The BBC has an article about what has been billed as “the best job in the world”:

six months working as a “caretaker” on Hamilton Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

And it comes with a £70,000 salary and a luxury villa. I must say part of me is tempted.

I have an advantage over most possible candidates in that I can “call on first-hand knowledge of the region”. I haven’t actually landed on Hamilton Island, but I did visit two neighbouring islands in the Whitsundays group, on my 2003 tour of northern Australia. At this time I snorkelled and scuba dived (only a short sample dive) in these waters, and learned to identify quite a lot of the local wildlife.

On that trip we sailed past the mountainous Hamilton Island, and I saw something surprising. On most of the islands in the group there was nothing visible inland except for tropical rain forest. But on this island I saw what looked from a distance like strange vertical rock formations. From closer up it became clear what they were: skyscrapers! It seems that much of the island is covered with huge tourist hotels.

For Hamilton Island, I discovered, is the favourite destination for Aussies seeking the winter sun and a bit of fun. This is their equivalent of what the Canaries and Ibiza are for us in England. I don’t know first hand what the hotels are like, but I can guess by analogy from the hotel I did visit on nearby Long Island, which, although tastefully hidden behind the beachfront coconut palms, was dominated by a karaoke bar.

So maybe Hamilton Island is not quite the kind of paradise that it is painted as. Maybe the job on offer would in fact be the best one in the world not for a nature lover but for someone who loves to party in the sun.