Grieving relatives today paid tribute to former Ilkley woman Tracey Jenson following her death in a road accident in her adopted country of Australia.

Tracey, 35, who grew up in the town and initially went to Australia 14 years ago for a six-month holiday, died after the pick-up vehicle she was driving skidded off a road and smashed into a tree close to her home in Mackay, Queensland.

Her younger sister, Jenny Norfolk, said today the family was still struggling to come to terms with the mother-of-three's death.

She said: "It still hasn't really sunk in yet. Mum and Dad are absolutely distraught, particularly as it all happened so far away and we hadn't seen her since she was last back over here three years ago.

"I'd only spoken to her on the phone a couple of weeks before - she loved the life out there and was really happy - and it's like we're still waiting for her to ring up and say 'g'day'.''

Miss Norfolk, 31, of Wyvil Crescent, Ilkley, said her sister had grown up at the house where she still lives and had attended Bolling Road First, Ilkey Middle and Ilkley Grammar schools.

She had worked on the checkouts at the town's Hillards supermarket before heading to Australia, aged 21.

Miss Norfolk said: "She only went for six months but met Peter on a ranch, got married and decided to stay - she loved the wide open spaces and had always liked being outdoors with her horses and dogs.

"She was someone who liked a good laugh and always had a goal - she and her husband were building a second house themselves - and when she set her sights on something it got done.''

Scores of friends and family attended her funeral in Australia while relatives in Britain staged their own memorial service.