In the words of the Cheshire Cat: ‘I'm not crazy, my reality is just different to yours'. That's how Sandra Jensen sees it too.

The 39-year-old is an avid ‘Alice in Wonderland' fan. She's even named her daughter after the blonde hair, blue-eyed fictional character.

Nicci Baxter (mad hatter glasses), John Baxter (mad hatter glasses male), Karen Lawsome (Alice with bow), Felix, 10, Anderson-Podmore (little mad hatter), Olive, 12, Anderson-Podmore (bigger of two Alices), Jackie Gray (Alice with hat) and Pearl Bishop, 5, (little Alice - front). Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'Her name is Ailís which is Irish for Alice. I thought naming my daughter Alice would be a bit too obvious,” she explains with a laugh.

The mad Alice fan admits she's a little bit crazy. 'You have to be in this line of work,” she says. But it's her reality. Sandra is a street theatre performer and has been since 1993.

She runs Free Lunch Street Theatre Agency in Hamilton and is coming to Tauranga on October 24, to perform in a real-life Mad Hatters Tea Party at Dry Dock Cafe, as part of the free Tauranga Arts Festival ANZ Community Day.

Sandra will be playing her favourite character, the March Hare. 'He's nuts,” says Sandra.

'The character I've created is neither male nor female. You can just go completely crazy with it. It's eccentric and insane, it's so much fun.”

Co-ordinated by Simone Anderson at The Incubator, the ‘Alice in Wonderland' events will include the Alice Olympics and more Alice-themed games.

Sandra has 400 different editions of the book in her collection, which includes ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and ‘Through the Looking Glass'.

'I have everything from T-shirts to tattoos, figurines, jewellery, cups and saucers. If it's Alice in Wonderland, I will get it.”

Alice tattoos? Yes. Sandra has characters Alice, the Red King, Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter, playing cards, Mock Turtle, Tweedledee and White Rabbit inked on her leg.

'Some are about 16 years old,” says Sandra.

Her neighbourhood knows about her Alice obsession and encourage it.

'Just yesterday somebody slipped a copy of the book in my letterbox. Sometimes they leave a note, sometimes it's anonymous.”

Sandra's partner is a collector too. Not of Alice in Wonderland memorabilia though.

They each collect antiques, Kiwiana, retro items and vintage bikes too.

'We don't collect the same things,” says Sandra. 'It's hardly going to be discouraged when you're both collectors. It's not: ‘Why did you buy that?' It's more like: ‘Why haven't you got it yet?'” she laughs. 'It's almost sometimes like: ‘I need a bigger house'.”

They're not messy with their collection, everything has its own place. The 400 Alice books are stored neatly in a bookshelf in the children's bedroom.

Originally published in 1865, Lewis Carroll's novel ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' has been around for 150 years this year.

'Anniversaries come and go and I think it's nice that something as simple as a book is still celebrated 150 years on,” says Sandra. 'It's obviously a classic. I don't think it's dated. You can read it several times and get different perspectives out of it each time.”

Her favourite part is the non-sensible nature of it. 'It doesn't have to make sense. It's both endearing and charming. 'It's not necessarily a children's book, it's a book for all ages.”

The free Tauranga Arts Festival ANZ Community Day is on October 24, on The Strand from 11am-3pm. The Mad Hatters Tea Party is at Dry Dock Café.

The community day will also feature performances from the Sargam School of Indian Music, The Little Big Markets, an outdoor spectacle by Wellington's Binge Culture Collective, and a screening of Morning of the Earth at the Night Owl Cinema at Mount Drury from 8.30pm.