Many people dream about living in Paris, and embracing a life immersed in the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the alluring City of Lights.
For most, it will stay a romanticised ideal, but for 36-year-old Australian expat Oliver Gee that dream has become a reality.
He is making a living as a podcaster in Paris, sharing tales about the city and its people.
His travel podcast and channel The Earful Tower has more than 300 episodes and has had more than 2 million downloads since its 2017 launch.
Mr Gee says his success still feels surreal.
"I pinch myself pretty much every day … I often think, 'I can't believe this worked out,'" he said.
"It's had two million downloads which I've been told puts it in the top 0.5 per cent of all podcasts."
Mr Gee co-owns the Earful Tower with his wife, Lina Nordin Gee, a fashion designer and illustrator from Sweden, and they've also created children's books, videos and guides to Paris.
"It's kind of common now in Paris to get stopped on the street, because the tourists are coming back now after COVID … people will recognise me for my voice," Mr Gee said.
"That's really surreal, to be an Australian kicking around in Paris and have these people who have listened to so many hours of my show, come up and tap me on the shoulder and say hello."
'It took years'
Mr Gee was born in Melbourne and spent much of his childhood at Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour on the NSW Mid North Coast, before later moving to Sydney and Perth.
He started working in Paris as a full-time journalist in 2015, but found it wasn't the right fit for him.
"It was a serious time to be in Paris … there was a series of terror attacks and a lot going on," he said.
"When you are not a really serious person, if you are covering very serious news, you are swimming in the wrong pond, and that's what I found."
Keen for a change, Mr Gee started podcasting in 2017.
"I started a podcast on the side which really took off, and now it's a career," he said.
"It was hard to make it happen … unless you are a celebrity you can't make a podcast profitable until you have a bunch of listeners, and it took me years.
"It got to a point where I had to turn it into a company and then I had a realisation that this was a real thing."
Bringing Paris to life
Mr Gee attributes his success to being able to tap into the global fascination with Paris.
He explores the city with enthusiasm and curiosity.
"Paris is just a really beautiful city … it's hard to go for an uninspiring walk when you are there," he said.
The podcast moves beyond the Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame cathedral, and the Eiffel Tower, to include lesser-known people and places.
"I interview interesting characters that make the City of Lights shine," he said.
"Paris can feel quite inaccessible, a lot of people want to go there, but they don't really know where to begin. They are afraid they don't speak any French, so it will feel foreign and confusing.
"I break that down by finding people — whether it's an author or the local mayor, or anyone exciting, like an actor, or someone run of the mill, who has lived there for 50 years — and talk about their life.
"Their stories, mixed in with some of my own stories, make the city way more accessible."
'Excited to see where things go'
Mr Gee and his wife now have fun navigating Paris with their one-and-a-half-year-old son.
"I don't know if Paris was built to have children, so it's a bit of a handful, but it makes life interesting," he joked.
"He is a little Parisian boy, which is kind of crazy to think, me having grown up in Port Macquarie."
Recently the family visited Australia on a book tour, which gave Mr Gee pause for thought.
"It's a trip to think Paris isn't just a temporary home, but that we've been there so long and made it such a big part of our life, but I love it," he said.
"I'm really curious to see where things go in the coming years, it's at a really exciting point right now."
