Caretaker visits Gladstone

6th August 2009

AS CARETAKER of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Ben Southall gets to enjoy the beaches, reef and ocean across the state.

Best Job in the World winner Ben Southall made a brief stop in Gladstone yesterday before heading out to stay at Heron and Wilson islands.

Liam Butterworth

AS CARETAKER of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, Ben Southall gets to enjoy the beaches, reef and ocean across the state.

Keeping a regular online blog, Mr Southall visited Lizard Island and the Whitsundays, and has a few posts about the Gladstone region on his Twitter page.

Mr Southall posted a picture of a small sailing boat from the Gladstone Yacht Club, with the words “Is this the reason Aus has so many Olympic champions in sailing? Sunday at Gladstone Yacht Club & the kids are out.”

He travelled to Gladstone by train on Sunday, before heading to the Heron Island resort, where he spent two nights.

Mr Southall then spent two nights in luxury tent accommodation at Wilson Island resort.

A self-confessed “water baby”, Mr Southall said he was looking forward to diving and snorkelling off Heron Island.

“I'm going to be diving off Heron Island over the next few days, so that'll be another good experience,” he said.

“And I believe you've got 250 of the 350 types of coral out on Heron Island, so that's going to be an amazing thing to see, and a good thing to put in the blog.”

Mr Southall will be speaking about his experiences at the reef as a guest at an industry networking function this evening.