Norerriz Labrador was at the peak of his career in 2016 when fear overcame him.

“My career is going well, I have good prospects and good money, but I see a feeling of insecurity,” he said.

Mr Labrador had been a pastry chef for a year at The Star in Sydney, Australia’s second-largest casino, as thoughts of returning to the Philippines began.

“If [I lost my] job and can’t find another job I need to do [go] back, “he said.

Fearful of losing her job – and the life she is trying to create for herself and her partner – she seeks permanent residence with her employer.

When that didn’t happen, he turned to regional Australia.

After five years on Mount Gambier on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Labrador struggled to see himself elsewhere.

While he might have foreseen some changes, such as switching from a luxury hotel kitchen to a country bakery, he didn’t anticipate how much he would connect with the region’s landscape.

It’s a steep bend from Manila’s bustling streets to quiet mornings in dense forest, old volcanoes, and along rocky coastlines that make her fall in love with.

Baking since childhood

Mr. Labrador is destined to become a pastry chef.

“When I was a kid, we used to have a bakery and I grew up on flour and butter,” she says.

Her father, uncle and brother were all pastry chefs.

Mr Labrador said if someone in his family wasn’t a pastry chef, they were very good cooks.

“In our clan, we are a clan of chefs,” he said.

Every weekend Labrador said his father would bring him little cakes to try.

“Every time I taste it [it] like heaven, “he said.

One day Mr Labrador’s father took him to one of the luxury hotels where he worked.

“When I entered the brown room it was like, ‘Wow,'” he said.

While his family is full of them, Labrador says pastry chefs are a rare breed.

“It takes hard work and your artistic side,” he said.

“If you really like to call yourself a pastry chef, then you have to know how to make bread, chocolate, ice cream, celebration cake.”

Work in the big kitchen

Thanks to his father’s connections, Mr Labrador was able to enter the luxury hotel industry after school.

She started out as a laundry clerk, worked in the kitchen and studied under the best French pastry cooks.

At the Makati Shangri-La, a luxury hotel in Manila, she was assigned her own assistant in the kitchen.

One of them, a woman named Mary Jane Valenzuela, later became his wife.

“It’s funny because at first he hated me so much,” said Labrador.

“Because I’m so excited and so excited, most of the time I’m a little cranky and hard to work with.

‘Lucky’ moving to Australia

For Mr. Labrador, the plan is always to work abroad.

“In the Philippines, you spend a lot of time honing your skills and improving your attitude just to leave the country… in search of greener pastures,” he said.

After a year of knockbacks, he was “lucky” and won first place in Australia in 2015.

But it’s not a free ride at all and costs $ 16,000 to get to Sydney.

“It was very stressful,” said Labrador.

He only worked with his first employer for three months before moving to The Star.

It wasn’t until a year after he moved to Australia that he was able to bring Valenzuela from the Philippines to accompany him.

“I’ve never cried that hard in my life,” she said.

Move from Sydney to the countryside

When Sydney couldn’t grant him permanent residency, Mr Labrador responded to a Filipino friend on Mount Gambier.

The owner of Metro Bakery & Cafe – a large cafe and catering business – offered her a management position and a job for Ms Valenzuela in the same kitchen.

Having never heard of Mount Gambier or Limestone Beach, he views the move with optimism.

“I’ve worked in the big cities forever,” said Labrador.

“Thinking now, it’s a good decision because I rediscovered my love for nature, especially here.

Fall in love with the Limestone Coast

On the days Mr Labrador was not in the kitchen, he was still up before sunrise but instead of baking, he took photos.

Sometimes the light was in his favor, other times it wasn’t.

He had his first camera in Manila but didn’t really get into photography until he discovered the Limestone Coast landscape.

The big difference is being able to get in the car and go anywhere.

“For me, to create a good image you have to put your passion on the ground,” said Labrador.

After five years on Mount Gambier, that is what the couple is preparing; leave.

Labrador said the couple had an agreement that, after spending five years on Limestone Beach, Valenzuela can decide where to move next.

Although they are not sure where they are going, Labrador plans to run its own bakery in Australia.

“I want to make a garage bakery [where] You bake bread in the garage and sell it, “he said.

But for now, he’s enjoying every sunrise he leaves on Mount Gambier.

“I’m really going to miss this place – every day, every hour,” he said.