From fleeing the Taliban to working at a Wickham boatyard, it's been an epic journey for Sakhidad Hassani.
The 37-year-old, who had never seen the ocean before his flight from land-locked Afghanistan, started at Midcoast Boatyard & Marine as a casual yard hand in November last year.
"All the people here are so good and I feel safe," Mr Hassani said.
Even though communication was a challenge between the Afghani refugee and his new team, Mr Hassani's "work ethic and positive attitude" earned him a full-time gig two months later.
"This job is a lot of hard work and it's been difficult to find good workers," yard owner Belinda Randall said. "We have 14 people that work here as a team and each and very one of them was absolutely delighted when he started."
In August last year, Taliban fighters swept across Afghanistan and took control of the capital, Kabul.
Mr Hassani is a member of the Hazara community, a minority ethnic group in the country. Amnesty International reports from 2021 tell of the "massacre" of Hazara men by Taliban fighters in the Ghazni province, where Mr Hassani is from.
"It is very dangerous," Mr Hassani said. "In Afghanistan when I take the highway to work. Maybe sometimes I make it to work but sometimes get killed."
Employed as a builder in his homeland, Mr Hassani was on one of the last evacuation flights from Kabul airport by the Australian military. In the limited English he has picked up since being in the country, Mr Hassani told the Newcastle Herald what it was like on the ground in Kabul.
"There was a big problem at the airport and there were people being killed," he said. "I came around to a different entry with maybe 500 people. Big entrance had two million maybe three million. The gate got broken.
"There were people with no papers and no passport coming from everywhere to escape because of the Taliban."
Mr Hassani's wife, Fatemeh, had already been in Australia for around five years and was in contact with the government to have her husband evacuated.
After around six hours waiting at the overcrowded airport, waving a passport and Australian papers above his head, Mr Hassani was seen by a member of the Australian military and pulled from the mass of people. Speaking no English, he showed them his passport and papers, told them his wife's name and was escorted to an aircraft.
The flight took him to Dubai where he was connected to Brisbane. A two-week COVID quarantine later and Mr Hassani made the trip to Newcastle and his wife.
The couple are expecting their first child in the coming weeks.
"Maybe one month, maybe three weeks. Maybe tonight."
Ms Randall said Mr Hassani's presence has brought her team together. She said they have broken the "xenophobic" stereotype of the Aussie tradie and treated their new colleague as "family", helping with with things like buying a new car, going to the dentist and getting his licence.
"One of the boys went to Sydney with him to buy a new car. When he got his drivers license here in Australia one of our guys went and sat in the car with him for the test," Ms Randall said.
Shipwright, Lucas Moffat, has worked at the yard for 10 years. He said Mr Hassani's positive attitude has rubbed off on the rest of the team.
"He's great. He's keen to learn, he's very positive and get's on well with everyone. He's also a hard worker," Mr Moffat said. "He's always got a smile on his face and is really trying hard with his English.
"His story makes you think about how good we have it."
Mr Moffat said with a new car and a baby on the way, Mr Hassani enlisted the help of him and two others to install the baby seat.
"He didn't really have any idea how to do it. But he is willing to ask for our help."
