Unreal Seeks New Gig

Until just a few minutes ago, Unreal thought we had the best job in the world. True, it requires us to live in a city where the current temperature is a scant one degree Fahrenheit, but all we have to do is log onto Facebook to check in with our friends in more northern climes to realize what true suffering is.

But, on the bright side, we get to talk to fascinating people (though others may call them crackpots), pay visits to exciting events like soap opera tryouts and test lots of really neat free products. We thought life was grand.

And then this morning we clicked open the New York Times and saw this: Temp Job in Paradise Pays $100,000.
Tourism Queensland in Australia is seeking one hardy individual to spend six months as a caretaker of Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Duties include snorkeling, swimming, lounging on the the white sand beaches, flying over the island in a mail plane and, oh yes, some weekly blogging.

As compensation for these arduous task, the caretaker gets free airfare from his or her home country, housing in what the Times calls "an oceanfront villa", trips to other islands (should this particular corner of paradise get a little dull) and all the Internet equipment one could hope for. And, oh yes, AUD $150,000, which translates into about $100,000.

It sounds really rough, but Unreal is sure we could do it, despite the ridiculously stiff odds: the job has only been advertised for one day and 200,000 people have already visited the website. Applications close in 37 days, which gives us plenty of time to procrastinate come up with a brilliant audition video.

Now excuse us while we lapse into a daydream of warm, white, sandy beaches...