The Workshops Rail Museum, Ipswich

We enjoyed a great day out at the Museum last week.  This is an old building, originally used by the workers to repair Queensland's trains.  The Museum has done a lot of work to make the museum wheelchair friendly and that made the day especially enjoyable for me.  I used the toilet which is also a baby-changing room.  I am always wary of these "joint" facilities as it is not always a hygienic arrangement.  There was nowhere to put my handbag except the floor or the table.  The toilet roll holder is almost on top of the toilet rail so gets in my way, especially when transferring from the toilet to my chair.  It was a good-sized room with more than ample space.

 

Belvedere Hotel, Woody Point

Baby change area

I had a very pleasant lunch at the Belvedere Hotel, Woody Point last week.  Then I used their disabled toilet.  I opened the door by pushing it as hard as I could only to find myself in a confined space where I faced a baby change table immediately in front of me and another door to the left of me.  I then pushed the second

There is a blue chair on the right

door open which was a bit awkward and I was then able to lock that door.  There was one of those large toilet paper containers right above the handrail and was in the way while I manoeuvred to sit on the toilet and again when I stood, holding on to the rail while pulling my pants up.  There was a chair in the toilet where I could put my handbag (a plus).  When I'd finished, I reversed the procedure to get out where I then had to pull the heavy outer door open after entering the baby change area.  It occurred to me it would be difficult for a person changing a nappy to have someone push the outer door in on them.  Perhaps I should be giving these toilets a rating. Okay, I will. 31/2/5

Pull this heavy door to exit

 

Mon Komo, Redcliffe

Lovely view from my room

Lounge space, moved coffee table

I spent last weekend by myself on the fourth floor of the Mon Komo Hotel at Redcliffe.  Fortunately, it was quite well set up for disabled access but it is a huge thing for me to be staying somewhere by myself for the first time since my injury. I have stayed in a number of places with my husband that weren't really suitable for me to be on my own.  My sister who travelled with us to Italy last year so understood my requirements, checked out the disabled access room at Mon Komo and told me I should be able to manage it.  My husband dropped me off there (he was going interstate).  The door to the apartment was very heavy for me.  My husband helped me settle in - move the coffee table that was in the middle of the lounge area, put two of the dining chairs out of the way, and took down some crockery from the cupboards above the stove (too high for me to reach), adjust the position of the shower head so I could reach it.  I thought disaster loomed as we had forgotten my bed-pole, though fortunately I managed without it (because I had to).  The bedroom was at one end of the apartment

and the bathroom at the other - prefer an en

suite arrangement.  The bathroom toilet had a rail on the wall beside it (no drop-down rail on the other side).  The shower had a drop-down shower seat to which I transferred from my wheelchair.  I tried to be very careful with the shower water so it didn't spread too far in to the room.  There

Crockery out of my reach

was a drain in the shower space, but it still left the floor wet.  Curiously, there were no rails for the towels.  Anyway, it worked for me though an arrangement like the one at the Stradbroke Hotel would improve it.  I was unable to go out on to the
balcony because of the tracks of the sliding doors and a small dip down.  There will be other wheelies for whom this would not be a problem.  Overall, I was very satisfied with my accommodation and I'm happy that I was able to manage on my own.

State Library of Queensland

The State Library of Queensland has a very satisfactory disabled public toilet.  There is lots of room, there is somewhere to put your stuff.  I don't like that it is shared with babies getting changed.  The liquid soap container is above the floor rather than the sink.  It has an "open sesame" door which can then be locked.

 

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.

Malpensa, Italy

We stayed at the Sheraton which was next to the Airport that services Milan.  There were problems with the bathroom.  The pull down rail beside the toilet was broken and two men came to “fix it”, only taking a couple of minutes, so of course it wasn’t really fixed.  It was only for one night so I just used my portaloo over the toilet.  We had to ask for a chair for the shower, which was wheel-in but with one small rail.  

Venice, Italy

We stayed at Liassidi Palace hotel.  Getting to the hotel was the main problem as we'd used Vaporetto (water bus) which stopped three bridges short of our destination.  That problem was eventually overcome and we found our delightful hidden away hotel which had its own jetty.  When we finished our stay we returned to the Tronchetto by a disabled access water taxi, which was the more sensible option.  At the hotel, a shower chair was provided for the shower, but there were no rails.  I could wheel to the shower, but the shower doors proved difficult.  The shower wasn’t big enough to fit me and close the doors properly, because I was sitting on the shower chair.  The toilet had a floor to ceiling vertical pole, but no side rail.  It took a lot of effort to transfer from the chair to the pole and swing my body around.  So not ideal, but we managed.