When she thought about it she remembered her experience organising tours in Australia and decided to try her hand at leading overseas tours. The first one was to Thailand in 1990 and she has been doing it ever since with tours to Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Japan, Laos etc.

One Melbourne couple has been on 7 tours with Barbara. It is not all plain sailing. It is hard to organise a large group of people to be on the bus at the appointed time and to sort out the problems along the way but Barbara enjoys it. The next tour is to India in October.

Barbara also showed a sample of her collection of textile treasures from some of the countries visited: a hemp bag from Chiang Mai, a vegetable dyed silk woven shawl from Vientiane, colourful belts with bells and bags with coins made in a Mong village, one of many indigo bags bought for $2 in Western Thailand, and a bag with dolls, inkle woven braids, a basket of many colours woven from agave which is the plant used to make tequila, a braid beautifully woven in Ecuador, a Japanese T-shirt with gold stencil, purses and shibori fabrics, an origami bag purchased at the World Quilt Festival, old textiles from Kyoto and two stunning, designer jackets in shibori techniques which are just as beautiful inside out.