Melbourne, Feb 23 : Tourism Queensland has received a total of 35000 applications for the `Best Job in the World'.

In a last minute flurry nearly 7500 applications were uploaded at the weekend.

Looking at the huge response, tourism officials have now added extra staff to help process the staggering 34,684 island caretaker applications.

Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said that she was blown away by the interest in the Great Barrier Reef's caretaker role.

"Initially, we said we would look at closing applications off at 30,000 from a logistical point of view, not really envisaging we would actually reach that number," News. com. au quoted Boyle as saying.

"We had been advising people for a couple of weeks not to leave their submission until the last minute.

"This massive amount of traffic slowed the site down and, regretfully, some people weren''t able to get their video application in by the deadline," she added.

People from nearly 200 countries have applied for the job, with the highest number from the US (11,565), followed by Canada (2791), Great Britain (2262) and Australia
(2064).

The six-month stint will require the successful applicant to explore neighbouring islands, swim, snorkel, discover wildlife, and the locals. (ANI)