encounter - 侃见

14岁辍学，Alli Zhang 独自去北京闯荡。她做过办公室白领，也做过小生意。十多年前来到澳洲后，她从零开始学习美发，和朋友一起开了 Jalli Hair 理发店。丰富的经历让她遇见了形形色色的人，其中也包括澳洲社会中的一些弱势群体。早早离开校园并没有让她停下脚步，反而点燃了她强烈的求知欲。这些年来，她不断学习新知识、新技能，也一直在修炼身心，对人生有了更通透的理解。这一期，我们走进 Jalli Hair，听 Alli 讲讲她的故事。

Vito is an Italian veteran living in Brisbane. He had apilot's licence at 16, joined the air force at 18, and went on to fly fighter jets. During the Gulf War in 1990 he spent 16 months at the front, and after his aircraft was hit he waited three days in the desert to be found. What waited for him at home was severe PTSD and almost no support. At 36 he decided to leave Europe for the other side of the world. We talk about antidepressants, and about what came after he arrived in Australia in 1996 — how he worked his way out of the trauma on his own and went back to university to retrain as a radiographer. We also get into Italian fashion, Italian food, and what's really worth seeing in Rome.

We've all heard different versions of "Australia's Big Three" — so can we redefine it? In this episode I'm joined by two young people based in Brisbane: Taylor, originally from New Zealand, and Malika, from Adelaide.

Taylor is a Sales Lead specialising in organic meat, and she breaks it all down — organic certification, grass-fed vs grain-fed, why wagyu costs so much, how to read the star ratings on mince, and which cuts of beef are actually worth your money. Malika works as a Sports Event Coordinator, and she talked about the "national sport" rivalry between AFL and rugby league, cricket's three formats, and what to know before your first live game.

We also get into how New Zealand and Australia really differ, the pace of life in Adelaide versus Brisbane, dry heat versus humidity, and some genuinely practical advice for anyone who's just arrived as a migrant or an international student.

Meet the legend: Gail Austen — a Member of the Order ofAustralia, an Australian Surfing Hall of Fame honouree, a born entrepreneur whostarted doing business at age seven, and a Telstra Business Woman of the Year.

In this interview, Gail casually drops that she once metJohn Lennon and Yoko Ono in London. She recalls organising Australia's veryfirst billy cart race at age nine to help a family recover from a car accident.She talks about watching a world champion female surfer get sidelined by amale-dominated competition — and how that pushed her to found the AustralianWomen's Surfriders Association on the spot. Add in Goodtime Surf Shop, thestore she's run for over half a century, the 100-plus "troubled kids"she steered back onto the right path, and the time she turned down a fortunedistributing Vans shoes because "I'm not here to make money" — andyou get one colourful life story.

Surfing, survival, and staying stubbornly yourself.

What is art? There is no answer.

In this episode, we sit down with Australian art consultant Cassandra Lehman for an honest and wide-ranging conversation. From career pathways in the art industry to the value of cultural exchange, from the rise of AI to the irreplaceable power of the handmade — Cassandra draws on her experience as an artist, curator, educator and gallery director to remind us: talent is only a small part of it. Art chooses you. The rest of the journey is yours to walk.

"I would die for her," says Selami — known as Sel — a man marrying for the very first time at 82.Six months earlier, Sel had gone through a conflict from a previous relationship — one that ended in a physical altercation and police involvement, leaving him disillusioned. He never imagined he'd find the one so soon.As a carpenter who emigrated to Australia in 1974, Sel had spent most of his life without finding lasting love — yet he still believed in it. Through a friend's introduction, he saw Quynh, then still in Vietnam, for the very first time on a video call."Boom — at the moment, the heart gonna explode," he said. Within minutes, he said the words he had never spoken to anyone in his life: "I like you."Just six months later, at 82, Sel walked down the aisle for the first time — marrying Quynh, his 59-year-old Vietnamese bride, divorced and single for 17 years.Throughout the interview, Sel speaks with unwavering conviction about his devotion to her — insisting he would give anything, even his life, to protect her. A painful past, he says, has finally given way to a love worth staying for.This isn't just a story about international marriage — it's a real, late-in-life testament that love is still worth believing in.

In the mid-20th century, a generation known as the "10 Pound Poms" left behind the bleak, bomb-cratered streets of post-war London. Armed with nothing but a government-subsidized shipping ticket costing just £10, they sailed halfway across the world toward an uncertain future in the Southern Hemisphere. Tony was one of them. In 1961, at just six years old, Tony and his family boarded a legendary ocean liner. After a thrilling 6-week maritime adventure, they arrived in sunny Brisbane—a move that would change their family's trajectory forever. In this warm and authentic interview, Tony shares his lived experiences, reliving what it was actually like to be part of the historic Assisted Passage Migration Scheme that reshaped a million lives. He describes their temporary stay in the Wacol migrant hostel, a former WWII military barracks , and his father's gruelling first job shovelling coal in the blistering 35°C Brisbane summer, which eventually led to pioneering one of Queensland's early swimming pool construction companies. Tony also recalls a wild Australian upbringing, running barefoot through the bush for hours and learning the rustic craft of catching deadly brown snakes. Having travelled the world, Tony explains why he still chooses Brisbane above everywhere else and reflects on the true magic behind the iconic, easy-going phrase, "No worries, mate". That ten pounds was the best investment his parents ever made. Join us as Tony takes us on a sentimental journey through a destiny beautifully rewritten by a single fare.

In a tech era obsessed with high salaries and rapid scaling,Australian Haskell programming expert Isaac Elliott chooses a uniquely clear-minded path. He maintains a minimalist lifestyle, going to bed at 8 PM and keeping his wardrobe tightly curated, while dedicating his technical craft to the niche and elegant language of Haskell. Isaac initially dropped out of college after securing a full-time engineering role. Years later, when he attempted to return and finish his degree, he encountered a bizarre reality: the university was using his own past guest lectures to teach him the very material required for his graduation. This absurd experience of paying to learn what he already mastered made him question the rigid bureaucracy of academic credentials,driving him to walk away from university once again in favor offirst-principles, pragmatic problem-solving.

In the newly released episode of Encounter 侃见,Isaac, who is currently funemployed by choice, opens up about his refreshing "anti-involution" philosophy. To describe the toxic cycle of hyper-competition, he introduces the "theater effect": when everyone stands up to get a better view, the whole audience loses their comfortable seats. Isaac states that he is willing to be the first one to sit back down, believing that breaking the cycle of endless grinding requires a collective willingness to absorb short-term individual losses for the greater good. Unfazed by his current career gap, his low living expenses have allowed him to saveenough to take mini-retirements in his youth rather than burning out for decades only to regret it at 65.

Addressing the global AI boom, this programming expertoffers a grounded and critical perspective. He argues that while AI models excel at breadth and hitting an "average baseline," they cannot achieve true engineering excellence, and their conversational nature risks deepening social isolation. In his eyes, AI will flood the market with mass-produced, low-quality code, turning future software into the digital equivalent of fast fashion. Meanwhile, programmers who care about craft will become high-end bespoke tailors. Even if AI eventually automates programming entirely, Isaac is perfectly content to step into the physical world to makecoffee or lead rock-climbing adventures, reminding us that genuine human connection remains the ultimate purpose of life.

One party is eager for talent, while the other hopes to acquire skills and embark on a new life. This seemingly win-win combination, however, faces rough sailing in reality. Australia boasts vast land and boundless opportunities, yet many who attempt this path unexpectedly encounter closed doors. The once-beautiful vision shared by both sides, under the weight of numerous real-world shackles, has turned into sighs of helplessness.

As Australia approaches the Olympics and undertakes large-scale regional economic development, there remains a significant unmet demand. Students and skilled professionals seeking a new life, armed with their expertise, find themselves knocking in vain on the door to opportunity or forced to pay a high price to squeeze into overcrowded metropolises, walking another precarious tightrope. Meanwhile, practitioners at both ends of this chain must persistently seek survival in the cracks while pondering how to sail against the current.

Wendy, a seasoned immigration and education consultant in Australia, and Mel, an educator running a vocational training institution there, sat down together to discuss this heartbreaking dilemma and the causes behind it. From their respective professional angles, they brainstormed ways to bridge this potentially transformative path.

有没有想过，全世界跑得最快的狗，退役之后都去哪了？在澳洲，每年有大量赛狗（Greyhound）从赛场退役。它们速度惊人，却性格温柔得离谱——不拆家、不乱叫、一天能睡18个小时，被称为"穿着毛皮大衣的沙发土豆"。这期视频，我们与赛狗相伴的Kasey，聊了聊在澳洲领养一只退役灰狗到底要经过哪些步骤、花多少钱、要做什么准备，也展示了他们奔跑时的英姿，以及葛优躺时的懒态。如果你在澳洲，正好想养一只狗，或者单纯好奇这群"退役运动员"的第二段人生，这条视频也许会给你答案。