[Izziwhizzi]

Hiya

I know there are many Oz contributors to this forum so I would love to pick your brains.

I am starting to plan a trip from the UK in August to Australia. I know its a bit of a daft idea, our summer, your winter, but currently it seems like our only large enough window with kids schools holidays.

I am a tetra and have been to Australia before but it was 12 years ago, and so my memories are a bit rusty. Also this time my husband and I would be travelling with our 5 and 8 year old kids, and no extra helpers. Ideally because car transfers are quite hard and limiting, we would like to hire a wheelchair accessible van in say Brisbane and Melbourne areas. I think in Sydney we would try to stay in town and walk or ferry to most places.

I have really good able bod friends in both Melbourne and Brisbane, and so really a lot of the trip is to allow us to go and be with them for say a week or 10 days each. Although they know me and my chair stuff really well I would love to hear from fellow wheelies based in Oz and get some tips, ideas, activity stuff, or even just the weather we could realistically expect.

Also I would love to hear from any one who has recently undertaken any part of this trip and has some advice or thoughts. Realistically I want to break both ways of the trip with an overnight stay say in LA, Dubai or Singapore, so any advice as to who has done what there is greatly appreciated.

Many many thanks in advance

Izziwhizzi

[HiltonP]

Travelled to Oz on three occasions from South Africa (permanently wheelchair based).

Most recently in Feb/Mar 2007, to Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney and Adelaide, using Perth as a bum break stop-over.

Melbourne, interesting architecture, nice new waterfront district, great food, nightmarish traffic if trying to do day trips outside of the city.

Tasmania, absolutely fantastic, one of our all-time-great destinations! Accessable accommodation throughout, great food, great scenery (Tasman Peninsula, Russell Falls, Lake St.Clair, Cradle Mtn, Strahan).

Sydney, inner city lots of fun, access frustrating, accommodation expensive and limited access, no place for a car (ferries work best). Darling Harbour very accessable. Nice walks around Circular Quay, Opera House and through botanical gardens. Good accessable ferry trips to Manly and/or Bondi.

Adelaide, our favourite Oz city, great beaches and wine routes! Never seen as many wheelchairs anywhere in the world as we saw in Adelaide. Pretty much accessable everywhere.

Did Brisbane, Barrier Reef and Kurunda in 2000 so my info might be out-of-date.
Found the city of Brisbane to be a bit boring (not sure why?).
Did Perth and the whole south-west corner in 2002, with great success.

[Bill Forrester]

We have recently spent a lot of time in developing an information site on accessible travel intially concentrating on Australia.
It is located at www.travability.info
It may contain some ideas for both travel within the major cities and associated areas.
In relation to the stop over Dubai can be difficult to the lack of good accessible transport. Dubai is spread out with about 40 kilometres between the Old City and the Newer Beach areas. In the old city area areas most of the accomodation is on the opposite site of the Dubai Creek from the market districts and the boats across the creek are not accessible at all. Cabs are the only option. On the beach area there is some distance from the accommodation and the Mall of the Emirates again requiring Cabs.
Singapore on the other hand is an extremely accessible city, cabs are plentiful and cheap and the main eating areas of Clarke Quay and Boat Quay along the Singapore River are fully accessible with ample accomodation in the colonial district. If shopping is a priority Orchid Rd and its associated shops are also very accessible again with plenty of accomodation in that area.

[HiltonP]

Bill Forrester, on Jan 11 2008, 12:45 AM, said:

Singapore on the other hand is an extremely accessible city, cabs are plentiful and cheap and the main eating areas of Clarke Quay and Boat Quay along the Singapore River are fully accessible with ample accomodation in the colonial district. If shopping is a priority Orchid Rd and its associated shops are also very accessible again with plenty of accomodation in that area.

Bill,

I don't want to call into question your knowledge of Singapore, but are you defining access i.r.o. someone who can stand, or take a few steps, or someone who is permanently wheelchair bound?

My experience of Singapore (two separate trips) was one of very low levels of access for a permanently wheelchair bound person. Subsequent correspondence with a university graduate doing a thesis on access has confirmed this.

Yes, there are plenty of taxi cabs, but none of them are wheelchair accessable.
Yes, there are accommodations, but few hotel rooms are wheelchair accessable.
The Sentoza Island cableway has a wheelchair bathroom in the cable station, but it is at the top of a flight to 30 stairs.
My wheelchair accessable hotel room had a bedroom the size of a dance hall, but I could not get my 45cm (18") wide wheelchair through the bathroom door.
Orchard Street is filled with stores and restaurants, but most of them are down a flight of steps.

Singaporeans still view a wheelchair as something like a skate-board, a convenience rather than a necessity. They really do believe that one uses a chair to make life easier, and not because one has no other choice. To them "access" = "space", so an accessable room is a spacious room, normally with a bathroom one cannot even get into. They will happily be sitting in front of you and book one onto a bus trip, fully expecting you to rise from the chair and climb the steps into the bus.

Singapore is an interesting destination, but wheelchair accessable it certainly is not!
These are not intended as personal criticisms of Singaporeans, merely facts (the reality).

[Bill Forrester]

HiltonP, on Jan 11 2008, 08:38 AM, said:

Bill Forrester, on Jan 11 2008, 12:45 AM, said:

Singapore on the other hand is an extremely accessible city, cabs are plentiful and cheap and the main eating areas of Clarke Quay and Boat Quay along the Singapore River are fully accessible with ample accomodation in the colonial district. If shopping is a priority Orchid Rd and its associated shops are also very accessible again with plenty of accomodation in that area.

Bill,

I don't want to call into question your knowledge of Singapore, but are you defining access i.r.o. someone who can stand, or take a few steps, or someone who is permanently wheelchair bound?

My experience of Singapore (two separate trips) was one of very low levels of access for a permanently wheelchair bound person. Subsequent correspondence with a university graduate doing a thesis on access has confirmed this.

Yes, there are plenty of taxi cabs, but none of them are wheelchair accessable.
Yes, there are accommodations, but few hotel rooms are wheelchair accessable.
The Sentoza Island cableway has a wheelchair bathroom in the cable station, but it is at the top of a flight to 30 stairs.
My wheelchair accessable hotel room had a bedroom the size of a dance hall, but I could not get my 45cm (18") wide wheelchair through the bathroom door.
Orchard Street is filled with stores and restaurants, but most of them are down a flight of steps.

Singaporeans still view a wheelchair as something like a skate-board, a convenience rather than a necessity. They really do believe that one uses a chair to make life easier, and not because one has no other choice. To them "access" = "space", so an accessable room is a spacious room, normally with a bathroom one cannot even get into. They will happily be sitting in front of you and book one onto a bus trip, fully expecting you to rise from the chair and climb the steps into the bus.

Singapore is an interesting destination, but wheelchair accessable it certainly is not!
These are not intended as personal criticisms of Singaporeans, merely facts (the reality).

As a holiday destination I would agree, however the last five years have seen a marked improvement in accessibility options. I was very careful to make only two suggestions for a stopover that being the Colonial district and Orchid Road. The eating establishments along both Boat and Clarke Quays are devoid of any steps. Orchid Road is now wide and accessible which it definately wasnt 10 years ago. As a short stop over, Singapore would be my choice over Dubai, KL, Bankok or Hong Kong. I will accept that the traditional tourist areas of China Town, the Arab and Indian Districts and Bugas Street are not accessible areas.

[Bill Forrester]

I forgot to add to the last post that there is now a maxi cab service available in Singapore including transfers to and from the airport. It does pay to have these prebooked prior to arrival however.

[Apparelyzed]

Hi,

When I travelled to New Zealand, I travelled the other way, via Los Angeles.

We stopped overnight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

When we arrived at the airport, we had a hospitality phone number to ring, and the hotel sent a free wheelchair accessible bus to pick us all up.

The other advantage of flying to LA, was that we travelled in the morning from Heathrow, and when we got to LA, it was starting to get dark, so we could sleep at night. It does help, being able to sleep at night!

The hotel was accessible, with accessible, but basic rooms, but as we were only there for one night, it didn't bother us.

The bed was also extremely comfortable, in fact, it was, and still is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in!

Hope this helps.

Simon

[Izziwhizzi]

Apparelyzed, on Jan 11 2008, 11:21 AM, said:

Hi,

When I travelled to New Zealand, I travelled the other way, via Los Angeles.

We stopped overnight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel - Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

When we arrived at the airport, we had a hospitality phone number to ring, and the hotel sent a free wheelchair accessible bus to pick us all up.

The other advantage of flying to LA, was that we travelled in the morning from Heathrow, and when we got to LA, it was starting to get dark, so we could sleep at night. It does help, being able to sleep at night!

The hotel was accessible, with accessible, but basic rooms, but as we were only there for one night, it didn't bother us.

The bed was also extremely comfortable, in fact, it was, and still is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in!

Hope this helps.

Simon

Thanks Simon

When I did Oz & NZ before I did LA outgoing, as you said its good for our sleep schedule. And you can get a good few hours shopping in before you fly off again!

I went and had a few days in Figi before landing in NZ, which was fab - bula!. Did HK on way back from Oz - the days before the new airport was built, landing between tower blocks was a bit scary.

Did you do LA on the way back too? How was timings then? Who did you fly with? Any good?

I xx

[Bill Forrester]

In terms of car and van hire here are some links that might be of some help
http://www.wheelaway.com.au/
http://www.disabilityhire.com.au/
http://www.hiremobility.com.au/
http://www.wheelabout.com/

Regards

Bill.

[Izziwhizzi]

Bill Forrester, on Jan 12 2008, 10:28 AM, said:

In terms of car and van hire here are some links that might be of some help
http://www.wheelaway.com.au/
http://www.disabilityhire.com.au/
http://www.hiremobility.com.au/
http://www.wheelabout.com/

Regards

Bill.

Thanks a lot Bill, they look great. Will let you know how things are going with my plans.

I xx

[Apparelyzed]

On the way back, we stopped off in LA as well.

We flew through the night, to arrive in LA in daylight, but it didn't really bother us, as we knew we were going home, so had plenty of time to recover from jetlag when back in the UK.

Our main objective was not to suffer too much jetlag whilst on holiday, which we seemed to manage ok.

Regards

Simon

[Izziwhizzi]

Apparelyzed, on Jan 14 2008, 11:38 AM, said:

On the way back, we stopped off in LA as well.

We flew through the night, to arrive in LA in daylight, but it didn't really bother us, as we knew we were going home, so had plenty of time to recover from jetlag when back in the UK.

Our main objective was not to suffer too much jetlag whilst on holiday, which we seemed to manage ok.

Regards

Simon

Simon

Yes thats what I want to do. If we land in Sydney I don't want us all to be there asleep for a week!

I xx

[lifeisgood]

HiltonP, on 01 January 2008 - 02:12 PM, said:

Travelled to Oz on three occasions from South Africa (permanently wheelchair based).

Most recently in Feb/Mar 2007, to Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney and Adelaide, using Perth as a bum break stop-over.

Melbourne, interesting architecture, nice new waterfront district, great food, nightmarish traffic if trying to do day trips outside of the city.

Tasmania, absolutely fantastic, one of our all-time-great destinations! Accessable accommodation throughout, great food, great scenery (Tasman Peninsula, Russell Falls, Lake St.Clair, Cradle Mtn, Strahan).

Sydney, inner city lots of fun, access frustrating, accommodation expensive and limited access, no place for a car (ferries work best). Darling Harbour very accessable. Nice walks around Circular Quay, Opera House and through botanical gardens. Good accessable ferry trips to Manly and/or Bondi.

Adelaide, our favourite Oz city, great beaches and wine routes! Never seen as many wheelchairs anywhere in the world as we saw in Adelaide. Pretty much accessable everywhere.

Did Brisbane, Barrier Reef and Kurunda in 2000 so my info might be out-of-date.
Found the city of Brisbane to be a bit boring (not sure why?).
Did Perth and the whole south-west corner in 2002, with great success.

Hi Hilton! That is great info! Adelaide sounds like a winner to me! as well as Tasmania..are they any where near the three major airports? Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney?

I am looking now for a trip this July Ausgust..needing a home swap or accomodation.thanks..

[HiltonP]

Sydney or Melbourne to Hobart (Tasmania) = 1hr flight.
July/Aug is not the best time, it's mid winter there!

[lifeisgood]

True Hilton..but I hear even in winter parts of Australia are still mild--70ish..

Besides that is when I need to go there..for several reasons..

SO..Please anyone let me know if they want to swap for sunny FL?? ok so it is HOT here in August..but hey we have the pool! )