A Backpack, a Chair and a Beard

At the age of ten, Eamon Wood first became aware of the vastness of the world beyond the green valleys and blue mountains of his native New Zealand.

At twenty-two, he made a promise to himself: he was going to shake off the last vestiges of boyhood and become accountable for his own destiny. He was going to freefall into the wild.

A paraplegic since the age of four, Eamon found ways to give his wheelchair wings. He became the number one seed in the Kiwi men’s wheelchair tennis rankings, and represented his country on the men’s wheelchair basketball team, travelling the world. But that was in a safe, predictable team setting. He wanted more.

At twenty-eight, he set off on an epic journey, with little more than his backpack, his guitar, and an open mind. He hitchhiked around New Zealand’s southern island. The travelling bug took him to the UK and the USA, then along the fjords and lakes of Europe.

He slept rough, did odd jobs, busked in thoroughfares and made friends with oddballs. He wheeled his way through cities and small towns, searching . . . searching . . .

. . . and found himself.

Join the Wayward Wheeler on his epic adventure, detailed with sincerity and humour in A Backpack, a Chair, and a Beard.