Our favourite stay along the Great Ocean Road was at Apollo Bay. We absolutely loved the town with its stunning bay, we had great accommodation at BIG4 Apollo Bay Pisces Holiday Park (review coming soon) and we managed to get down to the water, thanks to a free-to-loan accessible beach wheelchair.
Apollo Bay – accessible beach & beach wheelchair
There’s a fantastic beach wheelchair program in operation all along the Great Ocean Road with beach wheelchairs, beach matting and beach walkers available at six locations along the drive. We loved the ease with which we could spontaneously borrow a beach wheelchair while staying at Apollo Bay and they are all free to loan.
Amelia scanned the QR code advertising beach wheelchair hire that was displayed in our holiday park cabin. She filled out the form, booked the time we wanted to hire the chair and waited for an email with the code for the lock on the beach wheelchair.
The chair is available from mid-October to mid-April and is located at the start of the accessible pathway to the beach at the Apollo Bay Surf Lifesaving Club.
A short boardwalk leads to the beach matting which meets the compact sand.
The beach wheelchair pictured is usually our least favourite chair to use on the beach as they are hard to use on soft sand, but at Apollo Bay the conditions are ideal for the chair and we found it easy to use.
A torso harness provides support for those that need it and the backrest can be adjusted to suit.
The beach wheelchair is rated for a person weighing up to 130kg (286 pounds) but it should be noted that with more weight it does become harder to push.
The booking process means that borrowing the chair is not reliant on life savers being on duty so it is available seven days a week between 7.30am and 2.30pm. Council workers collect the chair at 2.30pm. Bookings are available for two hour periods to ensure as many people as possible can have the opportunity to appreciate the beach at Apollo Bay.
We used the chair to and from the car so Braeden’s manual wheelchair could remain safely locked away.
Apollo Bay does have an accessible bathroom but due to the width of the beach wheelchair it will not fit through the doorway.
If you are interested in hiring a beach wheelchair or beach walker while exploring the Great Ocean Road you can check locations and make a booking via the website.
What we love about Apollo Bay’s beach access is that even if you don’t want to use the beach wheelchair, you can get close to the water in a regular wheelchair to just watch the waves. I was touched to see a gentleman doing just this as we left the beach.
If you are travelling the Great Ocean Road you may find our other reviews helpful –
Tips for visiting the Twelve Apostles
Deep Blue Hot Springs Warrnambool
