Life+ with Fiona Della-Sale: Ricky Wei on swapping Chinese high-rise life for Geraldton’s beach lifestyle

Ricky Wei and his son, Allen, have made their home in Geraldton, a long way from their beginnings. You really couldn’t get much more of a contrast in lifestyle. Guangzhou, a Chinese city of 15 million residents is a long way from the quiet, beach lifestyle they have been embracing since 2019. After visiting Australia, Ricky settled on Geraldton as the optimal place for his son to thrive and it became a reality in 2018. Although, their plans changed for a while after getting stuck back in China during COVID for two years as borders closed. Now back in Geraldton, they are throwing themselves into new life experiences. “Every single second feels like I am on holiday here,” Ricky says, throwing his arms wide to take in the sweeping white sand and blue water of Geraldton’s Back Beach. As surprising as it would seem to some, Ricky appears right at home at the beach. With never having had sand between their toes, father and son ventured down to the Geraldton Surf Life Saving Club to embrace Aussie life. They joined up and completed their bronze medallion in surf rescue and first aid. Since then, they’ve dedicated themselves to volunteering through beach patrols and more recently Ricky has qualified as an inflatable rescue boat driver. For the Wei family, home back in their mega-sized city was on the 22nd storey of an apartment block. The nearest open space was a small, shared urban garden for 400 people. One similarity that can be drawn with Geraldton is that Guangzhou is also a port city, albeit the biggest port city in the world. The city has a long history which extends back 2200 years and it was once the maritime terminus of the Silk Road. For Ricky though, earlier life began a lot further north in Tianjin, a coastal metropolis of 14 million people. His home was in the city centre and he could ride a bike to school. Life was happy with his parents and sister but was very much focused on school and study. Only about 5 per cent of students would be accepted into university at the time, so the drive to make those grades began in primary school. Days at school were long, but with a midday lunch and a short nap at home to help recharge him. “In mainland China, the population at my uni age was 21 million and less than 5 per cent got the chance to enter uni. It was the middle of the 1990s. You can imagine how hard I had to study to pass the examination,” he said. Fortunately, Ricky loved sport and there was much on offer. He played volleyball, basketball, soccer and badminton, which were all hosted after school on the grounds. Dedication and diligence earned Ricky a rare university place and he completed a four-year degree in telecommunications engineering in Beijing. After graduation, he moved for work to southern China, to Guangzhou where he eventually met his wife and together, they had their son, Allen. Linguistically and culturally, there was a significant difference to life in the northern parts. Ricky needed to learn Cantonese. “But also there’s a different way of thinking I had to understand”, he explains. Although, that was easy for he liked the way the people of his new city appeared gentler and more caring, despite what could feel isolating, he found warmth in them. In both his home province and this new one, he and his young son felt lured to the ocean and enjoyed swimming, but “there were no waves”. Ocean waves were an intriguing phenomena Ricky came to notice on numerous work trips to Australia. They returned as tourists and discovered other water sports like kayaking, snorkelling and surfing. With what felt like good timing, Ricky saw rich opportunities for his son in Australia and knowing they wanted to be near, on and in the ocean, the main criteria for a place to settle was work and warm water with waves. They chose Geraldton. Ricky was delighted to find a local company to sponsor him as a telecommunications engineer. Like many migrants, when asked what they most miss about their home country, it’s their food. Ricky’s favourite were the northern China speciality of “hotpot”, mainly a meat and vegetable broth shared communally with family or friends gathered around the table, amid conversation as warming as the broth. Peking duck was another favourite. It appears Allen has quickly transitioned to his adopted country’s food. Right now, though, Allen is focused on the final months of completing Year 12. The intensive expectations of Ricky’s school life experience are something he says he must temper as a parent in what is a vastly different educational setting to his home country. If not, Allen soon reminds his father with a mantra to “not to rush, take it easy, we need to enjoy life”. Ricky laughs at how quickly they have slipped into Aussie living.