LOCALS UNITE 'WE'RE PIN PALS!'

When Amina Faisal arrived in Mount Isa two years ago, she immediately knew she was a long way from her home in Pakistan.

- By Sarah Marinos

She had moved to the outback Queensland city to join her husband, Faisal, who works in the mining industry.

"I arrived in May and Faisal said it was winter. I asked him if he was sure because it was so hot!" she recalls.

The weather wasn’t the only thing Amina, 36, had to get used to. She couldn’t speak English and she didn’t know anybody. But all that changed when she joined a weekly sewing class at her local library.