On July 1st 2009 I will start my new job as the Island Caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia and can't wait to get involved in another great continent.

My role involves experiencing all of the wonderful things which are on offer here and reporting them to the world by the power of my own blogs, something which many of you will have read since the start of Afritrex.

This Afritrex website will remain in this state to encapsulate the endeavours, experiences and challenges of my life during 2008 and and any current and future news will be available using the new websites listed below. 

I will be reporting through the official website

www.islandreefjob.com

and also through my own new site located at

www.bestjobben.com 

In keeping with the normality of my day to day lifestyle I've been hectically trying to fit as much as is physically possible into my final fortnight in the UK before heading out to Queensland for the last stage of the Best Job in the World competition.

Research, revision, studying - call it what you will, it all amounts to the same thing - trying to cram as much information into the 'long term' memory part of the brain as possible in as short a time as possible. Rest assured the other finalists will have been swotting up on their Queensland knowledge with the possible exception of the Aussie entrants as its their bread and butter, so I thought I'd better do the same. One way is to scour the internet meandering from page to page, another is to fall asleep into the pages of a good book but instead I thought I'd get out of the house and pay a visit to one of the most respected Society's in the UK - The Royal Geographical Society.

Eco-Tourism Lectures, RGS, London - Tuesday 22nd April

Established in 1830 they are located in a stunning building in Central London, have a membership of around 15,000 people ranging from professional geographers to expeditioners and enthusiasts and offer a wealth of advice and library services to anyone interested geographical science and associated subjects.

So imagine my delight when I spotted on their website a talk taking place all about Eco-Tourism, a subject which I've been asked about by a number of people since getting involved in this campaign designed to bring potentially thousands of new people to a location as environmentally sensitive as the Great Barrier Reef!

I contacted the society and booked a place ready to fill my grey matter with the additional information I'd need to have a balanced opinion on the effects that increased tourist numbers may have on this amazing eco-system.

I pottered up to London on a stunning day, with the now ever-present BBC crew in tow to film my every movement, and arrived at the building to find the speakers all expecting our arrival prior to the event taking place; a chance to ask some questions myself before they gave their presentations to the rest of the room.

Speaking with Professor Andrew Holden from the University of Bedfordshire was my first introduction to interviewing on camera and as I had no script prepared launched into a volley of questions which had been floating around in my head ever since I'd found out about the presentation. His answers were informative and gave me a much greater understanding of the effects which tourism can have on a global scale as well as with much more localised issues relating the the GBR itself.

Another quick interview with both Roger Heape - Chairman of the Travel Foundation, and Tricia Burnett - Director of Tourism Concern this time in front of the entire expectant audience for that evenings event (it went surprisingly well!) lead us comfortably to the start of the evening itself where I could sit down and relax for the first time that afternoon to listen to what I had come to learn about - The Environmental Effects of Tourism.

Interesting fact from the day - The water used on all of the world's golf courses in a single day provides enough water for 4/5ths of the planet to drink in that same day! YIKES showing why golf really isn't that green!!

Farewell Party - Saturday 25th April 2009

To celebrate heading off to Queensland and making it through to the final 16 I'd decided a few weeks ago to throw a leaving party to thank all of my friends for their support and last Saturday 25th April the extremely generous crowd down at the Mill Tavern in Haslemere hosted what can only be described as a fantastic day out for all....the only person who was missing was my girlfriend Bre, horribly far away on the other side of the world in Vancouver :(

Pierre Loup De Cam and Lee Forbes are the very active hosts there and together with the marquee which we've recently acquired for Onionfest; the charity music festival at the end of July which I manage, we built quite a large hospitality environment for the gathering!

Saturday dawned cloudy and wet, so I went for a long run to help focus my thoughts on the day ahead, the coming week and the excitement of the next few weeks. By the time I'd finished another good 7 mile run the heavens had opened, closed and started to clear up so my optimism for a good afternoon in the sunshine was more justified, there is a reason that my friends call me their 'Sunshine Friend' after all!

The Mill Tavern has a fantastic garden in which we'd assembled the marquee the night before in case of inclement weather, the hog roast was turning and smelling particularly edible already and there was very little to do apart from help the bands haul there equipment from the cars to the stage area.

Its so difficult for me to sit down and do nothing so the 'waiting for guests to arrive' stage dragged by as I sat and listened to the bands tuning up. A few familiar faces started to appear and before I knew it the garden was filling up with loads of people I hadn't seen for ages - with my expedition last year I'd been away from some for 18 months and it was fantastic to catch up and socialise.

By mid afternoon there were nearly 200 people all milling about in the garden with awesome music, scrummy food and great weather ensuring that everything went brilliantly well and was the success I hoped it be when it was being planned. The final few drifted away by 23:00hrs leaving the remnants if cheese and wine for us to clear up. What a superb day out! But it did suddenly bring home just how close this is all getting now....

London Marathon 2009 - Sunday 26th May

London is totally transformed for me when there's something amazing like this going on in the capital, normally somewhere I try and steer clear of being a countryside lover, the abundance of people all cheering the runners on is a sight to behold and made a fantastic day out. Well done Harry and superb time of 4hrs 28mins....see you at the start line next year!

Media Appearances

As the date for departure out to Australia has drawn closer the number of interviews and questions I've had to answer has increased hugely and with it my confidence levels.

It's quite an experience trying to honestly and professionally answers questions with a microphone or lens is thrust in your face and now the exposure is about to hit a peak with the media spotlight firmly fixed on us 16 gophers as we vie for the position of Island Caretaker. Here's a few pictures of the various media interviews I've given with the final one for now happening only a few hours ago at the ITV studios in Hampshire with the very famous Fred Dineage! Enjoy....

The support I have received from both friends and family has been overwhelming and as I enter the final 24hrs before I fly off to the other side of the world to experience one of the greatest continents on the planet my head is awash with questions and thoughts of what the next few weeks will hold. I'll be keeping this blog as up-to-date as I can for the sake of all those who are interested which hopefully includes you!

Ben :)

Now for most people who celebrate Easter, Good Friday is usually the start of a particularly relaxing few days off work with time spent in the garden, seeing friends or just watching some sport on tv....but I'm afraid I don't subscribe to that at all, it's potentially one of the most usable and busiest weekends of the year now that the clocks have jumped forwards by an hour and the evenings are that much longer!

For me Good Friday is nothing more than another day of work. The agricultural business which I'm project-managing right now celebrate their busiest month of the year starting this weekend so its all hands on deck to help out with the melee of phone calls, customers and drivers all needing help....AND RIGHT NOW!!

Once I'd watched the clock tick past the 17:30 mark it was time to head home to prepare for the weekend ahead, and as usual I'd planned far too much to fit into the short three days off.

A good friend who works for a PR company handles an electronics company as one of her clients and in passing a few weeks ago mentioned the Best Job in the World and how well my application was going for the role, apparently their ears pricked up at the thought of being able to get some of their products out to me where I could test them in 'The Field' so to speak, proving their worth at actually handling some of the conditions they were tested for.

I was intrigued too...I love technology, gadgets and anything else which could add an new air to my blog reporting to make it more visually appealing to anyone out there who actually reads them! The box which greeted me when I got home was stuffed full of the usual air packing and after delving deeper to the bottom found three new toys to unwrap and play with....OOooo it was just like Christmas all over again.

Oregon Scientific had been kind enough to send through three of their latest products for a good old fashioned roadtest, a weather station watch (superb timing guys, the Suunto which I normally wear is out for repairs this week so arrived at exactly right time!), a pair of super slimline walkie-talkies and an Action Video Camera!

Time to get using them then. I strapped the watch to my wrist, set the date and time and worked it all out....simple enough. Now I'd checked the weather out on my usual site Metcheck and didn't hold much hope for the weekend ahead...grey, wet and not exactly the start of summer all of us weather-addicted Brits hope for on a holiday weekend.

Unfortunately the watch didn't give much more of an optimistic outlook either with clouds and a sun showing on the face.....well sit on the fence why don't you! Still the training has to continue so come first light on Saturday morning I'd needed to get out onto the tracks and footpaths of Ropley to keep the fitness levels high.

Never the easiest thing to do, drag yourself out of bed to go for a run - I don't seem to have a problem getting up at 05:30hrs every weekday to go swimming before work but on the weekend when the cloud base outside looks like it hovering just above ground level and the outside temperature isn't much over 10c its damn hard to shoehorn yourself out of a very comfortable pit. Bring on the delights of Australia and the pleasure of training in the warm again....oh how I miss African roads.

I've been upping my training over the last few weeks to give my mind something else to think about instead of The Best Job application and my gorgeous girlfriend over in Canada so horribly far away. The stamina and mental strength which I need to get me up the hills when I running further than normal and now with a 15kg backpack on certainly do that!

Its all in preparation for the Low Alpine Mountain Marathon, a two day event at the beginning of June somewhere in the north of Scotland - the location for which remain secret right up until the last minute. No idea why...as if we'll try and get up there in advance to put ourselves through hell, it'll be bad enough on that weekend surely! Bryan Smith, a good friend from Mumm Champagne days, will be my partner over that weekend when we have to orient our path, carry all of our food, water, tent and clothing all whilst running towards a seemingly impossible finish line some 48hrs after we start, and getting out now to train with a full backpack on is one of the best things to do locally to ready myself for the challenge. The total distance we'll need to cover is released just before the event but I've been told to prepare for a marathon a day up and down some of the steepest mountains in the Highlands and Islands....haha love it.

Ropley's a pretty hilly place for the South of England but nothing in comparison to the Scottish mountains, in fact nothing at all and as a result when I head out of the door with my running shoes on, my backback loaded and water filled I head as far off the beaten track as possible.

Having lived in the area for around 20 years I know all of the local roads from playing on them as a kid and training on them more recently...but recently I've taken to leaving the roads behind and following the footpath signs which I regularly drive past thinking "I wonder where the hell that goes to?"

Over stiles and through fields, ducking under branches, shoes splashing through the puddles formed by the dreary rain and squelching through the sloppy mud my feet crash into as they pierce the leaf-littered floor of the woods - this is real running and great training, the straps of the backpack needing regular adjustment to keep the load on my back level and tight to my body, my feet need more accurate placement to lessen the chance of the inevitable fall and my legs feel heavier after every slight incline....it must be good training surely?!

After winding through the back lanes of the neighbouring villages I open out onto the muddiest track of the morning and there's crap flying everywhere from my feet as I pace through the wet bye way before finally breaking out onto a familiar looking piece of tarmac only a couple of miles from my house, and I'm on the home stretch finally.

A quick glance at the watch as I turn into my driveway and I've managed 90 mins of fast-paced training with the load strapped firmly to me all the way banging into my lower back like a demolition ball doing its work - its only when I stop I realise that the padding which should have protected me from the aluminium bars has slipped leaving them exposed and the source of the last 30 minutes irritation and soreness.

When I head out for the same run later this week I'll take the Action Cam with me and try to catch some of the footage from my training for you all to see.

In the details I received from TQ about the next round of the application process came a packing checklist and on it were a number of items I either don't own or have but are in such a tired state that they need replacing and this could only mean one thing....fighting against the other shoppers to grab a deal!

Not being the most au fait person with 'Cocktail Attire' and 'Casual Evening Wear' (my wardrobe amounts to a large collection of casual shirts and that's about as smart as it gets!) I enlisted the help of my dear friends Luke, Josie and Fraser to help with the elimination process and we headed down to Gunwharf Quays together. Four hours later we left.....tired, shopped-out and poorer but damn confident that I now have the wardrobe necessary to present myself in an honest, tidy way to the awaiting TQ bods and media lovies who'll be there in Queensland!!

No photos here obviously to keep the surprise!!

Testing the new equipment continues in earnest -I took the Action Cam out for a run this evening and put together a little movie for you all to see how I spend at least 4hrs of every week trying to keep in tiptop condition in the countryside of Hampshire.....

Action Cam trial

So that's the last week, this week could be even better and I can't wait to start putting together the next blog already, here's a little taster for you all:

• Head to Cornwall, South West England on Friday night to meet my friend Jay on his yacht, sail across to the Lizard peninsula Friday night
• Saturday morning surf early before a light lunch then
• dive in the afternoon for my first cold water experience in the UK!
• Saturday night - live radio interview
• Tuesday - live radio studio interview then head to London...
• Royal Geographic Society talk and interview on Eco-Tourism and the world's reefs

Should be a superb week and just a few things like work, swimming and researching in between....SLEEP WHEN YOU'RE DEAD I SAY!!!

Over and out for now,

Ben

Once you've done something as physically exerting and fitness oriented as Afritrex was its hard to take your foot off the gas and slow down....well it is for me anyway!

I need targets and I need goals and something to throw myself into, down time is wasted time as far as I'm concerned - sleep when you're dead my friend!

To fill the huge void left by the end of my Afritrex experience and now being unsure of exactly when I'll see Bre again as she's over in Vancouver and I'm in the UK, I had to set myself a goal and another personal challenge so I entered another couple of running events...and this time a little tougher than the normal marathon thing.

The beginning of May....apart from being the week I hope to be out in Aus for the next round of interviews, hosts the Three Forts Marathon which takes place up and down the South Downs, a range of chalk hills which stretch for nearly 100 miles across the south of England. Its 27 miles in length and climbs some 3450 feet over its length and will truly be a real test of my endurance and stamina.

If, and its a real 'if', I get through this one there's the Low Alpine Mountain Marathon or LAMM taking place in the north of Scotland at the beginning of June. This could either set me up for this type of event in the future.....or kill me! Its carried out with a partner (a good friend Bryan Smith) over two days, you carry your own tent, food and all supplies over the mountains of the Scottish Highlands passing checkpoints, hopefully, with your own careful orienteering skills. And no GPS's are allowed! Dang it!

Well I'd better get off the couch then and do some real training then if I seriously want to finish these gruelling mental and physical tests....first stop and find a few smaller races to enter and hit the local rural roads around Ropley as much as possible. Add to that the swimming I do every morning before work and hopefully my CV will be ready for these tougher events.

My good friend Alan Jones has run the Reading Half Marathon for the last 10 years (maybe even more!) and when he told me about a a friend who'd dropped out I jumped at the chance to fill their place....finally something to aim for!

Well I'm now sitting here at the computer with legs feeling great after a beasting on the roads of Reading yesterday and an awesome feeling inside as I finished the race with very little training and preparation.

Now I've completed a distance you didn't think was possible in the first place, say a half marathon 5 years ago, or a full marathon 4 years ago....or even an ultra double marathon last year, I feel I've done them and need to keep pushing further. So do I run further, say 60 miles or do I instead try and beat my personal best times for these events!?!? Reading would be the first time I'd actually raced against a clock rather than just to finish the race.

What an amazing start to the day too,  perfect weather if a little cold; Alan, his daughter Vicky and I assembled on the start line, or as close as we could get, and joined the other 18,000 runners preparing for the off. Bang went the start gun and off I went again, the great feeling of plodding through another event surging through my veins and I took up the idea in my mind of trying to go out fast - nbot so fast as to kill myself early, but fast enough to keep in front of the 1hr 40min pacemaker at least.

The first half of the race went without problems and I was really enjoying myself slowly working my way up the field. I decided to latch onto the back of another runner who was going at a decent pace and looked comfortable and relaxed, we wound our way through the field avoiding the stray water bottles which lined the course at intervals and past the 10 mile marker onto the deperessing long straight back towards the finish area at the Madjeski Stadium in the distance.

What a plod that last bit is, 2 miles of closed dual carriageway and then they lead you back onto yourself with the runners in front of you that much closer to the finish than you until finally you climb the final short hill, round the final side of the stadium and into the centre of the arena with a cheering, screaming crown welcoming you in....

....I looked up and the clock read 1hr35mins, I was two mins inside my time and decided to open up my step and sprint the final 200m to the finish using the very last of my effort and energies. I swaggered over the line and felt a huge sense of relief as I'd actually broken my personal best by a good distance, nearly 4mins 30secs when the final chip time came through. A very respectable 1hr 33mins!!!

MASSIVE WAHOOS ALL ROUND!! Bre would love that

So its onto the next target, the beginning of May and the Three Forts challenge, but there's a long way to go to be fit enough for that....back to the roads of Ropley then.

Oh and here's a little pic of the UK entrants for the BEST JOB outside Big Ben a few days ago.....

Hope life is good wherever you may be, keep fingers crossed for Thursday night at 11.59pm ok!!

Ben

(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 

CHALLENGE TEN COMPLETED.....AND THAT’S AFRITREX FINISHED!!

A year away covering some 40,000 miles on the African continent came to a satisfying conclusion in New Year’s Eve as I ran the final marathon into my home town of Petersfield completing the tenth and final challenge of Afritrex.

Over the past year I have had some of the toughest yet most enjoyable experiences of my life, met some incredible life-changing characters along the way and completed what I set out to achieve almost five years ago when the planning started, raising much needed funds for the three charities I chose.

Over the next few weeks as I settle back into a more normal and maybe even mundane life back in England I will update the website and all associated pictures, videos, routes and journal entries to leave you the viewer with a complete overview of quite what I’ve been through.

Some initial facts and figures for you:

Days on the road: 370

Distance driven: 40,002 miles or 64,377 kms

Distance run in marathons: 255 kms

Height climbed up mountains: 23,834 metres

If you’ve been keeping in touch over the past year can I thank you for the overwhelming support I’ve received from all four corners of the globe, I will try to email you all when I can and maybe even visit you in the Colonel!

If you can in any way support me by making a donation, however small it may be, please follow the link below to the CAF website where the secure system will allow you to make a credit card donation.

Thank you again for all of your support,

Over and out...for now!

Ben, Bre and the Colonel