about Armenia?
Our journey back to London was supposed to head through Armenia, the Baltic States and into Eastern Europe but, as with many long adventures, things don't always go according to plan.
My Iranian visa was refused, which meant a 6500km detour through the north of Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into Azerbaijan, which took 6 weeks longer than the original route. By the time we we were already one month behind our schedule, and that option was inconvenient for us …but we’ll definitely head back there one day soon.
In terms of what I know about Armenia – not a huge amount apart from it’s blossoming wine industry - you worship Mt Ararat and there are storks everywhere!
From Singapore to London
You have also written in your blog: “We have one chance on Planet Earth, get outdoors and explore it”. My question is: What has your experience with death been? Do you think about it?
The death of two close friends before I set off travelling for the first time had a huge effect on me. I lost one to a diving accident and another in the Asian tsunami. And both incidents made me realize that life can be over very quickly, before it’s even begun.
It was the catalyst I needed to turn my pipedreams about travel into reality and now my life, job and hobbies all revolve around travel, adventure and the ocean.
