Magnificent views, reasonably priced accessible accommodation and just 90 minutes north of Sydney.

Perhaps it’s the lovely caring nature of the couple that owns this holiday home, or, the decades of wonderful memories made that makes this place so special. Now, this holiday rental with stunning views is available to guests with mobility challenges, as it is ideally accessible, and includes an electric bed!

Owner Jill Hembry has a physiotherapy training background. She recognised quite quickly the unmet need for holiday accommodation that is truly wheelchair accessible. So, Jill and her hubby Steve set about planning how they could provide a place that would meet the needs of people with physical disability challenges.

In renovating and extending the cottage built by Jill’s parents in the early 1960s, the Hembry’s created a 3-bedroom home with plenty of room for wheelchairs. And then they created a space for themselves to live upstairs in a completely separate 2 bedroom flat, with their own entrance on the opposite side of the house.

As Jill explained, “We give guests as much privacy as they would like. I do like to meet guests if I can when they arrive, to show them around.  But other than that, we keep to ourselves unless our guests would like more contact or need tips for activities in the area.

The layout:

Nora Beach House is a 3-bedroom holiday home, sleeping up to 8 guests, with 2 bathrooms (one fully wheelchair accessible), 2 living areas, kitchen, lounge and dining room and independent entrance. The personal lift ensures you can smoothly exit your car and enter the home too.

Activities:

Dining out: Apart from taking in the magnificent view, there are cafes and restaurants with easy access from this accessible house with sweeping ocean views. One place we highly recommend for its accessibility is The General Store at Norah Head. This is a 5-minute drive from Nora Beach House, very near Norah Head Lighthouse. If the weather is fine, it is lovely to sit outside. If not, the ramp makes easy access for indoors. Phone 02 43974859

Wheelchair cruising: There are level pathways you can go along by Tuggerah and Budgewoi Lakes. Jill can point you in the right direction to lookouts where you can enjoy seeing the ocean views and if you are lucky, even see whales in the migrating season.

The Entrance has much activity down by the water for families, where you can enjoy the atmosphere and the water scenes of the entrance to the lake. There is pelican feeding each day at 3:30 pm. Click HERE for more info.

If you enjoy fishing, there are several jetties that give you access to the water.

There are also several beaches nearby that provide beach wheelchairs. They can be booked through the surf club from 1st September – 30th March.  This includes the Lakes Beach and Soldiers Beach. Use this booking form to reserve yours: BOOKING LINK

These wheelchairs are also available at:

• Lakes – Sand Cruiser
• Soldiers Beach – Sand Cruiser
• Toowoon Bay – Sand Cruiser
• Shelley Beach – Sand Cruiser
• Wamberal – Sand Cruiser
• Terrigal – Sand Cruiser & Hippocampe (adult size)
• North Avoca – Sand Cruiser
• Avoca Beach – Sand Cruiser & Hippocampe (adult size)
• Copacabana – Sand Cruiser
• Killcare – Sand Cruiser
• Ocean Beach – Sand Cruiser
• Umina – Sand Cruiser & Hippocampe (suitable for young people);

The local council has information on accessible toilets, transport and events HERE

Getting there:

Whilst some public transport is accessible, we do recommend getting there by car. If you go to the pub and need a ride, this Taxi service does have accessible maxi taxis. But do plan ahead and pre-book HERE

Explore this home away from home with sweeping views, read more, get in touch HERE