THE winner of the so-called "Best Job in the World" has been stung by a potentially deadly jellyfish.

Ben Southall said he had experienced a "crazy 24 hours" after the tiny irukandji struck off the coast of Queensland in Australia.



"I was enjoying a post Christmas jet ski session with some friends at a quiet beach on Hamilton Island," he wrote on his blog.



"As I climbed off the back of the ski and onto the beach (I) felt a small bee-like sting on my forearm."



"I was feeling pretty hot and sweaty, had a headache and felt pretty sick too with pain in my lower back and a tightness in the chest and a really high blood pressure.



"I had a minor brush with what can be a very serious jellyfish."



Mr Southall said he was feeling 100 per cent again.



"Horrible incident. Lesson learnt - always wear a stinger suit."



Mr Southall is the winner of a competition run by Tourism Queensland to experience the best the Australian state has to offer - and to tell the world about it.



He last updated his blog from Great Keppel Island on the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday.



The news of his experience came as a 38-year-old man was similarly stung by an irukandji jellyfish in north Queensland.



The man was stung on the hand while swimming off Long Island in the Whitsundays yesterday afternoon. He was transported to Bowen Hospital then airlifted to Mackay Hospital, where he is now in a stable condition.



Recent incidents have prompted three-time irukandji survivor Anthony Davies to issue a warning about the risk of stingers.



"Fishermen just need to know irukandji can be found anywhere, from a couple of kilometres up a river to eight miles out to sea," the Brinsmead fisherman told The Cairns Post.



Irukandji are tiny and extremely venomous jellyfish that are found mostly near Australia.



They are roughly no larger than a fingernail of an adult's little finger.



Read more: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/12/29/85025_local-news.html

- with AAP