It took three continents and countless life changes before Kyle Chen and Zhijia Yu’s paths crossed.

Both had come from China, but their journeys to that moment could hardly have been more different.

“I moved to Johannesburg when I was around 14,” Kyle recalls of his path from Southern China to South Africa, where he couldn’t speak a word of English when he arrived. “Math was the only subject I didn’t have to use my English that much.”

Meanwhile, Zhijia’s journey began in Inner Mongolia, where winters plunged to minus 20 degrees. After studying in Wuhan, she chose Australia over America for her master’s degree, drawn by the Australian National University‘s timing and her uncle’s advice about Canberra being “a quiet and nice place to focus.”

Neither knew much about Canberra before arriving. For Zhijia, the city’s quietness was initially shocking. “In China, a lot of people were around. They say ‘once you arrive, just follow the people’ – but there were not as many people to follow in Canberra!”

Yet in that space and quiet, both found unexpected gifts.

“When there are less people, and you have your own time, you can start thinking,

“In China, there were so many people, so much information… You don’t have much time to think about yourself.” Zhijia reflects.

For Kyle, Canberra’s slower pace was instantly appealing.

“I like the green and nature of Canberra, the trees and grass. I like to be in quiet places. For me, it was just a perfect combination.

Their chance elevator meeting led to a library encounter, then dating, marriage, and now two children. Along the way, they’ve built successful careers – Kyle as a web developer at Ernst & Young, Zhijia as a technical officer at ANU’s medical research facilities.

“Canberra is more stable because there is less competition,” Kyle notes of the professional environment. “With a company like EY, there are opportunities to grow within it. You can explore different paths.”

The city’s famous work-life balance has allowed them to discover shared passions – most notably snowboarding, with the slopes just two hours away. “It’s flying with the wind,” Zhijia says of their weekend winter adventures. Summer weekends often find them at south coast beaches, or fishing near Black Mountain.

“That’s an important reason why we didn’t move to other cities,” Kyle explains. “We are close to beach, we are close to the snow. We love these two things so much.”

For Zhijia, Canberra’s natural spaces have become vital to both work and wellbeing. “Sometimes you just don’t even realise – you just kind of soak yourself into the environment, thinking ‘oh, this bird is beautiful’, listening to the sound it makes. I think it’s a kind of recovery.

It’s a far cry from their initial impressions of a quiet capital city. In finding each other, Kyle and Zhijia also found a place where they could breathe, think, grow – and build a life together.

“When my parents visited for the first time, they were shocked,” Zhijia says of Canberra’s friendly, open atmosphere. “In Canberra, everyone will say hello to you. Because it’s small, it’s very friendly.”

Small enough to say hello to strangers, yet big enough to find love in an elevator – that’s the Canberra difference.