Accessible Holiday to Scarborough Beach & Rottnest Island by Ashlee Morton

Accessible Holiday to Scarborough Beach & Rottnest Island. My parents live in WA and so when it was time to decide where we would catch up next, we decided to escape the chill of Victoria and chase the sunshine of the West Coast.

I hadn’t visited Scarborough before and so we decided to base ourselves at Ramada Vetroblu Scarborough Beach due to its central location.

Accessible Holiday to Scarborough Beach & Rottnest Island by Ashlee Morton

Staying At Ramada Vetroblu Scarborough Beach

Ramada Vetroblu Scarborough Beach Accessible Accommodation

The room itself was great with plenty of space, two bedrooms and an accessible bathroom but what impressed me so much was the fact that they had actually thought about accessibility when designing the kitchen.

Not only was there a cut-out under the sink but the bench tops were lowered as were the overhead cupboards – it’s the first time in my life I’ve been able to access overhead cupboards! I don’t even have this luxury in my own home.

There is a delicious café downstairs which I highly recommend for coffee and brunch as well as a pharmacy and Italian restaurant across the road.

The property itself does sit on a hill so I would recommend some e-power if you’re travelling alone.

Exploring Scarborough Beach

Less than two blocks away is the beach and the main esplanade, wow this place has a lot to offer. The entire esplanade is a wheelchair users’ dream with smooth footpaths, ramped access to different levels and level access to almost all restaurants and cafes (the one or two that didn’t have level access had ramps available).

There is a changing places facility, twilight markets on year-round, a public swimming pool, plenty of playgrounds plus a rock-climbing wall and outdoor exercise equipment with instructions on how to use most of the pieces from a wheelchair.

Day Trips

We did a few day trips, checked out the Fremantle Markets, took a ride on the Ferris Wheel (accessible) went shopping at DFO and the kids had a go at IFly, which is also really accommodating for people with disabilities although I didn’t give it a go this time it’s on my list.

Hilary’s was another great location with a fantastic boardwalk area with restaurants and a swimming spot with beach matting to the water as well as the Aquarium of Western Australia with a 100-metre underwater tunnel it is well worth a visit.

Our Day Trip to Rottnest Island

I think what had to be everyone’s favourite though was our day trip to Rottnest Island.

I had planned ahead and found out that the bike hire place actually had a handcycle available to hire which was very surprising. They did warn me that it did not have E-assist and was not the newest of contraptions, but I was excited at the prospect of joining the family on a bike ride around the island.

Unfortunately, their warnings were justified, and I didn’t get much more than a kilometre up the road before turning back to ditch the bike and continue in my chair. We worked out pretty quickly that I could hold on to the back of one of the Ebikes and get a tow up the hills and so was able to still make it around the island.

I’d love to get my Jeetrike over there to do the island again, but I would recommend taking a smart drive or Batec etc if you want to get around under your own steam.

There were also hop on hop off buses which were fully accessible which would be a great option if you wanted to see the island from the comfort of engine power.

Breakfast at the island’s bakery was a standout meal for the trip and the Quokkas! Omg, the quokkas are so cute and very friendly.

Rottnest Island | Accessibility

Accessibility Done Right

All in all, our trip west was a great success and I highly recommend a visit, they’ve taken a lot of time and effort to ensure accessibility is done right and it shows! Our accessible Holiday to Scarborough Beach & Rottnest Island was a hit!