Sharks aren’t as bad as they seem, according to Rezdy’s founder, who told e-Travel Blackboard the underwater creature just has a bad reputation.

e-Travel Blackboard: When and why did you join the industry?

Simon: Eight years ago I did quite a lot of travelling and travelled around the world, which is on the other side of where I currently work. So I worked at a scuba dive centre in Southeast Asia and that was for two years. The first year was a lot of fun because I worked as an instructor and I was able to dive every day.

Then in the second year I went into management and that was less fun because I had to answer phones, take bookings and check emails but working in that side of the business was how the idea of Rezdy developed.

We are not in the accommodation or airline industry, we are a very niche market but we really specialise in that. So now I’m on the other side of the industry because I started this software company and it is the reason why I immigrated to Australia, I really want to help people with location and help them spend more time scuba diving, trekking or horse riding or whale watching – so that’s why I joined the industry.

e-Travel Blackboard: What do you like most about your job?

Simon: It’s really interesting I like to go to networking events and I guess to meet people. That is very much a part of the job, building relationships with the tour operators. We are a company that doesn’t just develop the software but we also meet our clients and organise events – in Lake Macquarie in the north of Sydney there is a beautiful lake and we organised to have people down there for one of our clients and we organised it and that is really interesting.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s one of the biggest achievements of your career so far?

Simon: I will say it was Rezdy. We had to raise money to start it and we raised half a million dollars to develop the software we need.

e-Travel Blackboard: Who do you admire and see as a role model in the travel industry?

Simon: The guy the ‘Best Job in  the World’ campaign, Ben Southall. Also Mike Ford, who was the boss of SiteMinder. I would travel with Mike because what he has achieved for accommodation is helping small properties connect with bigger players like Wotif and Expedia and that is very much what we try to achieve.

e-Travel Blackboard: What destinations are on your travel bucket list?

I’ve only done 32 countries and there’s another 160 to go. I want to go anywhere where I can scuba dive with sharks.

I do that as much as I can – I’ve been doing it for 15 years. A lot of people think it’s scary. sharks have a bad reputation but not all are aggressive.

You can dive with them in Sydney, which is something I try to do as much as I can. There are some amazing grey white shark in South Australia.

e-Travel Blackboard: In your opinion what’s the best place for shark diving?

Simon: The best place is probably South Africa but South Australia because they’re competing very hard.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s a memorable travel experience you’ve had (good or bad)?

Simon: Trekking in Machu Picchu that was a very good trip and mostly because of the way I did it.It was a very natural trek, instead of going by train like most people do, I literally walked a week to get there.

e-Travel Blackboard: What are three things you always take with you when travelling?

Simon: My camera, my underwater equipment - I didn’t take that to Peru, but anywhere else I always take my scuba gear and my underwater camera camera and also some coffee.

e-Travel Blackboard: Name someone famous you’d like to travel with and a destination you’d like to go with them.

Simon: Paul Watson he is a captain for Sea Shepard, a foundation for protecting the sea. I would go on a sea, whale watching expedition with him.