Queensland's $150,000 island caretaker dream job

Tourism Queensland has sent out a worldwide call for the six-month stint as the new caretaker on the Great Barrier Reef's Hamilton Island.

The successful applicant must bunk in a luxury villa, explore neighbouring Great Barrier Reef islands, swim, snorkel, discover wildlife, and make friends with the locals.

After all that, the lucky person will get to blog about their island adventures.

The offer has sparked interest from all over the world, including the US, UK, Turkey, Spain, Italy, and even from a Swiss Olympian, but they could be competing with applicants from Mongolia, Romania and Croatia.

Is the Pope planning to blog from a Queensland tropical isle?

Someone from Vatican City has checked out the Australian Tourism Queensland's "best job in the world".

Throw in the multilingual candidate - whose application was in six languages - and they'll be up against some stiff competition.

"Yesterday alone over 300,000 people visited the site, including 25,000 in one hour."

The six-month stint as the new caretaker on the Australian Queensland's Great Barrier Reef's Hamilton Island will pay $150,000.

The successful applicant will need to bunk in a luxury villa, explore neighbouring Great Barrier Reef islands, swim, snorkel, discover wildlife, and the locals.

After all that, the lucky person will get to blog - or brag - about their Great Barrier Reef island adventures.

Kerri Anderson said the campaign to find someone to spend six months caretaking a tropical island has featured in a trivia quiz in a British pub; people have walked into the Australian embassy in Washington to submit applications; it's been the buzz among the staff at San Francisco's Hyatt hotel; and it's the hot topic in Ottawa, which is shivering at -20 degrees centigrade.

More than 350 have submitted a mandatory 60-second video application.

"We've also received hundreds of emails," Ms Anderson said.

Tourism Queensland said it expects more that 10,000 applications from all around the globe.

Applications are open until February 22 and 11 short-listed candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process.

An announcement will be made on May 6 with the contract beginning on July 1.

The applications can be viewed Here .

"This has gone wildly beyond our expectation," Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle told AAP.

"It means we've had millions of hits.

"We are so pleased of course, not just for the job itself, but for the publicity that this is meaning for the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland tourism right around the world."

People from all walks of life have applied, from teens to some in their 50s.

"We might really have been so successful that we have created a huge workload for the poor people who are going to have to assess the applications and do that short-listing," she said.

"At the moment we're all too busy to worry but we do fear that there are going to be 10,000 job applications - or maybe even more."

The campaign is part of a $1.7 million global marketing strategy and is expected to generate more than $70 million worth of publicity for Queensland.

Applications are open until February 22 and 11 short-listed candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process.

An announcement will be made on May 6 with the contract beginning on July 1.

Great Barrier Reef