Our wonderful Travel Agent

I thought I would make this an entry on it's own.  Once again I would like to thank our wonderful Travel Agent, Di Morrison from Flight Centre Booval.  We have used her expertise for a number of years and she never fails to deliver.  When we talk to other disabled people about our travels, I always say the most important thing is to pick a great Travel Agent.  She certainly goes above and beyond our requirements, checking and double checking everything.  Of coarse some things don't work, but that is because the average person does not understand the complexities of travelling with a wheelchair.  So once again Di, thanks for all your help.  And once again Di....we have booked another cruise for next year - there goes all your spare time again!!!!!

Holland America Cruise - Hong Kong to Japan

This is our third HAL cruise, and once again, it all worked out.  We left Hong Kong on the 17th March and we were travelling with Sharon, Sully's sister, and Bruce, Sully's Brother-in-law.  The Hong Kong Port was interesting and difficult to navigate.  The building is huge and goes for miles.  You come into a large shopping mall and at the very start we were asked to wait for someone to show us the way.  After waiting for nearly an hour,  Sharon, Bruce and I decided to go and see what the problem was.  After walking quite a considerable distance, we found the check-in and asked what was going to happen to Sully.  Someone from the Port came with me and said he would show us the way.  This turned into quite an expedition - including walking through an adjoining Cruise Line check-in and waiting for staff twice to show up with keys to operate the required lifts.  I have written to HAL to advise them of the problem - hopefully they do something about it as it is not a very good look to passengers.

The room we had was the last verandah room at the back of the ship on the 6th Floor.  As it was the back corner, the deck was larger than usual and provided a great view when we sailed out of any port.  The room was large enough for Sully to get around and included a couch, chair and desk.  The bathroom was more than adequate - providing something very rare in wheelchair accessible bathrooms, a shelf.  We find that this is never included in the layout, making it hard to find anywhere to put all the things we all travel with - eg shaving cream and such.

The ship was fairly easy to navigate for the wheelchair - except for there being lots of carpet.  Sully found it easier to catch the lift to the 8th Floor and wheel to the other side of the ship and go down the lift to where he wanted to be - too much carpet and the wheelchair can be tiring.  The food again was brilliant, with the Lido and Pool deck being the pick where Service was involved - the Rembrandt being very slow where Service was involved.  Apparently they picked up a lot of new staff in Hong Kong, so maybe this was the reason, but on a Shipping Line where service is usually great, this was not good enough.

Overall, we had a great time and have already booked another Cruise through the Panama Canal next year......

Hong Kong

On the 14th March we flew from Brisbane to Hong Kong.  We were catching a Holland America ship on the 17th March, so decided to have a couple of days in Hong Kong.  We were collected at the airport and had a pre -arranged car ride to our hotel.  This was the Novotel Nathan Road in Kowloon.  This turned out to be a fantastically located hotel.  It was a couple of blocks from the Night Markets, and easy walking distance to lots of attractions.  The room was very accessible, with everything that we require, and a restaurant that was not only cheap but supplied great meals.  Jack, who was at the information desk, turned out to be brilliant at his job, with nothing too hard to organize.  He did organize us a great trip - to Victoria Peak and then onto the floating restaurants.  However, after Sully collapsed at Victoria Peak (we think it was a combination of a few things), he was transported by ambulance to St Mary's hospital.  They could actually teach Queensland Health a thing or two, as within three hours he had an ECG, a chest Xray, various blood tests, talked to several doctors and had been admitted.  Admittedly, it was a squeezy ward, but worked for the night.  The next day, he was discharged as they couldn't anything too wrong and he spent most of the next days resting prior to us boarding the ship.  The area around us was fairly flat and the pavements were fairly easy to navigate - even with the crowds.  Except for the minor hiccup of a hospital visit, Hong Kong was as accessible as anywhere else we had been.

A trip to the theatre

Last Sunday, we went to the theatre at the Playhouse at Southbank, Brisbane.  We had changed our tickets from the previous weekend, as we were going to Sydney to see Tait.  While having lunch, Sully decided to check our tickets, and to our amazement, we found that they had swapped our end of row tickets for middle of the row tickets.  This happened even though I asked specifically for wheelchair accessible tickets (so they would not be surprised!!!!).  After much kowtowing from staff to rectify the situation.....we got seats we could actually access (and a free drink).  I rang to complain on the Monday and got a phone call the next day apologising.  Just as well it wasn't a full theatre, as our trip would have been for nothing.  Not sure what else you have to do when booking tickets.....one time Sully actually went into book tickets and we were given seats four from the aisle.  Maybe they thought we had just borrowed the wheelchair - and if that is the case, they can have it back.

Thumbs down Jetstar

Last weekend Sully flew to Sydney.  He was meeting Tait and I as we sailed into Sydney on HMAS Parramatta, which was a family trip the Navy puts on every now and then.  He flew down on his own on Friday.  Usually, he wheels to the door of the plane, gets into an aisle and gets onto the plane.  Then when he gets off, they bring on the aisle chair, take him to the door of the plane, and his chair has been brought up from the cargo hold ready for him.  Jetstar would not do it as it had to come up a flight of stairs.  We have flown all over the world and this is the first time it has happened.  The wheelchair is quite light and not an electrical chair.  So Jetstar had to provide someone to wheel him to the baggage section and then get his chair off the carrosal.  It made it much more labour intensive than it had to be........and very annoying for Sully.  Wake up Jetstar.......

'Reef Magic Cruises' in Cairns

We recently went to Cairns where I wanted to do a Reef Cruise.  I though it would be easy to organize, however our Travel Agent could only find one in Port Douglas.  This sounded great, except the free bus service was not available to us as they were not wheelchair accessible.  The only other option was a taxi which was priced at $100 each way.  I put the kibosh on that and my Travel Agent (Di from Flightcentre Booval) kept searching.  Eventually she found 'Reef Magic' which left from the harbour in Cairns.  Sully needed assistance on the steep ramp and also assistance onto the seat which was attached to the stairs to take us to the lower floor of the boat.  We needed to be there as the accessible toilet was on that floor.  However nothing was too hard for the staff and we set off out to the Reef.  Once we got there, my husband was helped onto the Ramp to watch all the activities of the day.  I wanted him to go snorkelling (and was told that staff would assist him with that), however I am sure he still has nightmares about the time I got him into the Thermal Pools in Iceland where he nearly drowned.....so he declined the offer.

Overall it was a fabulous day...the sun was shining, the food was great, the ship was accessible and the staff was fantastic.  Thanks for a great day and I would not hesitate in recommending it.

Kuranda Skyrail and the wheelchair

So after our journey up the mountain on the Train, we elected to take the Skyrail back down.  The carriages can fit 6 people in them.  However the wheelchair is placed in between the two rows of seats and you could probably only fit a couple of people in from there.  The staff were great and very attentive and as you can see by the photos, managed to get the wheelchair (and Sully) in and out without too much trouble.  We were collected by a taxi at the bottom and returned to our Motel (again in the price of the ticket).  Again it was well worth the effort.