Celebrity Apprentice

Part of my job on Hayman was to take photos and videos of the various celebrities that came to the island.

I have a feeling I signed something that said I wouldn’t disclose who they were, so I’ll call this particular celeb Mrs X.

Mrs X came to the island to do a number of photo shoots. I was told by the General Manager that it was imperative to get a good interview with her.

A time was arranged between photo shoots for me to get a video interview with her.

The first shoot was happening in a Beach Villa, and was running extremely late.

I waited outside with the entourage; stylists, publicists, hair and make-up, etc.

“We’re running behind, so you’re only going to have 5 minutes with Mrs X”, the publicist told me, “Make sure you’re ready”.

I knew I had to have Mrs X looking fantastic, and the island backdrop looking even more fantastic.

I set up the camera and positioned a chair in the sun with the beautiful Coral Sea in the background.

When Mrs X finally came out, I motioned for her to sit in the chair.

“No, no, no, she can’t sit in the sun”, said the make-up artist running towards us, “her face will melt off.”

Oh.

“Just move the chair back into the shade” he said.

I don’t know much about lighting, but I do know that if you put your subject in the shade, and have a bright backdrop, it’s not going to work.”

“She’ll be too dark in the shade” I told him.
“Can we get a light out here?” asked Mrs X.
“No, there’s no time” said a clipboard clutcher.
“Why don’t you use a flag?” someone else chimed in.
‘What’s a flag?’ I thought, but nodded anyway.

A couple of guys bought out one of those big light reflecting things.
“Where do you want it?”
“Oh you know, like, ummmm, over by the…. Wherever you think is good.” I said.

I looked in the camera. It still wasn’t working. The entourage was standing around impatiently watching me I was freaking out. I tried another angle. It didn’t work. My time was running out and I knew it. I just wanted it to be over.

“Actually maybe the dark is good”, I said, “yep I‘m pretty sure that will work”, even though I knew it wouldn’t.

Fortunately the real photographer came to my rescue. He gently suggested a different angle. The light was perfect.

The interview went off without a hitch, and I even remembered to press record!

Pretty in Prison

Living on a tropical island isn’t all its cracked up to be. White sandy beaches lined with palm trees, crystal clear water and lush tropical gardens is in fact my prison.

Yes, I know, you hate me. I’m sorry, but perhaps you should try living on a 8km2 island for 9 months and see how much you love it in the end.

The truth is Hayman is paradise. For a week. Well for me at least, some people love living there. The problem is, I’m a city girl. I want dirty and crazy and adventure, so idyllic tropical islands are not for me.

I became aware of how much this place is like a prison when I noticed myself doing something strange. I started exercising. Not my usual incidental exercise where I strap on a giant backpack and take the stairs, this is the real deal. Boxing classes, cross fit, boot camp and even running.

One must understand that I have never run in my life. I lie, when I was 15 I trained for a cross country race. Twice.

Now I find myself running 4 or 5 times a week. Like in prison, there’s nothing else to do.

Not Quite Five Star

Somehow I’ve managed to go from working on the streets to working in a five star hotel. My colleagues are no longer prostitutes and panhandlers, but five star professionals.

There are two types of people in this world, those who can keep a white shirt white and those who can’t. I fall into the latter category, whereas most of my colleagues are in the former.

I have to wear a white shirt every day. The chances of me keeping it white significantly decrease on meatball and sloppy joe day. I’m just thankful someone else washes it for me.

The only thing I find harder than keeping a white shirt white, is sitting in an office. I figure if I'm not going to fit in, I might as well go the other way. 'Creative genius' is what I'm going for at the moment. I've got balloon sculptures, piles of paper, a tennis ball, yoyo and a huge wall of post its.

One of my favourite pastimes in the office is distracting the events department who work nearby. They organise things for a living so I'm kind of like their worst nightmare.

One day I was peering over event executive Nina's shoulder to see what she was doing (people love it when you do that).

"Oh wow, look at all your little folders in your email" I said

"Yeah I have a folder for each month, and a folder for each event in that month."
"That's amazing!"
"Ummm not really. How do you organise your emails, dare I ask?"
"Come, I'll show you"

I must explain that we get emails here every time a boat arrives (about 4 a day), every time a boat is 10 minutes away, every time a boat leaves, every time a boat is delayed etc. etc.

I took Nina round to my desk and showed her my email which had 6,000 emails sitting in my inbox, mostly about boat times.

Her knees buckled, she fell to the floor and put her head in her hands.
"Why haven't you deleted all those useless emails?"
"It just didn't occur to me"

Next time I have a real job, I'm totally going to delete my emails as I go, and maybe even have fancy folders.

2nd Best Job in the World

I’ve been a professional street performer for over a year now. It has to be one of the best jobs in the world. Playing my trombone in the sunshine at Sydney Harbour, people throwing money at me. Busking around Canada, Business trips to New Zealand, Canberra, Blue Mountains and Picton- it’s a tough gig to top.

Summer was golden. I was working 10-15 hours a week, getting paid more than most of my friends and not paying tax. The last few months have been harder. It got cold. Less people, less tourists, no cruise ships and it’s harder and less pleasant to play. I was going to have to find employment elsewhere. Now I find myself about to begin my very first full time job. You heard right; I, Maya Sebestyen, have a real job with a contract and leave and everything.

I bet you’re all wondering what else you can do with a Bachelor of Arts aside from being a street performer/ sailor/ hotel manager/ bartender/ bingo caller.

There was a job advertised a few years ago as “The Best Job in the World”. Tourism Queensland was going to pay someone $150,000 to live on Hamilton Island for 6 months, do all the cool stuff and blog/ vlog about it. I don’t have that job. I’m not getting paid $150,000 but I am getting paid. I’m not going to Hamilton Island, I’m going to Hayman Island which is slightly further north and I’m being employed by Hayman Island Resort not Tourism Queensland. Other than that it sounds pretty similar.

Got Questions?

Where is this place?

Hayman is part of the Whitsunday’s, a group of islands in the Great Barrier Reef. Far smaller and more expensive then Hamilton, this privately owned island is home to a luxury resort and that’s about it.

What exactly will you be doing there?

Writing blogs, making videos, taking photos etc. I will have a better idea once I’m up there, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to go snorkeling, sample the lobsters, test out the masseuse, jet ski....

How did you score this?

A girl I went to high school with hooked me up.* I made a 2 minute video (busking turned out to be an excellent topic) and voila!

*To all those people who delete people on facebook they “never talk to”, I say; think twice.

When do you start?

Training in Sydney this week. Fly to Hayman July 10th-ish.