Does This Guy Have The Best Job In The World ?

When I was traveling through Central Australia, I met an amazing travel guide. His job is one of the best in the world... if not the best ! But Rhett Ericsen-Miller's life has been harder than you think... Here is a short story of his life and how he got an amazing job, probably one of the best in the world !

Rhett is Australian with South-African roots. He started working in the business of his father very early in his life. The family business consisted in importing South-African groceries on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. From very modest beginnings, the family business grew steadily and after 10 years they were all earning very good money.

More info: toolito.com

However after nearly 20 years working together, managerial issues within the business would often see family arguments escalate. It got to the point where working together was no longer tolerable, so Rhett left the comfort and security of the family business to start his own South African Shop & Cafe, which unfortunately didn't do very well and he lost a lot of money in it.

"My passions include Sport, Music & Travel, and now in my early 30's I was at a point in my professional life when I realized that if I don't do something I'm passionate about in life I will never succeed," he explained.

"I thought back to my first big independent travel round the world in 2000, when I met a Dutch lady in Vancouver who was beginning a tour guiding stint showing off the natural beauty of South Western Canada, for which she was being paid and accommodated for. I could not believe there was a career where you could get paid to travel. That thought stayed only in the back of my mind until it became a voice compelling me to seize the day", told him to the french travel website Toolito.com

"I was married with a child and a mortgage and tour guiding was a big leap into the unknown, but it felt like now or never ! The pressures of these career changes, financial strain and raising of a toddler began taking its toll on my marriage. So I began applying for guiding jobs with no experience. It took a while but I eventually got given a start with and adventure agency in Alice Springs, guiding Central Australia. This was unfortunately the final straw for my ex-wife and we amicably parted ways."

"I took to tour guiding like a duck to water and a new found understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal culture lead to a deeper knowledge and intimacy with the already visually spectacular geology as well as the flora and fauna of Central Oz.

My enthusiasm towards tours coupled with my love of playing guitar around the campfires saw customer feedback forms reflecting the fact that I was now doing something I was passionate about. There's only one thing I love more than travelling, is helping others get the absolute most out of their holiday experiences with me, so becoming a tour guide has felt like a big part of my destiny.

The love for my new exciting career helped numb the pain of a broken marriage, but more importantly the yearning to be with my son. Alice Springs isolation and expensive flights made seeing my son very difficult and infrequent, so I eventually got a job guiding Fraser and Moreton Islands with another tourism agency who are based in Brisbane which allowed me to live in my own house on the Northern Gold Coast and see my son more frequently.

When we do get to spend time together, I try my best to make the most out of it, as no longer having him around at the end of everyday makes me appreciate my time with him so much more. My love for both destinations and seasonal fluctuations see me spending spring and summer in Queensland and autumn and winter in the Northern Territory.

The stunning World Heritage listed National Parks in which I guide have inspired a new passion in my life, Photography. My artistic nature has seen me become quite the avid photographer and Facebook has become my shrine to photography. Every tour from the last 2+ years of guiding is stored in a tour album and as you can imagine I've accumulated a very impressive body of amazing photographs in this time.