I have always enjoyed visiting our nation’s capital and have explored it with our young children and sans wheelchair a few times over the years. Canberra’s political and cultural history, the planned beauty of the city and suburbs, the symmetrical town planning of buildings and spires and gardens is enjoyably unique .

We chose the East Hotel nicely located in the Manuka Shopping Precinct through recommendation and proximity to the central city location. Of course everything’s close to Civic in Canberra.

The Reef View Hotel on the edge of the Whitsundays was surprisingly wheelchair accessible in most ways.

I hadn’t stayed in many accessible hotel rooms since I have been wheeling and I recall this hotel being reviewed by one of my favorite accessible travel bloggers - Have Wheelchair Will Travel. I was very impressed by what I saw as a truly accessible room yet disappointingly, as I found out later, this is the only one they offer in their 359 room establishment. That’s less than .3% accessible accommodation available which is a long way under the percentage of disabled travelers of around 10%-15%.

The swanky Stamford Plaza is situated in the very accessible central business part of Brisbane, a short roll to many great restaurants and Eagle Wharf. I loved being next to the picturesque and wheel-friendly Botanical Gardens that face the Brisbane River but that was secondary to the fact that it is located in BRISBANE and as a warm climate lover living in Melbourne that is a big 10 out of 10 score at the outset. Breakfast was plentiful and full of variety with a choice of dining in or sitting under a large covered patio area and enjoying the river activity.