I just stumbled across a fantastic account of a wheelchair accessible journey through New Zealand from an Australian man with multiple sclerosis, Bruce Mumford. Note that it was published last year, so certain details may be slightly outdated (in particular, his concerns with the inaccessibility of the Waitomo Caves, which is no longer the case). Here’s an excerpt from his story: A good number of tourist attractions were very well set up for disabled visitors and a number provided me

In the first of what I hope will be many contributions to this site, Ron takes a look at the accessibility around his current stomping ground, Grey Lynn. The Grey Lynn Library: Situated on Great North Rd, the Library has ample parking with one mobility car park and a ramp accessing the library. Very tight manoeuvering inside the library, but staff are very friendly and helpful. Sad to relate the library has no public toilets whatsoever. By and large, the

This awesome review was sent to me by Rachel! Being the movie addict that I am I decided I needed to help Red out a bit and do a review of Hoyts in Riccarton and when better to do this but a long weekend! So this theatre is about a 10min walk from work and that’s good because for me it means one less taxi! Access up to the first floor is good, and no doubt aided by being in

In part two of today’s look-at-this-neat-disability-focussed-website series, NZ On Wheels have posted a great writeup about Wellington’s beautiful botanical gardens and its level of accessibility for wheelchair users. Check out the excerpt below: The lower section is nice and flat, with good, sealed tracks and the cafe – get to this part of the botanical gardens from the Tinakori Rd entrance. The rest of the gardens gets pretty steep, and we mean steeeeeep. You will definitely need a hand with

Well here’s something I didn’t think was possible, along with the All Blacks winning the World Cup, except this one actually came to fruition – the Waitomo Caves now have a wheelchair accessible route through the Ruakuri cave! After an 18-year absence, the Ruakuri cave, one of several within the Waitomo caves area, reopened recently with a dramatic spiral entrance and 1.6km of guided walkway through the cave, where you get to experience everything from vast echoing caverns, deep crevices,

The battle of the coffee chains has begun. Shortly after CloseUp’s story on this site on TV One last night, I received an email from an Esquires staff member, promising a vastly superior experience to the one I had at Starbucks, which is located in the same building. So I had to go check it out, and I’m pleased to report: he was right! For a start, it’s a heck of a lot easier to access Esquires, as there are

Eden Park is the biggest and one of the oldest stadiums in New Zealand. It was used as a sports facility way back in 1900, even though it wasn’t much more than a swamp. These days, it seats more than 48,000 people, and in 1999, a brand new stand was built on the northern side of the stadium. With this flash new stand came some flash new seating for those in wheelchairs, so the question needs to be asked: how

I admit it: I’m a bit of a movie junkie. I’m spending far too many lots of $15 these days on films which are far from worth it, but I keep going! I don’t know whether that says more about my financial discipline or the quality of modern films but hey, I digress. This review focusses on one of the more popular cinema complexes in Auckland, the SkyCity ‘Metro’ complex on Queen Street. First off, don’t be fooled by the

Last night was my first experience with the Auckland City Council’s multi-million dollar indoor entertainment venue, the Vector Arena, and I’m delighted to report that it was an incredibly positive experience! I was there to see teenagedom idols Linkin Park, who were being supported by Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell. To be honest, Cornell is a bit before my time, and while the crowd seemed to be enjoying his set, you could tell there was a touch of politeness

Then this is the place for you! The linked article describes a bushwalk set in the 35-hectare World Heritage-listed Lamington National Park, and features a special bush walk designed for those with vision impairments called ‘Senses Trail’. The 500m-long trail was the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It has 13 stopping places with signs in braille. A rope guides walkers along the trail, and small rope tails hanging from it warn there’s a step coming: one tail