BONDI BEACH & MAROUBRA COASTAL WALK

Bondi is arguably one of Australia’s most famous beaches. It has been made even more so by the popular show Bondi Rescue. A favourite with our family.

Whether you head to Bondi to people watch, dine or swim, wheelchair access is good. Prior to BJ having his own beach wheelchair we used Bondi’s beach wheelchair.

BONDI’S BEACH WHEELCHAIR

Bondi Beach has a beach wheelchair which is free for visitors to use. You can either book this through Waverly Council or knock on the lifeguard’s tower door (the tower is located around half-way along the beach with access from the boardwalk) and if they are not dealing with an emergency they will bring the chair to you. We left BJ’s manual chair in the tower for safe keeping while we used the beach wheelchair.

EASY ACCESS TO THE BEACH

If you are visiting with your own beach wheelchair, as we did last weekend, or have mobility restrictions or a pram, I recommend heading to the northern end of the beach. There are two disabled parking spaces on the roadside and there is a gentle ramp leading down to the beach. At this end of the beach there is an ocean toddler pool which is step-free.

DINING

At the southern end of Bondi Beach is Bondi Icebergs Restaurant ($$$$$) and the more affordable Bondi Icebergs Club. The views are spectacular and it has reasonably priced pub style meals. There is a disabled parking space opposite the restaurant, lift access to the bistro and accessible bathrooms.

If this isn’t of interest, there are plenty of restaurants, take away options and everything in between within an easy walk of the beach on Campbell Parade.

TIPS

There is free disabled parking throughout the car park, on the roadside and our preferred area – the northern end of the beach. During summer parking is not easy.

A stand-alone unisex disabled bathroom is available in the Bondi Pavilion which is behind the lifeguard tower. A MLAK key is needed to access this toilet.

The ladies and men’s toilets also have a larger stall in each for easy access which do not require a MLAK key.

There are accessible bus services from the city to Bondi Beach.

Although Bondi Beach is famous many Sydney-siders would prefer to go to a quiet beach. Bondi is full of tourists which is what makes for good people watching but I think it is one of those places you need to see at least once.

If you are visiting from overseas, please note it is important to swim between the red and yellow flags. This area is deemed the safest swimming by the lifeguards on duty on the day.

MAROUBRA BEACH COASTAL WALK

The 2.4km North Maroubra to South Maroubra Coastal Walk is described as wheelchair and pram friendly on the Randwick Council website.

We’re always looking for new places to explore, so when we discovered there is an accessible coastal walk we thought we’d check it out. The views are spectacular and it’s just so refreshing to find a walk that is so beautiful and accessible.

We started the walk along the cliff tops and continued on to Maroubra Beach. That did mean that Hubby had a bit of a push back up the hill to return to the car but it wasn’t too steep.

I’ve never been to Maroubra Beach before but it is clearly popular because of the extensive facilities available for families. The surf club has a beach wheelchair available for loan in life-saving hours. The life guards told me it is the same as BJ’s beach chair.

There is a lovely wide boardwalk that runs along the beach with a café for eat-in dining, a kiosk for take away and disabled bathroom facilities.

A large fenced playground adjoins the parkland and barbecue facilities, though I didn’t see any features that looked accessible.

We didn’t want to travel with two wheelchairs on this occasion (the manual chair and beach chair) so we did the entire walk with the Sandcruiser beach chair. The path is wide enough and BJ is exceptionally comfortable in it.

If you are looking for another place to explore on the south side of Sydney, don’t forget the fabulous accessible Coogee Coastal walk which I wrote about here. It’s my favourite.

Know of an accessible coastal walk? We’d love you to share it. It doesn’t matter where it is in the world, we’re sure it will help someone.

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