Siegfried (Ziggy) Pyka
| Town/City | Deloraine |
|---|---|
| First name | Siegfried (Ziggy) |
| Last name | Pyka |
| Country of Origin | Germany |
| Date of Birth | 6/7/1956 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1987 |
| Submitted by | Angelika Pyka |
Story
In 1986 when the Chernobyl disaster happened we (my wife Angelika, two children Ben (6) and Charlotte (3) and me) decided to leave Germany. The fallout was so bad and we where really worried about the future since Europe was/is full of nuclear powerstations.
In 1987 we finally got our immigration papers and left Germany for a new life in Australia
I remember we flew into Perth WA and a lady asked me “that’s where you want to live, look it’s all dry”. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt really scared and worried. I loved the European forest and now everything looked dry.
We lived for 8 years in Perth and it was very hard to lean English. I had a crash course in English 6 weeks and it was swim or sink, and swimming we did. I worked in the bulding industry and built several houses and also did some wrought iron work. I still missed the forest and climate more than anything, I also always longed for some land of my own.
In 1994 I met someone telling me about the medicinal plant ginseng, at the time the internet was not even up and running and in the libraries there was hardly any information on this plant. What I did found out it needed a colder climate and the seed was planted I needed to grow this plant. In 1995 we moved from WA to Tasmania, this was the best move we did, the children now nearly teenagers and we settled in pretty quickly. We bought 5 acres near Westbury and started planting ginseng. In 1999 we bought some more land and also build up a salmon farm near Deloraine Tasmania. The salmon farm has its own processing facility for smoking the fish and is also an ecotourism venture. After 14 years of research and planting the ginseng farm is also still going strong.
Coming to Australia especially Tasmania was the best thing we ever did. We now have grandchildren and we are very grateful for living in this beautiful country.