Meet the agent who works from a castle

For most of us, our commute to work involves being wedged amongst sweaty commuters.

Be it over-packed trains, continually being harassed by road ragers in peak hour traffic or showing up an hour late after stopping to pat too many dogs, it’s pretty unideal.

At least, that’s what those in the TW office go through.

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For one lucky travel agent, the commute to work involves travelling through clouds and into a historical tower overlooking a volcanic landscape.

Ben Deering has taken the plunge into multi-tasking his work as a Mobile Travel Agent with taking on a caretakers job at Mount Gambier’s Centenary Tower.

According to the ABC, Deering relocated his family and his business from Adelaide to take on the role, operating his business from the highest landmark in the regional city, in the south-east of South Australia.

“It’s not normal to have a sinkhole that’s on the side of a volcano, which has a lake in it and a tower on top with this view,” Deering told the ABC.

“It’s really, really special.”

“You can’t really get past the view.”

Deering has had to give up a few necessities to work in the tower, like an elevator, toilets, and air-con, but he gets to look out at this view every day.

Source: TripAdvisor

Would we give up toilets and air-con for this view?

Maybe not…

But to Deering, the location is a bit more special.

The ABC reports the last caretaker left in 2016, and with no one around to fill in the role, the doors tower remained inaccessible.

“I was desperate to get inside,” Deering told the ABC.

“I’d been coming here for years and everyone used to say it’d be open when the flag flies.”

“But the flag was never flown.”

“I think I ended up as caretaker by asking the questions at the right time.”

“I’ve got power, I’ve got Wi-Fi so my job runs fine.”

“Probably the only thing it’s missing is a toilet and everyone wonders about that … but I’ll let you figure out how nature works on your own.”

Source: ABC

Locals now know Deering as “the tower guy”, and on a good day he greets up to 100 tourists who stop by for a chat or to climb the tower.

“It’s a real honour,” he said.

“Everyone feels like they have an emotional tie to the tower.

“The lake and the tower are the two things that make Mount Gambier feel like home.”

“I have been dubbed as having a castle as a work office, and when you look at it from the outside it’s pretty hard to deny.”

Deering plans to spend his time at the tower to put it on the map as a major tourism destination.

“It’s a stepping stone to really putting this place on the map from a tourism perspective, and letting so many people appreciate what we have here,” he said.

“I really think people will come from all over the world to see it.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

ben deering centenary tower mobile travel agent mount gambier