'It was so slow, I kept telling myself, don't worry we'll be there soon ... Then, when we finally arrived in the town, we kept going, onto a dirt road and to the mountain. I started to cry, I cried for almost three months.'

But curiosity for the spectacular landscape - on the edge of World Heritage-listed Wollemi National Park - soon began to take hold. She started disappearing into the Bush, 'sometimes for whole days at a time without telling anybody'.

'Reg tried to tell me, 'In the Australian Bush you don't just go off without telling anybody.' But while I stayed in the Bush, I started to read books and I stopped crying.

'I started looking around at the different birds and the trees, and I thought, 'I've never seen this before; it's beautiful.' That's when I decided that if I were to stay here, I could be an artist and start painting about the Bush, about nature, about Australia.'

Na grew up in Xian, Shaanxi province, the daughter of teachers who expected her to follow their career path and to marry locally. But a rebellious streak ensured she followed her heart - and her art.

After studying at Xian Fine Art College, she moved to Beijing, where she worked as a documentary maker for CCTV. There, she met Buckland, whose work was being exhibited at the renowned Creation Gallery. With no language in common, the two communicated by drawing on scraps of paper. They got married shortly before moving to Australia.

Fast forward almost 12 years, and Na's art, which has been exhibited at Rylstone's Number 47 Gallery, is not her only success story. She has become something of a local celebrity, having transformed an old building into a boutique shop-cum-restaurant, called 29 Nine 99, after her auspicious wedding date.

Home-made dim sum and jasmine tea are on the menu (her cooking skills were honed in Rylstone, not China) and the shop is bursting with colourful Chinese village clothes, cooking utensils, ingredients and Shanghai Tang-esque artefacts sourced on trips to her homeland.

'When I visit Asia now it is very stressful. Here, it is like very still water, very deep and meaningful. I cannot imagine living in Beijing now.'

More importantly, Na says Australia has given their son, Laandy, who has autism, educational opportunities he would not have had on the mainland.

Despite her assimilation, her past still influences her future: 'There is so much for me here. One day I might start a tai chi class in the backyard. If anybody enjoys it, they can come do tai chi with me.'