"Their experiences are often humorous, sometimes painful, and always spiritual as they rely on each other to get through these daily adventures. "…Paraplegia News, (magazine), Phoenix, Arizona, (monthly circ: 25,000+) Aug. 1999.

"… turns the day-to-day details into both a very realistic practical guidebook and the story of a successful achievement."… Disability Times, London, Oct., 1999.

"I saw this book at the NC Writers Network conference… I saw others pick up this book  and found that they were just as intrigued as me by the fact the book offers a new glimpse of travel in a very difficult fashion… I hope to see more writings by this author."… marelyn@mindspring.com's Public Reviews, Amazon.com.

Today God allowed me to see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. This morning the forty of us arose from our bunks in Mintaro Hut, had our breakfasts, put on our now dry clothes, and one by one started up the trail toward Mackinnon Pass.

I think we were all moving a little slower after yesterday's hike. This day's nearly twelve-mile tramp, including a side trip to Sutherland Falls, would be the toughest day of all. The rain had disappeared leaving brilliant sunshine and southerly winds. It was a perfect day to climb the pass and marvel at its impressive views.

We weren't prepared for the [Sydney] harbor's breathtaking beauty and all that surrounded it. I found it easy to empathize with the English writer Anthony Trollope who confessed:

"I know the task would be hopeless were I to attempt to make others understand the nature of the beauty of Sydney Harbour. I can say that it is lovely, but I cannot paint its loveliness."

The melodramatic story of Sydney Opera House's construction sounds more like that of a Soap Opera House. A worldwide competition was held for its design in 1956 and was won by Danish architect Jøern Utzon (out of 223 entries from thirty countries). His soaring white concrete shell design was inspired by palm fronds and yacht sails on the harbor. But construction proved extremely difficult and resulted in huge cost overruns. At the height of the hue and cry and hassles, Utzon – in his own words – was "forced to resign" and the building was completed by a consortium of Australian architects. The taxpayers never paid a dime for the huge costs, however. In true Aussie fashion, a series of New South Wales Opera House Lotteries paid out a $224,000 ($162,000 U.S.) first prize every two weeks and completely covered the shortfall. The Opera House took fourteen years to build and was completed in 1973, ten years past its original scheduled opening date and ninety-million dollars past the original estimated cost of twelve million. The final indignity to Utzon's design is that the Opera House is too small for most operas!

The first thing we saw was a group of campers hand-feeding about a dozen very tame wallabies. Soon Anne joined in and I got some splendid photographs. We continued past more wallabies and plump green-beaked Cape Barren geese, eventually finding our way to Cape du Couedic (Baudin was here) on the southwestern shore. Topping the cape was a picturesque "automatic" lighthouse built in 1906. With considerable difficulty we trundled down a long path, Anne in her wheelchair, to the amazing Admirals Arch, a great open-ended cave. Rodger had called it the ninth wonder of the world and Anne wanted to see it no matter what. The merciless seas had carved a giant archway out of a limestone promontory. It was large enough to shelter at least a small neighborhood. Sunning themselves on the nearby rocks were several New Zealand fur seals.

Available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com © Patrick Simpson Wheelbooks@Yahoo.com