The final 50 for STA Travel’s World Traveller Internship have been announced! You can see them all here…

Congratulations to those who’ve made it and our commiserations to those that didn’t. We’ve loved watching the entries come in as there have been so many good ones, were just sad that only 50 could go through to the next round.

A big thank you to everyone who got involved and I leave you with a trio of applicants who made the grade… roll on round two!

We haven’t checked in on our Wandering Devonshire Boy for a while, but that’s fine because he’s been quietly having a brilliant time in Noosa, Australia.

As a surfer he’s been our go-to-dude when considering all things sea-related. He’s currently about half way through a year long trip discovering all he can down under. And his latest discovery is the mellow happiness that has come with catching waves in Noosa. He’s made no secret of the fact that surfer’s paradise just wasn’t what he was expecting or hoping for.

And, as you can probably tell from the title Why I fell in love with Noosa…, the shire a little north of Brisbane has more than made up for his disappointment. Chris was there to sample the “8 days of pure stoke” offered by the 2010 Longboarding Festival. This is covered in posts here and here.

But it wasn’t the festival that made Noosa for Chris – it was the vibe of the whole place and the people there,

“Noosa keeps the original stoke it was founded upon and refuses to be tarnished by modern day, commercial surf culture. I hope it stays this way and that surfers can pass on a piece of its lifestyle when they continue on their journey – but it should be a planned stop on anyone’s Oz adventure, whether you surf or not, you’ll leave better for it.”

There isn’t really much better recommendation than that. If you’re heading to Noosa get in touch with Chris @curiouscheese and ask him anything you want. Or, if you’ve already been let us know what you thought – did you have a similar experience to Chris?

He’s also updated his hostel review post with, since he’s living out of a van, campsite information too for anyone looking for no nonsense information on where to pitch a tent or lay their head.

As I write this there is only a matter of hours left to enter STA Travel’s World Traveller Internship. Round one will be done come 11:59 tonight!

We’ve got a podcast up on Audioboo talking about the competition and mentioning some of the entries we’ve loved from the likes of Harry Harris @hazzaharris and Sophie @somiraculous. Cam and Fran are nervously biting there nails in today’s Daily Booth. It’s all getting too much.

How are you feeling, what are you going to do if you’ve made it to the last fifty? Although applications are closed tonight there it is still going an edgy weekend to get through with the results set to arrive early next week.

Maybe you could calm yourself by reading through our book marked travel articles on delicious. Actually that’s likely to increase the excitement; I mean a balloon trip over Teotihuacan!

If you’re not on Audioboo or Daily Booth take the chance over the weekend to set up a profile. We’d love to see you on either, whether it’s daily images of your smiling faces or the odd podcast featuring your harmonious tones.

And as for the World Traveller Internship results and there imminent arrival – we wish you all the best of luck!

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is probably the most recognisable of the temples in the region and with good reason as STA Explorer Laura explains,

“We started off at Angkor Wat, which is the famous one you see in all the pictures and on postcards. It was amazing, absolutely huge and covered with carvings. I’ll put photos up as it’s hard to describe!”

Jamie and Laura’s post contains some more information on temples, tips on surviving cycling in the city and a bit about what they got up to in Phnom Penh – Dr. Fish anyone?

Now for a change of pace, as we join Amar in Sydney for the Platform 3 Hip Hop Festival,

“When I came across the words “free” and “hip hop festival” I was in. I went to the Platform 3 Hip Hop festival in Redfern, Sydney of all places to dig deep and figure out: What is Hip Hop?”

Amar spent the day being amazed by the talents on display. Whether it was break dancers or DJs, graffiti artists or beatboxers it was all superb. So what did he learn about Hip-Hop? Click through to Gap Year Escape to find out.

If you’re interested in being an STA Explorer then do just as Henrietta did and get in touch with us. Before you know it you’ll be sharing your adventures of, in her case, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan and Australia with a community of likeminded souls. You can say ‘hi’ to Henrietta @ffmfreedom…

Yesterday we featured some of the thoughts from hopefuls looking to take up the role of STA Travel’s World Traveller Intern. To follow on from this, we’ve got a couple of blog posts from entrants Rusja and Nick.

Rusja is beside herself with tension, especially after the extension to the deadline, but despite this has been able to put together an excellent article. It covers how she’s found the competition and gives praise to fellow competitors,

“I think my favourite applicants at the moment are Paddy Doyle, Harry Harris and Emma Sparks…not only because of how great their videos are, but also because of how involved they’ve been…they seem just as enthusiastic and excited as I am which is great!”

Since learning that round one isn’t only judged on votes the way many applicants have approached the competition is to dive on in and get involved. There has been much embracing of the community which has grown around the internship positions and it is something that is great to see.

Nick has been joining in whole heartedly since the launch event at the STA Victoria store and subsequently by coming along to our Thailand meet-up to learn like Johnny 5 during a caffeine binge,

“I’ve never been [to Thailand] myself but I was surrounded by experts, so I soon found out about the customs, the beach parties the wild-life sanctuaries and I WANNA GOOOOOO!”

You can read all about his application process on his blog.

It feels amiss to finish a WTI post without featuring one of the many applications, so I won’t. As recommended by Rusja, here’s Thomas Minnock’s entry.

I know that technically this should be the moment of the week when we pick a giant among regular sized people from the online travel world and tell you why they’re ace. However, with the cauldron of bubbling excitement that is STA Travel’s World Travel Internship having its first round deadline extended to 11:59pm on the 25th March, I’ve decided to keep the focus there.

We’ve been in touch with a few entrants and asked their thoughts on the competition so far. Asking them how they’re feeling with the deadline approaching and the possibility of making it through round one along with a few other interesting questions.

Paddy has been posting pictures of himself and imaging his phone interview, that doesn’t happen until round four! But there is nothing wrong with being prepared and a little bit of confidence. AJ actually takes this a step further, revealing he’s been considering his final video,

“I am at the beginning stage of thinking about my next video (THE FINAL VIDEO). I have (as always) many new ideas and approaches to this video and I’m very excited about getting making this happen… if I am selected for the final.”

He’s also put together some advice for anyone thinking of making the most of the extended deadline and putting together a late entry – no more ‘camera starers’!

Harry Harris has also put together a blog post on his tactics to not come on too strong and ease his public support into motion. His application has been cited by many fellow applicants as a gem, and if you’ve not seen it stay tuned, as it resides at the foot of this post like a leviathan of STA Travel Intern hope.

One such individual to mention Harry was Sophie (@somiraculous) in her video response to our questions,

She’s so cool!

And in case you think this comradeship seems unlikely when competing for such an opportunity – have a look at @rusjafoster’s tweet.

Now, for Harry’s video…

Excellent! A fine #traveltuesday to you people from STA travelbuzz.

Round 1 of STA Travels World Traveller Internship has been extended. The deadline was supposed to be today, but you’ve been given an extra couple of days. That means if you haven’t yet uploaded your application video you still have a chance of being one of the 50 who make it to round two.

The new deadline is 11:59pm on 25th March. By this time you must have done the following,

“Complete your profile including your final video (temporary videos will be ignored). Post your final video as a video response to this video on YouTube. Copy the URL from your YouTube Video Response and paste it into your profile.”

What are you waiting for!?

In case you’re struggling creatively you can find some examples as featured on STA travelbuzz. Or, just look below at this superb contender from Don Don,

Reckon you can do better? Then upload a video and get your name into the sombrero to become STA Travel’s World Traveller Intern.