"There was a picture of an amazing looking Excalibur car. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw it," she said. "It was beautiful and majestic and I knew right there that one day I wanted to own one, even though at the time I was desperately poor."

Turning her negative situation in this cold climate into a positive one, Diana earned a little money from baby sitting, and set out to conquer her personal fears, especially her painful shyness, and began studying classical guitar, singing and public speaking.

She won three separate scholarships, obtained her BA degree with a classic guitar major, learned the sitar, taught guitar to 40 students each week and devoted much of her time to teaching handicapped children to also play the guitar.

In the early 1970s, Diana was appointed to the committee of an Australian-American wine club where she tried her hand at wine promotion. Craving the warmth and the sunshine of her homeland, Diana returned to Australia in the late 70's where she recruited a small army of Australian business executives keen to tap into the American market.

Returning to the US, Diana opened a consultancy specialising in promoting Australian foods and wines but this time with a base in Southern California. In the early 80's she established her own specialty wine and food importing business and created a few milestones in the process.

Back home, the Australian Business Review Weekly published a three-page cover-story about this 'dynamic Aussie lady'. The young girl who was once destined to become a business executive's wife had herself become the executive.

Diana returned once again to Australia when her father became seriously ill, and later when her father died in 1991, she moved to Cairns.

In this tropical environment Diana began to teach public relations to small business owners and it was then she revisited her enjoyment of writing and that of food, with her own large food and lifestyle column, which continued for 13 years.