North Stradbroke Island Hotel

We spent the weekend at the North Stradbroke Island Hotel.  As always, when I book a "disabled" room I am a little apprehensive as to whether the room will be suitable.  So many hotels claim to have a "disabled" room which turns out to be anything but.  In this case we were very pleasantly surprised.  The lift to the room also goes to the hotel's bistro and bar.  The room itself is very roomy for a wheelie - and the bathroom!!  There is a rail on the side of the toilet which was adequate for me (I do prefer to have the dropdown rail on the other side).  The basin and mirror is easy to use.  Even the hairdryer is low enough for a wheelie.  Then there's the shower. 

There is a very generous dropdown shower seat with the shower tap and shower head within easy reach.  The shower curtain goes all around and reaches the floor.  There is a very small raised strip in a square around the shower area with a large drain in the corner, so the shower water is channeled into the drain.  There is still some "pooling" within the square, but is easily mopped up with towels.  It was easy to wheel to the shower chair and transfer and then back again to the chair with a towel covering the seat.  It would be good if all "disabled" showers met this high standard.  Unfortunately, the room was let down by the inaccessible balcony which had a "lip" then a small drop.  But, hey, there was no view there anyway.  The bistro had a ramp if you wanted to go down to the next level.  The staff were very helpful and friendly. So the hotel was very well set up for wheelie guests.