My Australia Series 2 - Episode 10

I'm Vijay Khurana. Welcome to the final episode of this series of My Australia, the show about
people from overseas having Australian experiences.
Coming up today
Tony takes a huge leap and becomes an Australian citizen,
Shobbie tackles her fear of fish
and some of our guests meet each other for the first time and talk about their experiences.
First up today, Tony decides to become an Australian citizen on Australia Day.
He's one of 13,000 people from 143 countries who are doing this in ceremonies all around
the nation.
My name is Tony. I'm from China.
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents so I guess really develop a very close relationship
with my grandma.
I made my decision to come to Australia about five years ago, and studied here for about
two years.
I live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
The building I live in is 1920's, really art-deco building but it give you a feeling that it's
a home.
I work for a film company for marketing.
It's mainly about online campaign.
My typical day now would be get up about 8 o'clock and doing some morning exercises and
stretching,
And then I will come back, start to do my daily work and then I will go to the gym to
try to keep myself fit.
I guess it's really a relaxing lifestyle in Australia and I can do a lot of things that
I really want to and people won't judge you on what you do.
I've been volunteering with one of the organisations in Sydney for about more than two years now.
It's ACON. It stands for Aids Council New South Wales.
I guess for volunteering work I get much more than I ever give.
I more appreciate the people around me like I start to hug people and everything and you
really feel that intimacy of people and they always tell me 'one hug a day keeps the doctor
away.'
So, I guess that's something I've learned.
Just when I come down, the last hour, to my citizenship ceremony.
I didn't sleep too much last night. I'm a bit excited and I came to Hyde Park this morning,
see all those people,
I think 'Wow, this is quite cheerful.'
It's like a carnival. It's really festival.
I feel excited.
I think there are thirteen thousand people today, across Australia will become new Australian
citizens. Amazing.
I think I start to call Australia home now, and that's probably the reason that I want
to become an Australian citizen
to get involved with the community and have my say about this country's future.
Ever since I came to Australia I would say I really enjoyed the freedom of being myself,
rather than hiding something.
I think there are two factors that really affect my life, about my sexuality.
In Australia I got more accepting people. I feel there's more tolerance.
I feel more pressure from the family back in China, and the society, if I go to work,
go to school.
Happy Australia Day!
Hello, how are you today?
Good thank you. Do you have your photo ID please?
Sure.
What do I do with the form? Just fill in the top few ones?
Once you become an Australian citizen you can fill out this form.
Now, the main thing today is that with you getting your citizenship is that you receive
your Australian citizenship certificate.
Now the Lord Mayor'll present this to you after at the end of the formalities
and this certificate is your certificate to keep and it's the proof of your Australian
citizenship.
Which region in Shanghai, which district?
Ah, Xuhui.
Ahh! Lovely!
That's very centralised. I go there quite a lot too.
Why do you want to become a citizen?
Because I stay, live in this country and it's always nice and very honourable to be Australian
citizen.
Yeah.
And so you guys are from Manila or?
Mandaluyong.
Well, that's quite a, you know, vibrant city there too.
It's a place where we can easily blend in with the people, with the culture.
I like the lifestyle as well, going to work just 9 to 5 and then after that you still
have a couple of hours to meet your friends, go shopping, watch a movie.
Australia Day is our nation's single largest day of celebration
and citizenship ceremonies taking place here and around Australia today are a significant
part of the way we celebrate this day.
We'll begin today with an indigenous ceremony known as known as a welcome to country.
All of us, bar our indigenous citizens, are newcomers, are immigrants to Australia, sharing
it with its original owners.
You have the right to political freedom and a responsibility to obey and uphold the laws
that give you that freedom.
So if you could repeat after me
From this time forward
From this time forward
I pledge my loyalty to Australia
and its people, whose democratic
beliefs I share, whose
rights and liberties I respect,
and whose laws I will uphold and obey.
Please be seated.
You are now officially Australians.
Jaiyin Wang came to Sydney in 2006 from China to study at the university.
Since coming to Australia he has embraced the freedom of being able to be himself and
has since been awarded a Master degree.
Jaiyin says he feels enormous gratitude for the many friendly people here,
and he's also looking forward to a new chapter in his life which begins today.
Yes!
Congratulations.
Well done.
Thank you.
I feel great to become an Australian citizen.
It makes me really want to commit myself to this country.
After the ceremony we just went down to have the tea together and they all congratulate
me.
We had a great time together. It's really wonderful to be with friends and let them
witness the whole thing.
I have to put on my face. How do I look?
The Lord Mayor approached us and we took a picture together
but we're standing there face to face, talk to her, take pictures together,
that's a different feeling, and it feels nice.
I really enjoy today. I really enjoy being an Australian citizen.
I enjoyed the whole ceremony and particularly all the new people.
I think it's really the beginning of new chapter of my life.
That looked like a a wonderful day and he even got to meet the Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Congratulations Tony and best of luck for the future.
Our next story is not quite so grand but fishing is a popular pastime in Australia and Shobbie
wants to have a go at it herself.
The only problem is she's afraid of fish.
So will she be able to tackle her fear?
Let's find out.
I'm Shobhana Nair and I'm from Malaysia.
I spent most of my childhood in my head. I was, you know, a dreamer.
I was chronically hyper-active and sickly.
Friends would describe me as crazy, probably a bit eccentric.
Because I come from Borneo, I'm not used to metropolitan life. I'm not used to things
being really fast-paced.
So Adelaide was a really nice mix of activity and the slow and comfortable pace.
I'm currently studying Communications and Mass Media in UniSA, Magill Campus.
Jodie George or Robert Bloomsfield?
Jodie, I think.
Lucky! She's awesome.
I've always wanted to work in a bookshop and UniBooks is very convenient because I was
on campus already.
I got the job basically because I harassed the manager until I got the job.
Performing: it's a mix of excitement and nervousness.
It's fun.
It's something I would never give up because even in school I was in the play groups and
I was in public speaking so, the stage calls to me.
It's 4 o'clock in the morning.
I'm going fishing today.
I'm gonna face my fear with that so first time fishing in Australia.
I'm actually very nervous about today but I'm also very excited.
Morning Daddy.
Hey, how was your night?
I've never gone deep sea fishing.
I don't think I've ever been on a boat for that long of a time anyway.
This is my dad and he's come all the way from Malaysia and he's coming fishing with us.
I'm looking forward to that.
Dad has come down to Australia, my mum and my dad are coming down for my graduation,
and I managed to convince him to come fishing with me, mostly because he's generally a very
calm kind of guy and I think I need that around when the fish come up.
And I think it will be good for me to have my dad there with me.
Yeah, the thing is the fish doesn't stop when it dies.
Morning.
Morning.
I'm John.
Shobbie.
Sree.
Sree. This is Pete.
Welcome aboard Glenelg Fishing Charters.
Okay, thank you.
What can you catch with a fish this big?
A fish this big.
Are you serious?
Very serious.
Oh My Lord!
I do like a challenge and, you know, for most things in life I'm not afraid to jump in head
first but I would hope that this is perhaps a little ...
so I can focus on the excitement of it a little bit more up and,
you know, active, so that way I don't just sit and wallow in the fear and the nervousness
of it.
I'm worried the waves are going to throw me off the boat.
I went camping when I was twelve with the Brat Camp.
One of the challenges was to catch and cook a fish and the tragedy was I caught two fishes
which was scary enough
and when it came time to actually cleaning the fish our problem was our fish just didn't
die.
So we had to behead it and fish don't stop moving when they are headless.
So you have this headless thing just spurting blood all over the place.
We were twelve years old. We were terrified.
And I have never forgotten that mental image of that headless, flopping fish.
We got our fish.
We got our tommy on for bait.
Uh hmm.
Just release the bollard, and then let it down.
Just watch the line. We're in quite deep water.
Okay. So how far should you go with that?
All the way til it stops letting the line out.
I think you've got one.
What? Aah!
What if I don't want it?
Now you gotta wind it up.
Why? What am I winding?
You've got to wind this up.
Oh dear Lord it happened.
Stupid fish. Don't cling on.
Not too sure if it ...
Yeah, you got him, I think.
Yeah, I think he's still on.
Oh, you poor guy.
Can I poke it? What fish is that?
Hold it.
I don't trust you.
That's a red snapper?
Yes, it is.
I never knew red snappers had spots.
It's just a metre short.
What's the biggest fish you have ever caught?
The biggest I've ever caught would be probably a seventy pound Sampson fish, around about
four foot long.
We've hooked and released a twelve foot white pointer once,
accidentally, we didn't know it was a white until we got it right alongside the boat
and then we realised it was a white pointer and we had to cut the line and let it go.
Why?
They're protected.
Ah, okay.
Aiee!
These ones will flick.
Holy shit. Oh My God in Heaven.
Holy Shit! That is a shark.
Can you get the shark away from me now?
Yep. Watch your toes there, Mr Cameraman.
Oh, this is not helping me at all.
Help! Oh My God.
I'm actually a bit nervous about sharks because recently there have been some newspaper articles
about sharks getting people out of the water.
I know I won't be out of the water but I think fish know when they are afraid of you,
and sharks technically are a fish, so I think they'd be around.
I will stab you! Aaaah!
Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it.
Okay, you know what?
Stuff this. I'm sick and tired of being scared of a stupid little thing.
Does it flop or wiggle a lot when you're holding it?
If you hold it firm, no. You just got to hold it firm around the gills.
Holy Mother of God!
Bad timing.
Hold it firm around the gills my foot
Just measure it and make sure.
Yep, he's legal, 40 centimetres.
Grab the tail.
That's it. That's it. That's the way. Now hold it firm.
Oh My God!
You are holding it, you're holding it.
I don't want to hold it.
I don't want to … don't let go.
You're doing it. You've got it.
Don't let go.
I already have.
Ah! Okay. Take it away from me now.
Say something to the camera
I hate this!
You want to put him in the bin?
What bin?
There, just behind you.
Oh my…
It's alright. Drop him in there when you can.
Good and done.
Oh My God. It's the flopping.
It's the flopping that scares me. It's… icky!
Oooh. Wash my hands.
I was a little nervous at the time, sort of just thinking, you know,
okay, see the fish, deal with the fish, hold the fish, kind of things. Like, you know,
it's small steps.
But I never realised how afraid I actually was until I saw the fish. So it was very interesting.
I don't think it's very normal.
Uh uh!
I do not think I've overcome my fear.
I think I might have gained a new fear of boats but, I don't know, I think it might
be something I'll have to work on.
It was good, definitely good for Shobbie.
She has learned a lot from this experience. I hope it does do her well in the future.
Anyway she has gone through this experience.
It's an exciting one for her, something to learn from it.
Glad I had the experience but I probably wouldn't do it again simply because I don't think it's
good for me to go through that over and over again.
You don't want to give it a kiss good bye?
No, thank you!
Great work Shobbie. I have to say I don't mind lazing about in a boat but I'm not very
good at actually catching fish.
After the break, some of the My Australia guests meet each other for the first time
and talk about their experiences. Stick around.
Welcome back. We've spoken to some amazing people on My Australia and asked them some
interesting questions. Here are some of the best.
Hi, have you ever been ... worked as a waitress?
Yeah.
What's it like?
Horrible.
Can you show us the size of the biggest fish you've ever caught?
Well …
That big.
That's pretty small.
It's not an ice cream silly.
What was your proudest moment?
To come into this world.
When you were born?
Yep.
Okay. And how did it feel?
I don't know. I don't remember.
The wave hit the boat - boom, boom, boom -
chandeliers rattled, chandelier dropped, went down,
bounced off his head, which was bald, bounced off, hit his nose,
landed in a bowl of soup, splashed all over him.
I just stood there and looked and said, 'I'll get the manager.'
I was in schoolies in Byron and we thought it would be fun to light some fireworks in
the nud, in the nuddy, so that was pretty hard core.
You were nude lighting fireworks?
Yep, that's correct.
You're responsible for this makeover?
Yeah, for sure.
Okay, and are you happy with the way it turned out?
Yeah.
Can you describe how he looked before this?
Not good.
What's the most radical thing you guys have ever done to your appearance?
Pierced my nipples.
Well, it's the final episode of My Australia for the series and what better way to celebrate
than to get some of the guests together for the first time to share a laugh and talk about
their experiences. Check it out.
Hi, good morning.
Hello.
That must be Jasmine is it?
Hello, yes.
Hi Jasmine, Frankey.
Hi Frankey, nice to meet you.
Hi Miva.
Miva and ...
I'm Shobbie.
Shobbie.
Ah we decided to go out on a picnic and the families have bought a little bit of food
which we are going to share during this picnic and also try to get to know what exactly have
been the experiences.
Awesome.
Okay, I'll set the table.
Why?
Why?
I learned how. I did a bar tending course.
Oh! When?
She's going to be using all her skills out here.
What did you learn?
Ah, God, I learned how to pull a beer, so pull it from the tap so it's not so foamy
or flat at the top.
I learned how to take food orders because a lot of bars in Australia, food is a part
of the pub.
I learned not to drop a lot of plates.
That was hard.
Did you drop anything?
Of course I did. Dropped a lot of plates.
So what else did you do on My Australia?
We had a cricket picnic. It was a forty degree day.
Do you follow a lot of cricket?
No. I didn't know how to play cricket.
It's wonderful.
I just know the basics and the people wear white pants when they play, that's all.
But I learned how to bowl, how to hit.
Ahh!
I just got run out. I want to win!
After the cricket we had a barbecue and I was always curious for what was in a sausage.
Why do think barbecues are like the central part of the Australian summer?
Because we're lazy.
Do you know that there's such a thing as like kangaroo sausages?
Actually wasn't there a girl, Christina, from Perth?
She had to eat kangaroo meat. She'd never eaten it before.
Did she like it?
Ah yes, apparently she did.
I like the texture.
I like that it's juicy and tender.
Shobs, you know what you should do?
You should tell them about what happened when you went fishing.
You want me to talk about the shark?
Yes, talk about the shark.
Okay. We went fishing for red snapper.
It was like at seven or eight in the morning and I have a fear of fish which is interesting
and we pulled up a shark on the boat and I was scared.
I will stab you! Aaah!
Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it.
But I hear that Tony from Sydney actually went swimming with sharks, by choice.
How big were the sharks?
Humungous. They were very, very big sharks.
Are they dangerous?
Well, generally they are sharks, so I figure, yes.
You want to go swimming with sharks?
Maybe.
How about you?
No.
Good, my team.
He's a little scared about sharks.
Time to eat. Thank God.
We've been only staring at it for a long time.
It smells really good.
It smells really good.
It looks good.
It tastes good too.
She's a good cook, a good cook.
Thank you.
Finding out what different people did on the show was really interesting because I got
to see what Australia meant to different people and just how they integrated different parts
of the culture into their lives.
Jasmine and Shobbie, have any one of you already graduated?
I only just graduated.
Oh congratulations.
Thank you.
I'll be graduating in July. This is my last semester.
Have you seen the story about Jason from Tasmania?
He graduated recently, and his parents came over.
It was a very emotional story then.
I think this exposure, all this exposure will certainly help him a lot in overall, and for
the future.
Hopefully Sampson and Shane one day will be graduates and we'll be there to see them.
Well, graduations are really, really being events for us.
Like my parents value education so much so they're there with gongs on.
Dad, tell them some things that you did in Australia.
Oh well, Australia, mmm.
First and foremost we went down to this adventure park, the St Kilda Adventure Park,
and having worked in India for almost like 24 hours a day, doing so many things, here
I had the opportunity to take out my family out to an adventure park.
And mind you the kids really had a great time out there.
Oh! I have to tell you about the dragon boat race.
Ooh!
Wow.
Yes, prior to going for the dragon boat race I tried to look into why exactly the dragon
boat race was held,
met up with a few Chinese friends to know about the tradition part of it.
And I learned a little bit of Chinese language also so that I could communicate with the
people that are there.
Ah, what did you learn?
Oh, just to say Good Morning to them or other ways to greet them.
But when I actually went out there, turned up, I met with a bunch of Aussie guys.
It was a bit surprising.
Oh, I'm looking out for some Chinese guys and I'm meeting up with the Aussies.
But it was a great experience, to learn the dragon boat and the enthusiasm that they showed
was tremendous.
So Frankey, what else would you like to do on My Australia?
I think, given an opportunity, there are a whole lot of things that you can actually
do out there in Australia.
But the first thing that's on top of my priority list is to get up on to the Sydney Harbour
Bridge.
Oh, man, too late! Thao has already done that.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
And I think she made it to the very top.
Whoa!
She went the whole way?
Yeah.
Very brave, I must say she's quite brave.
I think the view must have been really good.
Yeah, and speaking of heights, did you hear, did you hear Shaiful went up in a hot air
balloon?
I think that's actually higher up than the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The fire bit in the middle, that would freak me out, you know, with the fire coming out.
So then how do you plan where you land?
I think you got control ...
Yes.
Of the fire thing.
Yeah, the fire thing.
Ah, man.
Jasmine, I heard you went out mountain-bike riding.
Yeah, yeah I did.
We biked down Mt Lofty, which is the highest point of Adelaide.
That was a really, really good experience. I've never gone mountain biking in my life.
So some of the parts of the trails are really rocky and that's when it gets really exciting
because then you go 'bump bump bump' and I think all of us fell down our bikes.
Yeah and I also did another story, which was the Santa Fun Run.
Where did you get your Santa suit?
Oh, so they give one out to every participant who registers.
We had beards and a hat and a belt and yeah.
So how many Santas were running?
A thousand, more than a thousand.
Did you get to keep your Santa suit?
Yes. I still have it.
Halloween, you're set up.
Yeah. Yeah, and another story I did was seeing the pandas at the Zoo.
So I got to go behind the scenes and feed the pandas, touch the pandas.
You are a lucky one.
Yes.
Yeah, I was. I was really lucky.
Hi, Funi.
No, it's been really good, having all of you here today.
We've got some great food. Thanks for cooking the rice and -
Not brewing up stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's finish off with some Australian lamingtons and juice.
Yay! Cheers, cheers.
To My Australia!
That's it for this series of My Australia. It's been a blast presenting it for you.
Thanks for watching.