The Best Job in the World….

Into the Final 50!!

(the moment I found out in Downtown Vancouver)

Wow what an incredible two months it’s been since Afritrex drew to a close!

It took a while to get back into the swing of life in the UK; the hustle and bustle, the colder climate and my girlfriend Bre heading back to Canada all added to the sadness of finishing up the most incredible year of my life so far… and of course add to that the thoroughly depressing employment situation here which has changed so much since I left at the end of 2007.

But there was a glimmer of hope thrust my way by a good friend Emma who’d spotted an article in the national press advertising for a caretaker in Australia on Hamilton Island…and according to her I even satisfied all of the criteria they were looking for!

As Bre was still in the UK we decided to take up the challenge of filming and producing my one minute application video and battled over the script before heading out into the great British countryside and murky weather to film it…oh how I wished we’d done this back in Africa!

My dip into the freezing waters of the local pond gave it a stupidly fun element but washing out the mud and leaves from my ears afterwards reminded me quite how crazy it all was especially as I sat there freezing my knackers off afterwards much to the amusement of Bre and a confused local walking past!

So in went the entry and I seriously thought that’d be the last I hear…oh come on 34,800 applicants I’m not likely to be chosen am I! But then the email came through yesterday announcing my application had been shortlisted for the final 50 and so this crazy ride continues.

I’m over in Canada visiting Bre for the next 10 days and while running up Mount Seymour this morning had several calls from newspapers and radio wanting to find out everything – how exciting!

So this mad and crazy world which I love being part of continues and I’ll be updating you all on how the next stage of the application goes when I find out myself, in the meantime visit the website every 24 hours and vote for me please!

www.islandreefjob.com - VOTE FOR ME

Ben and Bre

Posted on 03 Mar 2009 by Ben Southall

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Welcome to Afritrex - A privately funded charity endurance challenge of marathons, mountains and more; documenting the encounters, obstacles and achievements of 12 months of hard fundraising and charity work across Africa.

Whilst circumnavigating the African Continent I will complete the following challenges:

To complete five marathons of at least 26 miles
To climb five of the highest mountains in Africa
To visit as many of the sites across Africa where the Victoria Cross has been won as possible (VC180 Challenge)

"The challenge to make every penny count"

Have a closer look at the site and find out more about how we'll be spending 2008.

Keep up to date !! - The action is happening as we speak...

Click here for the latest diary entry

Click here for the latest photos

Click here for the latest route

My name is Ben Southall and for the last decade I’ve travelled extensively throughout Southern Africa taking on projects and expeditions to test my abilities and discover exciting new areas of the African continent, whilst in the UK I take part in fitness and endurance events to raise money for charity and thought it was about time I combined the two fields to create my own fundraising expedition from with others could benefit.

So was born Afritrex: the logistical equivalent of one man trying to build spaghetti junction using Taiwanese instructions and a broken shovel.

The idea was simple: take one continent; attempt to circumnavigate it and whilst doing so try and stay fit enough to complete a number of endurance challenges to raise money for my chosen charities and whilst doing so post it all on the internet!

This is set to be the most challenging, exciting and exhausting year of my life, can I really do it?

"The answer is I don't know,

so why not find out!"

This is me Ben Southall and this is my mission throughout 2008. Stay in contact with my progress updates on how things are going through this site.

I’ll be keeping you informed of my progress through biweekly updates to the site, route information and with regular photo and video blogs.

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