"When you were a little boy, did you ever think you'd end up living on an island with a kangaroo?" another guest asks me one night. A story for anyone who's ever dreamt of following their heart to do what "seemed like a good idea at the time" - especially if that dream includes escaping to an uninhabited tropical island. "Building Paradise", an inspiring story of conviction, commitment and serendipity, describes David Macfarlane's fourteen-year quest to establish an eco-lodge in the unspoiled but threatened natural paradise of Australia's Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. An escapist fantasy come true, "Building Paradise" ponders the environmental issues facing humanity, the matters that motivate and inspire us, and the reasons we make the choices that determine the direction of our lives. "An extraordinary tale, so very beautifully told. A worthy modern successor to Bamfield's 'Confessions of a Beachcomber'." - Tim Flannery