Wheelchair-bound holidaymaker John Roberts is putting facilities for disabled travellers to the test on a month-long trip – and you can follow his progress exclusively in Travel Weekly.
John’s latest report comes from Cairns, Australia, where he enjoyed the Kuranda Scenic Railway, Skyrail and Cultural Experience.
We had great difficulty finding someone prepared to help rather than throw up barriers, but when we spoke to David at Freedom Australia and told him of the difficulties we had organising tours he told us, “We are up for a challenge”.
We organised two tours, The Kuranda All Inclusive tour and The Big Cat Green Island day tour.
The Kuranda All Inclusive tour began with a 7.20am pick up. We emerged from the hotel to find our driver Andrew waiting for us with the accessible van.
The chair lift made it easy to board, and we drove down to Freshwater station where everything was ready for us. No ramps here, just a pallet cage on a lift truck – it was simple but it worked.
The train was rather like orient express. Well restored and maintained, it even had a full accessible toilet, electric doors and enough room to manoeuvre my chair. I was dreaming of the day when all trains have this.
One-and-a-half hours later we got off the train using the pallet again. The van was waiting to take us up the hill to the village markets and Birdworld. Andrew made it really easy for us.
The markets were okay to get around, but Birdworld was a challenge. It is only a short circular walk but very steep. It is a bit risky so don’t try it alone.
SkyRail was also a challenge but proved possible. Some wheelchairs will go in, but mine was a bit too wide – after a brief logistical chat the guys slowed the car almost to a stop, and we managed to rotate in without too much of a problem. Team work wins again!
Help was waiting again at RainForeStation, where we had to change cars. We had a wander round the boardwalk to look at the views, took in the cultural show, then hopped back on the SkyRail to continue the journey down (which lasts 45 minutes in total).
This was a brilliant trip. Lunch was good and the cultural show was worth seeing. It was bit steep at some points and as it was raining we skipped some of it, but in all a great day.
The only big difficulty was the toilets at Kuranda – the only accessible one was at the information point. Facilities at the culture centre were just usable, but very tight.
Photos
Scenic railway to Kuranda
Boardwalk at RainForeStation
Accessible toilet on the scenic railway to Kuranda
- Follow John’s trip on our interactive map: travelweekly.co.uk/travelchallenge