I graduated Burnley Horticultural College, Melbourne, Victoria, 1966. Became the Seed Collector at Kings Park, Perth, WA. I travelled all over WA. In 1968, moved to Canberra, ACT, to the Seed Section, Forest Research Institute. There I travelled all over Australia, and to Timor, my first overseas trip. Next, the Seed Section, Australian National Botanic Gardens. I took a posting in 1979 to Kathmandu, with the Nepal-Australia Forestry Project, to oversee the building of a national seed store, and help establish community nurseries. I returned from Nepal to the ACT Parks and Conservation Service, Canberra. A Churchill Fellowship Awarded 1986, enabled travel to the UK, Holland and USA. In 1993, I was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for my ‘services to urban horticulture'. My horticultural media career lead to public speaking and leading garden tours all over the world. I retired in 2009, but continued travelling, often to places off-the-beaten-track, such as the Simpson Desert.