OR A Newbie at the art of wheelchair pushing. It has been several years since my wife and I went for a nice walk and because of her illness it looks like being several more so we decided the next best thing would be a wheelchair. I could push and do the walking for two of us. It turns out there is more to pushing a wheelchair than I thought - but hitch a ride and I'll fill you in on the way. ![]() After a short drive from our home we arrived at Minter Gardens for our afternoon stroll. The first thing we noticed was the fragrance of the flowers and the neatness of everything. - Neither a weed nor a McDonalds package in sight. |
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We couldn't help but notice the beautifully cut lawn areas and boxwood hedges as we started off along a path. |
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The path wound upwards past creeks and waterfalls and even Snow White and all her dwarfs. It was then I realised that pushing a wheelchair was a little more demanding . It wasn't that it was heavier than I thought. Fast, slow or stop it still needed quite a bit of strength so by the time we were half way up the hill I was looking for a place to rest or we were at risk of slipping back and joining Snow White and her dwarfs . |
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There were lots of benches so I parked the wheelchair next to one and we admired a beautiful two story birdhouse on top of a pillar |
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Continuing on we passed some Floral Ladies and while photographing one of them I discovered another wheelchair 'no no'. Even if the chair appears to be stationary you cannot leave it or it can turn and head off into the begonias. Retrieving the wayward chair before it could really get going we headed for the rose garden. |
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We entered the wheel shaped rose garden through a rose arbour and naturally had to stop and smell the roses. |
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On the way back down were many sights. The clipper statue, a patchwork quilt and the peacock to name a few. One last wheelchair phenomenon cropped up at this point and it made me wonder why the makers did not put a brake on the handlebars. Going downhill is actually more difficult than up. The chair simply wants to tear itself out of your hands and do its thing in the flower beds again. |
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After passing the astilbe garden we descended to the chinese garden with its pond complete with heron statues. We were through with our walk and at least one of us was looking forward to the next one. |
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