Anny Chih

Greg Reynen and Me

Marcella, Erik and I got to spend some quality time in Vancouver and we were able to chat with Mitch and Linda on Skype video a few months ago too. This week I was able to meet two more of the Top 16 candidates for the Best Job in the World (James and Greg), as well as everyone from Tourism Queensland!

James knew I’d be arriving in Brisbane last week so he sent me his number via Twitter. I had a really hard time getting a hold of him though because the pay phone at the hostel takes 50 cents for each connection plus another 50 cents for each 30 seconds. I didn’t know this and kept getting disconnected immediately after connecting and when I finally figured out why, I had run out of 50 cent coins.*

Because I didn’t have a cell phone for a few days and Greg was leaving Brisbane the next day after I arrived, James and Greg surprised me at the hostel the night I arrived while I was getting ready for bed. Me with messy hair, no make-up and in my pjs wasn’t exactly the first impression I wanted to give. LOL We went for dinner at a well-known Vietnamese restaurant near Brisbane’s Chinatown and knocked back a few beers. By the way, restaurants in Australia are commonly “B.Y.O.”, as in you can bring your own alchohol to drink there. Weird eh?

Me and James Hill Drinking Beer

It was really great to meet James and Greg in person! Both guys are really fun and Greg and I were thinking about taking a trip to New Zealand together when he got back from a *Top Secret* Tourism Queensland trip, but I don’t think I can do it until I save up a bit of cash in Oz. I’m hoping he’ll be up for the trip closer to December when the weather gets warmer. *hint hint nudge nudge Greg!*

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say anything about the *Top Secret* Tourism Queensland trip, but I’m sure you can figure it out for yourselves. James, Greg, Magali, Mirjam, and George are all travelling around Queensland right now having a blast and James has a brand new tan (which by the way, looks really good)!

Me with Chris Chambers at Tourism Queensland’s Headquarters

On Thursday, I was able to take a tour of the Tourism Queensland office with Chris Chambers. Being able to meet everyone behind the Best Job in the World campaign (especially Anthony Hays, Chris Chambers, Shana Pereira, Nicole McNaughton, Amy Newman and the Marketing Team) was like getting to meet your all time favourite hockey players. I don’t know if they could tell, but I was practically gushing at being able to meet the brains behind it all in person!

The Tourism Queensland building has a large neon Tourism Queensland logo on the top and is very easy to find at night (you pass it when your on transit near Roma Street Station). The actual Tourism Queensland team takes up two floors of the building and it looks like your average office building except there are lots of colourful decorations hanging from the ceiling from celebrating the Fourth of July (Shana is from the LA office), and in the aviation department (lots of little planes everywhere). It’s a very open and fun environment where everyone is uber-nice and (for the most part ) very organized. I certainly wouldn’t mind working there!

*Tip for Travellers to Australia:

Each call you make (whether it’s via a cell or pay phone doesn’t matter) has a connection fee (usually between $0.30-$0.50) as well as a per minute or per 30 second charge (it ranges according to your plan / pay phone). It’s much cheaper to either buy a phone card, or a pre-paid cell phone plan than to dial direct from a pay phone.