In episode 5 of season 3 I talk about the Geelong Disability Expo at the Geelong Arena in Geelong in Victoria which is held in mid February every year now. This venue was the first venue that I’ve placed my accessible business stickers at. Geelong is about 75kms from Melbourne city and you can get there by train from the city and you can drive to Geelong from the city as well. You can also get the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff which is a 45 minute ferry trip and then it’s about a 30 minute drive from Queenscliff to Geelong by car.

In today’s episode which is episode 4 of season 3 I talk about my experience at a motel in Albury in NSW that I stayed in twice on my trip to Canberra in late March and early April in 2024. This is also the second business that I’ve placed my accessible business stickers at now and the first sticker is located at the Geelong Arena where they had the Geelong Disability Expo in February this year. So keep a look out for my stickers on businesses around Victoria and NSW and Canberra and other places in Australia.such as in South Australia too whenever I’m there. I also highly recommend staying at this motel in Albury as well especially now that they have one of my stickers there now.

This is just a quick update about how I’ve just changed podcast hosting from Spotify to Podbean and where you can find my podcast again and talk about upcoming two episodes.

In this episode I talk about my experience at a hotel in Haymarket in Sydney where it wasn’t really accessible outside of the hotel on the street including the restaurants in the nearby areas as well. I stayed at the APEX World Square in Haymarket previous year but they put the price up by a lot plus had to pay $50 a day for parking for the 3 nights I was there but I’m not going to stay there again next time I visit Sydney again.

Coming to you live from The Park Cafe in Goulburn in NSW. First episode for 2024 on Thursday 18th of January at 1pm.

I just got a four month old puppy from a breeder on the 3rd of November 2023 which is an Aussiedoodle and we’re going to be training her as an Assistance Dog for myself. She’s four months old at the moment of this episode as she was born on the 27th of July 2023. It’ll take about 2 years to fully train her to become a fully trained assistance dog which we’ve registered with a local trainer near where we live.

In June, October and November 2023 I attended three disability expos here in Melbourne and I talk about how they were and if they were any good or not. All three events were pretty good overall but some needed a bigger venue.

My parents and I recently did a big road trip from Melbourne to Perth where we did around 8,846kms round trip where we left on 14th of September and got home on Sunday 15th of October 2023. The most accessible motel we stayed at was on the Nullarbor in Western Australia in a town called Eucla at the Eucla Motel. I stayed in room 29 and there was a ramp from the car park to the walkway and then they had a small wooden ramp going up into the room itself which had an accessible bathroom with a accessible shower and toilet which had a grab bar next to the toilet. If you are thinking about doing this road trip I highly recommend staying at this motel on your drive along the Nullarbor. They also operate in the Central Western Time Zone which is 45 minutes ahead of Perth local time.

This was a small country town in regional NSW an hour’s drive from the NSW/Victoria border. The pub was accessible from the back entrance via a laneway where they had private parking available for the public. Inside the pub there’s a dining area where you can order food and then a bar in another room at the front of the pub. They also offer accommodation but it’s not accessible for wheelchairs as the only access is via a flight of stairs to the rooms but downstairs is completely accessible except from the street where there’s a couple steps going into the building from the street. Best access is via the back car park which is completely accessible and flat and they also have a dedicated disabled toilet as well with a ramp going up into the disabled bathroom which is located outside next to the outdoor dining area. I highly recommend this pub if driving from Melbourne to Canberra or Sydney on the Hume Highway.

This fast food restaurant in Dickson in Canberra is definitely NOT accessible to wheelchair users unless they have your own portable ramp. Because there’s a dedicated disabled toilet inside the restaurant BUT people in wheelchairs can’t access the restaurant due to a step going into the restaurant from outside on the street and it’s exactly the same situation for Subway a couple doors away too where they also have a step going into their restaurant too! They have a dedicated disabled bathroom inside Oporto which is fine for people who have a mobility walker or are using a walking stick as you can just step up onto the step and open the doors which opens outwards. Then inside the disabled bathroom the lock on the actual door doesn’t work where the door handle is so there’s a latch just above the door handle that people can lock the door that way but if you are in a wheelchair it’s too high up if you are in a sitting position but you wouldn’t be able to get into the restaurant in the first place unless you’ve got a portable ramp with you! I was surprised to see a dedicated disabled bathroom in this store even though it’s not really accessible from the street! I mentioned it to the management and they agreed with me which was great to see but I still highly recommend going to another store instead of this one! There’s another store in the city opposite the Canberra Centre which is 100% accessible due to the store being street level and has automatic glass doors and everything is flat. So I suggest visiting this store instead of the store in Dickson!