Ivy Wong has called Hong Kong home for nearly 14 years, and says she chose to live there as it was one of the safest cities in the world.
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But in recent weeks, the former Canberran has seen the streets swarmed by more than one million pro-democracy protesters, and clashes with police involving tear gas and rubber bullets.
"It's been very worrying for everyone, not just for Australians but for all of the expats living here," Ms Wong said.
"There's been a lot of disruption in people's day-to-day lives."
Ms Wong, who grew up in Canberra before moving overseas in the late 1990s, now runs a business importing Australian meat to Hong Kong and selling it to local businesses.
She says she, along with many other business owners in the city, have faced mass disruption due to the protests.
"It affects you and also our delivery drivers, and you're not able to get home sometimes without suffering from the after effects of tear gas," Ms Wong said.
"Drivers have had to stop for a couple of hours so they can settle down after being exposed to tear gas while they've been inside a car or delivery truck.
"I've had to tell my staff not to wear black or white shirts so they don't get attacked. This is the reality for young staff members now."
The protests in Hong Kong have shown no sign of abating since they began more than two months ago.
Millions of people took to the streets in June in protest to a controversial bill, that would allow people arrested in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China.
While Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, a few days later said that the bill would be indefinitely delayed as a result of protests, large-scale demonstrations continued across the city, calling for the bill's complete withdrawal.
Anger has also grown at alleged police violence towards protesters, with demonstrators also calling for Ms Lam to resign and wider democratic reform in the city, fearing the growing influence of the Chinese government.
Last Monday saw a citywide strike, with protesters blocking trains and roads and an estimated 350,000 people staying home from work, culminating in further demonstrations.
Much of the protests have been organised through social media and have been largely unified in their approach, despite having no leader to the demonstrations.
The growing turmoil in Hong Kong has led to the Australian government upgrading its travel advice for tourists, telling them to exercise a high-degree of cation.
The growing unrest and political turmoil in Hong Kong in recent weeks has prompted many nervous phone calls and messages from relatives in Australia to Ms Wong.
She said while Hong Kong had seen many large-scale demonstrations before, such as the Umbrella Revolution protests in 2014, the situation this time had become more fraught.
"The violence is worrying. The tear gas and the riot police and seeing 2 million people waking down the street, that's worrying. But there's a bigger story than the tear gas flying around," Ms Wong said.
"This has been going on for nine weeks and so we're going to ride this out, but it is worrying and people are worried, and we'll look after ourselves as best as we can."
Ms Wong said the approach of Hong Kong's government had been concerning.
"It's all been very cloak and dagger," she said.
"For whatever reason, they're not really responding to what has been happening."
Despite the unrest in the city, Ms Wong said she and her family were staying put, saying that other large-scale protests Hong Kong had seen had lasted longer.
"Hong Kong is still one of the easiest and most welcoming places to own a business," she said.