The high life Down Under

An all-expense-paid, seven-week trip Down Under, the trip of a lifetime, sounds too good to be true — there is always a catch.

Huntington Beach resident Barbie Defeo said she used to tell her kids not to sign up for contests. But with her family preparing to embark on a free trip to the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, she said, she reconsidered her original stance.

“I just don’t win stuff,” she said. “It’s kind of unbelievable.”

Defeo beat out more than 23,000 people in 150 countries to win the Best Experience in the World sweepstakes by Tourism Queensland in Australia.

The prize includes a seven-week trip for four people to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The winners’ accommodations and travel are paid for, and they get a stipend for food, activities and extras.

“I turned 50 this year, so I consider it an awesome birthday present,” Defeo said.

Winning was a shock for the family.

Defeo said she follows Ben Southall’s “Island Caretaker” blog.

Southall won Tourism Queensland’s Best Job in the World contest and is currently traveling around the islands on a six-month, all-expense-paid trip.

Defeo will assist Southall as the islands’ “caretaker” by guest blogging about her experiences.

While looking at Southall’s blog, Defeo signed up for the sweepstakes calling for applications for a guest blogger.

She found out she won by e-mail, but Defeo said she thought it was a joke, because it went to her spam.

Defeo is taking her husband, Paul, and two youngest daughters, Shelby, 12, and Kelsey, 19. Defeo said she is sad her oldest daughter, who is away at college, can’t come.

The family isn’t taking the full trip, but will be gone for five weeks.

Defeo said there is no way they would take seven weeks off from work.

The girls will do independent study. Shelby goes to Isaac L. Sowers Middle School and Kelsey goes to Golden West College.

“I get to miss a month of school,” Shelby said.

Tourism Queensland provided the family with an itinerary of destinations and activities for their trip.

They will have the opportunity to explore the Daintree Rainforest, hot air balloon in Cairns, visit a crocodile farm in Port Douglas and discover the bird and marine life of the reef.

“Just getting over there and seeing the Great Barrier Reef is just something you can’t fathom,” she said.

The family will also get to meet Southall, and Defeo will be a guest on his blog.

The family bought a video camera for the job, and her daughters are going to teach her how to video-blog.

“I’m sure that people will be just so mad that this old mom brought her family when they could have brought their friends,” she said.

The family leaves Wednesday and returns Dec. 16.