101 accessible travel spots list launched by Adelaide-based business The Good Scout

Family business The Good Scout hopes its new guide to accessible tourist spots will help families affected by disability put the fun back into travelling.

Scott Crowley with his wife Clair and children Oliver, 6, and Maddy, 4 experience being up close with the squirrel monkeys at the Adelaide Zoo. Picture: Mark Brake

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The Good Scout Travel Company hopes its new guide to accessible tourist spots will help families affected by disability rekindle their “adventurous spirit”.

Co-founder Clair Crowley says she spent about eight hours looking for accommodation for a recent family holiday in SA because of a lack of information about places that would be suitable for her husband Scott, who uses a wheelchair.

“In the end we just had to settle for something we thought would suit us as opposed to being confident about what we were booking,” Clair says.

“Everyone that has been touched by the need to go on an accessible travel trip … has their own experience, and that’s what we’re trying to change.”

The organisation is today launching its 101 Accessible Australian Adventures guide, to coincide with International Day of People with Disability.

The Good Scout Travel Company co-founder Scott Crowley represented Australia in triathlon at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

The business’s message was to “put some excitement back in your life, have fun and rekindle that adventurous spirit”, Clair says.

Scott was left an incomplete paraplegic – meaning he can only move sections of his legs – after breaking his back while snowboarding in 2002.

The Millswood man, who has represented Australia as a para-athlete in basketball and triathlon, said the Good Scout hoped to eventually become a “one-stop shop – a TripAdvisor for people with a physical disability”.

“It’s really exciting because there’s nothing like it anywhere and it’s something that’s absolutely needed,” he says.

Among the state’s top destinations featuring in the guide are Zoos SA’s Adelaide and Monarto zoos, which both offer accessible behind the scenes experiences.

Scott Crowley on holiday in Kangaroo Island. Picture: Supplied

The family has previously fed Monarto’s chimpanzees, and last week, got to meet the squirrel monkeys at Adelaide.

“Even for an able-bodied person you wouldn’t really expect that’s something you’d be able to do but to be a person in a wheelchair able to do it, is fantastic,” Mr Crowley says.

Adelaide Zoo recently installed a disability hoist in its bathroom to help accommodate people with complex needs, who may otherwise have forgone the trip.

Other city spots on the list are the Central Market and Magill Estate.

Further afield, the organisation is directing families to the Tantanoola Caves on the Limestone Coast, along with the World Heritage-listed Naracoorte Caves, which feature a rooftop loop walk allowing people to learn about what’s beneath them along the journey.

“If you can’t get into the caves, you can still have an interactive experience above the ground,” Mrs Crowley said.

Visit thegoodscout.com.au

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