Sydney - One-third of the 34,684 applicants for the dream job of caretaker on a paradise island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef were from the United States, Queensland state Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said Monday.

Some jobseekers were unable to lodge their 60-second video clips because the website crashed under an avalanche of last-minute applications for a post that pays a lot of money for very little work.

"We'd been advising people for a couple of weeks not to leave their submission until the last minute," Boyle said. "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."

The top source country was the US, followed by Canada and then Britain.

"I think we're safe in saying that this is the most sought-after job in the world," Boyle said.

The panel will pick a shortlist of the best 50 applicants and announce their names March 3. The selection will be from 11 finalists and the successful applicant will start work July 1. (dpa)