Our final days in Hobart consisted of enjoying the harbour views, solid time with the bennies and Peg (an upright mate I used to play footy with in Waaia in Victoria) and his missus Chrissie before heading to Launceston to see some old mates from rehab.
Peg, me, and Boof in front of the Grand Chancellor Hobart
We stayed at the Grand Chancellor in Hobart for three nights, lapping up the 5 star luxury, which ended up being paid for in the winnings off the roulette wheel at the Casino - my numbers 33 and 35 came through for me again. For the full report on the hotel room take a look at the review blog post... did I mention it had an AAAAAAAMMMAAYYZZZIIINNNGG view over the harbour... you'd pay 4 figures a night in Sydney for a view like that!
Whilst there we visited the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery which was right across the road - check out the pics below of the pretty groovy sculptural ramp come courtyard seating. We didn't have enough time to have a good look around but what we saw was really interesting.
We also called into the Maritime Museum of Tasmania where we were greeted by ol' mate x 3 - they finished off our look around with some entertaining stories (even if they did have a tendency of repeating themselves!). Fantastic access here and a lift is going in to open up the second level of the building.
On our drive up from Hobart we stopped into say goodbye to Boof and he recommended we take the turnoff to Ross for a stopover... and we were glad he did.... Ross is one lovely old town and I even bumped into my mate Bruce from the cigarette shop in Echuca there! It boasts the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia - a sandstone number constructed by the convicts in 1936. There's many lovely old buildings down tree-lined streets- including the old barracks for the soldiers - throw in a great bakery, and a fantastic antique shop or two and this is one town I was happy to have discovered. No antique finds for me, but I enjoyed the process of looking!
For our first week we stayed at the Triabunna Cabin & Caravan Park on the east coast of Tasmania, about an hours drive from Hobart. It's a lovely quiet quirky little fishing town with everything within walking (or wheeling) distance.
We enjoyed our stay at this small but busy cabin & caravan park. We had the Superior Cabin which is a new one bedroom, wheelchair accessible (level entry) cabin with a roomy lounge / dining area, and full kitchen. It suited our needs well.
The owners were friendly, they introduced themselves upon our arrival and were eager to hear our feedback and to improve things where they could.
Only things that let it down was the shower bench wasn't installed properly and thus didn't fold up as it should - I was concerned I would injure my feet on it while showering - hopefully this will be fixed. Also the bed was a little too high (we usually find them not high enough!) but the feet could've been removed if we'd wanted it lowered, other than that it was a comfortable bed with lots of room (we had it set up as a king bed, but it can be separated into two king singles).
Other notes:
The laundry, main toilet block (for campers), & reception office were not wheelchair accessible.
My companion dog was allowed to stay, but not in the cabin.
The free wi-fi service was very good - much better than the usual camping ground networks.
One of the greatest attractions in Triabunna is the ferry service to Maria Island(pronounced Mariah - like the singer), apparently a beautiful pristine island with great walking tracks - I'll never know as this proved to be yet another ferry service that has a strange definition of wheelchair accessible. This ferry is definitely NOT wheelchair accessible - hopefully thanks to the chat I had with the booking lady, they won't be telling people from now on that it is - there's no way I could make the trip sadly.
Highlights of the town for me was watching the activity on the wharf - there were tonnes and tonnes of squid being bought in while we were there, an archaeological dig that was underway at the old Barracks next to the Spring Bay Hotel, and the friendly locals including John who kept offering us plums off his trees.
Yesterday we came across a bike shop that also does mobility equipment, with a small black portable ramp (with high vis tape across it) against the small step into the shop that ordinarily would've made it inaccessible to wheelchair and scooter users.
We had a quick chat with the business owner who has operated for 20 years and had been told he wasn't allowed to make permanent changes to the entryway... and he needs to offer access to his customers... so that's what he's gotta do. Simple. As. That. When pressed further on the legality of the ramp he explained in NSW the law allows Removable Portable Ramps as long as they were removed out of work hours.
I am.... confused. How can they be a trip hazard in QLD and not in NSW? Can anyone shed some light on the ins and outs of the laws in this state?
I also checked out the Royal Rehabilitation in North Ryde in Sydney and was pleasantly surprised at their Spinal Rehab set-up. It’s on a huge site and has lots of activities, tennis courts, a grouse garden where they eat what they grow, an obstacle course to keep your wheelchair skills up to scratch, and for chilling out a barbeque area with plenty of tables. I caught up with a few Wheelies doing their rehab and found everyone happy and positive about the future.
