I left my country in 1989. I went to Hong Kong by boat, there were 101 of us on the boat. After 37 days on the sea, we arrived in Hong Kong. We had to transfer to a refugee detention centre in Hong Kong. There were ten thousand people in this centre .

Hong Kong immigration divided this detention centre into ten sections. I stayed there for 4 years and I had to undergo a hard interview with an immigration officer. After the interview,  Hong Kong immigration accepted me as a refugee . One more time I transferred to the Philippines form Hong Kong  before Australia immigration accepted me to immigrate to Australia . I was there for one year .

I arrived in Australia in June 1994 by plane from Manila. The plane landed at Sydney international airport . It is hard to say how I was feeling at that moment, but I remember I was anxious at that time. Then I flew to Melbourne and I have lived in Melbourne since then. But the first day I arrived I had a  lot of  things to worry about. There are many things which are different for a newcomer like me. Culture, society, language and many other things made me feel difficult, but lucky for me this is a nice country, people are very friendly and helpful. Gradually I joined in the society . Everything is OK now.

I would like to say many thanks to Australia  and people who helped me.  Now I accepted Australia as my second country. As you can see, I love flowers too.