Introduction
Sam is back from a four-month break and is hitting the road again, officially finishing the NSW coast. After a 12-month lap of Australia and 160 accessible products reviewed along the way, she and Charlie have picked the caravan up where they left it and started working their way south. If you have any suggestions on where Sam should head next, please let us know.
This leg covers the accessible NSW north coast, running from the Byron hinterland down through the Mid North Coast to Forster. Seven stops, audited north to south: a hillside crystal garden, a solar-powered heritage train, a brewery that reroutes its own tour for you, a Sunday cruise down the Clarence, Australia’s most famous piece of roadside fruit, and two holiday parks worth building a trip around.
Here’s how they stacked up.
1. Crystal Castle & Shambhala Gardens — Montecollum
Twenty minutes into the hills behind Byron Bay, Crystal Castle is a subtropical garden built around the world’s largest collection of giant crystals. It’s a slow, quiet, self-paced place, with the Buddha Walk, the World Peace Stupa, and the rainforest loop, and it has clearly had real thought put into access rather than the bare minimum.
Wheelchair Accessibility & Mobility Info
- Pathways: Over a kilometre of sealed concrete path connects nearly all of the attractions. The operator’s accessibility map lists these at 1,200 to 1,800mm wide.
- Gradients: This is hinterland country, and some sections are genuinely hilly. Steep pathways are marked in red on their map and signposted on site, with alternate routes available. Crystal Castle recommends powered wheelchairs for the hillside gradients, and on Sam’s visit that seemed fair.
- Accessible toilet: One accessible toilet with handrails, located at the Moon Room, with an 800mm door.
- Parking: Two accessible bays adjacent to the Welcome Hut, plus a drop-off zone near the entrance.
- Indoor spaces: Ramps with handrails to the Lotus Cafe, Castle Jewels and the other indoor rooms. Both the cafe and the Peace Dome are step-free.
- Seating: Rest points at regular intervals throughout the gardens.
- Tactile experience: Unlike most display gardens, visitors are encouraged to touch and hold the crystals, a rich tactile layer that makes this one worth considering for blind and low vision travellers.
- Sensory and autism: Self-paced with no timed entry, naturally quiet garden areas throughout, plain English signage, and a pre-visit sensory guide on their website.
- Deaf and hard of hearing: A self-guided visual experience, with written maps, an 80-page printed guidebook, and pen and paper at the Welcome Hut. A staff welcome script is available on request.
- Companion Card: Accepted at entry. Support workers are welcome across the whole site.
- Assistance animals: Welcome throughout, on leash, with a water bowl at the Welcome Hut.
Before you go: Download the Crystal Castle Accessibility Map or pick up a printed copy at the Welcome Hut. It colour-codes accessible, steep and pram routes, which makes planning your loop much easier.
Sam’s Notes
“The sound bowl healing session in the Peace Dome is the highlight, the acoustics are extraordinary. It’s open to everyone, but it suits adults and older teens who want to sit quietly rather than kids with energy to burn. Definitely don’t skip the Lotus Cafe. The Buddha Bowl is outstanding, and the hinterland view from the tables is worth the stop on its own. Being able to actually touch the crystals rather than read a sign about them changes the whole visit.”
Access details verified: 5 September 2026. Facilities can change, so check with the operator before travelling.
2. Byron Bay Solar Train — Byron Bay
A world first, and a genuinely clever bit of transport. Two restored heritage carriages, one from the 1940s, one from the 1960s, run on 100% solar power along a 3km stretch of track between North Beach and the edge of Byron’s town centre, crossing the coastal wetlands and Belongil Creek. The trip takes about seven minutes, and it neatly solves the Byron parking problem.
Wheelchair Accessibility & Mobility Info
- Platform access: Step-free from the street through to the platform.
- Boarding: Staff deploy a boarding ramp at the platform so you can roll straight on. You don’t need to arrange it in advance, though the operator prefers a heads-up. If you book through AccessibleOz, we’ll arrange it for you.
- Door widths: The main outer doorway measures 680mm. The internal carriage doors are narrower at 600mm.
- Wheelchair space: If your chair is too wide for the 600mm internal doors, there’s a dedicated open area between the two doorways with room to park and travel comfortably for the journey.
- Accessible toilets: Available at the station.
- Parking, plan ahead: There is no car park at either end. Parking is only on the main road, so factor this in if you’re arriving by vehicle.
- Companion Card: Accepted.
Sam’s Notes
“The 11:00 am service out from North Beach is the one to catch. It drops you near town with about three hours to browse the shops and have a relaxed lunch at the Beach Hotel on the waterfront. Take the 2:15 pm back, and you land straight in the North Beach precinct; Stone & Wood is a very short roll from there, which makes for a tidy afternoon. Low stress, cheap, and you skip Byron traffic and parking entirely.”
Access details verified: 7 September 2026.
3. Stone & Wood Brewery — Byron Bay
In the Arts & Industry Estate, a short distance from the Solar Train’s North Beach stop, Stone & Wood runs a 60 to 90 minute tour through how Byron’s best-known craft beer gets made. The guides are excellent, genuinely knowledgeable on hop varieties, fermentation and the brewery’s own history, and the crew are noticeably willing to adapt.
Wheelchair Accessibility & Mobility Info
- The standard tour: The usual route includes elevated brew deck walkways that are not step-free.
- The adapted tour: The team will alter the route for wheelchair users. This needs to be arranged in advance, and AccessibleOz handles it at the time of booking. You’ll miss seeing the larger part of the brewery floor, but the guide covers the same material, so you get the full explanation rather than an abridged version.
- Accessible toilet: A large accessible toilet in the tasting room venue, with grab rails and room to turn and manoeuvre.
- Parking and entry: Marked accessible bays, and step-free entry into the tasting room.
- Companion Card: Accepted.
- Booking: Pre-book online and note any access requirements at the time.
Sam’s Notes
“What stood out was the attitude. Nothing was a hassle; they just reworked the route and got on with it. The tour finishes with a tasting paddle, including Pilot Batch releases and seasonals you can’t get anywhere else.”
Access details verified: 7 September 2026. This venue serves alcohol.
4. Clarence River Ferries — Sunday Live Music Cruise, Iluka & Yamba
A 30km round trip down one of the biggest rivers in the state, aboard the double-deck timber MV Mirigini, with live acoustic music and a licensed bar. It departs Yamba Wharf at 11:00 am and the Iluka Boatshed & Marina at 11:45 am each Sunday, returning around 2:30 pm to Iluka and 3:00 pm to Yamba.
Wheelchair Accessibility & Mobility Info
- Boarding: Boarding ramps are set out at the wharf as standard for all passengers, not brought out as a special arrangement, which makes the process straightforward. The gradient of the ramp does change with the tide, so it will be steeper at some times of day than others.
- Lower deck: Spacious and easy to move around, with both shaded and open-air seating and room to spread out.
- Upper deck: Stairs only.
- Toilets, plan: There are no accessible toilets on board, and the cruise runs three to four hours, so this is the single most important thing to factor into your day. Accessible public toilets are available at both ends. At Yamba, they’re on site within the marina complex near the wharf departure point. At Iluka, accessible cubicles are in the Ferry Reserve area right next to the boat harbour and ferry pontoon, at Charles Street and Spenser Street.
- Vessel: The MV Mirigini is the accessible vessel and runs the Sunday cruise. On rare occasions, the vessel can change, so check with AccessibleOz before you book.
- Parking: Accessible parking spaces at both the Iluka Boatshed and Yamba Wharf.
- Dogs: Dogs are welcome as standard, not as a special arrangement.
- Bookings: Strongly recommended.
Sam’s Notes
“Charlie and I had the most relaxing afternoon of the whole leg on this one, good music, a drink, and the riverbanks drifting past. The lower deck has real room to stretch out, which you don’t always get on a river boat. Just be realistic about the toilets. Nothing on board, so sort that out before you step on.”
Access details verified: 13 September 2026.
5. The Big Banana Fun Park — Coffs Harbour
An icon of Australian roadside kitsch that has grown into a full-scale fun park: water park, ice rink, toboggan, mini golf, arcade, plantation tour. It’s an easy hour for a photo and a banana sundae, or a full day if you’re travelling with kids. Access here is genuinely mixed, and it’s worth being straight about that.
Wheelchair Accessibility & Mobility Info
- Terrain, read this first: The park sits on a hillside plantation. Step-free paths connect the main entrance, cafe, gift shop and major zones, but several connecting paths and queue lines are steep, including the ramp up to the toboggan. Sam does not recommend the park for manual wheelchair users.
- Parking: Three marked accessible bays, with the accessible entrance around the back of the cafe rather than off the main lot.
- Accessible toilets: Located just outside the cafe. Sam wasn’t able to inspect these as they were occupied during her visit, so we can’t confirm the internal layout or whether there’s an adult change facility.
- Plantation Tour: Can be adapted for wheelchair users. Let us know at the time of booking and we’ll arrange it.
- Companion Card: Free entry for Companion Card holders, across all ticket types, and carers can take part in all attractions.
- Fun Zone Frenzy Card: $9.99 for 30 minutes of prize-free arcade play, a quieter, lower-pressure way to use the Fun Zone without the competitive element.
- Dogs: The cafe and outdoor areas are dog-friendly.
- Their own guide: The park publishes accessibility information at bigbanana.com/our-fun-park/#access and an NDIS and Companion Card page at bigbanana.com/companion-cards. Worth reading before you commit to a full day.
Sam’s Notes
“Head around the back of the cafe for the accessible parking and entrance; it isn’t obvious from the main lot. I wouldn’t recommend the Fun Park for manual wheelchairs. It’s super hilly, and you’d be working hard all day. Their accessibility information is more useful for non-mobility access needs than it is for wheelchair users. Worth knowing before you plan around it.”
Access details verified: 19 September 2026.
6. Where to Stay: Two Accessible Holiday Parks
Two Reflections parks bookend this leg, one at each end of the run. Both have purpose-built accessible accommodation, and they suit different travellers for reasons worth spelling out.
Reflections Holiday Park, Urunga
Where the Kalang and Bellinger rivers meet the sea, Urunga is quiet, uncrowded and better set up than its size suggests. The park sits at the start of the Urunga Boardwalk, with the tidal lagoon pool, a playground, and cafes, takeaway shops and the pub directly across the road. Coffs Harbour is about 25 minutes north, Nambucca Heads about 25 minutes south, a good base for this whole stretch.
Superior Easy Access Cabins — Wheelchair Accessibility
- Availability: Two 2-bedroom Superior Easy Access cabins. Sam inspected one in full. The premium cabin was occupied at the time of the visit and could not be viewed, so the detail below applies to the cabin she saw.
- Arrival: Level parking directly in front of the cabin, and a wide, gently sloping timber ramp to a large undercover verandah with an outdoor dining setting and private BBQ.
- Entry: Sliding patio doors at the entrance to both cabins.
- Living area: Wide doorways, flat floor surfaces, and an open-plan living room with wide circulation space and furniture that can be moved to suit mobility equipment.
- Kitchen: Galley layout with lowered benchtops, clear open space under the sink to roll underneath, lever taps, and low easy-glide drawers.
- Bedrooms: Master with a queen bed and step-free clearance on both sides for transfers. Second bedroom with a king single and bunks, sleeping up to five in total.
- Hoist users: Under-bed clearance is 10cm. Check this against your own equipment before booking.
- Bathroom: Wet-room layout with a roll-in shower, flip-down shower bench, height-adjustable hand-held showerhead, lever taps, grab rails and a roll-under sink.
If you’re camping rather than staying in a cabin, the park has dedicated key-coded accessible bathroom facilities with grab rails, a flip-down shower bench, a height-adjustable shower and lever taps, reached by ramp. Pets are welcome on the campsites but not in the cabins, and there’s a communal dog bath on site next to reception.
Sam’s Notes
“The location is the thing. There’s a mobi mat into the calm water of the Lido directly opposite the park, and a brand new accessible boardwalk that takes you right out to the beach. There’s a communal herb garden where you can pick your own herbs, which I loved. The deck is big, you get your own BBQ, and there’s space under the kitchen bench to wheel straight underneath.”
Access details verified: September 2026.
Reflections Forster Beach Holiday Park
Roughly 300km further south, on the corner where the Wallamba River meets the ocean, Forster Beach is the most recently built accessible accommodation on this leg. Sam toured both the Premium 2-Bedroom Villa and the brand-new Premium 3-Bedroom Villa, the latter with water views. Both are contemporary, well finished and open onto an expansive deck with its own BBQ.
Premium Accessible Villas — Wheelchair Accessibility
- Two villa options: Premium 2-Bedroom (sleeps 4) and Premium 3-Bedroom (sleeps 6), both purpose-built as accessible.
- Hoist users, check this first: Under-bed clearance is 4cm. That is low, and below what many mobile hoists need to fit underneath. If you hire a hoist, confirm the model’s clearance requirement before you book.
- Entry: A large patio sliding door at the front of the villa.
- Circulation: Wide doorways and hallways throughout, with room to turn a chair comfortably in the living areas.
- Bathroom: Full roll-in wet room with lowered toiletries and fixtures placed within reach from a seated position.
- Parking: In the 3-bedroom villa, parking is at the rear of the cabin, with a ramp running the whole way through to the deck.
- Assistance animals: Assistance dogs are welcome in the villas.
- Location: On the corner where the river meets the ocean, with Beach Bums Cafe about 100 metres away.
- More detail and photos: Premium 2-Bedroom Villa and Premium 3-Bedroom Villa
Around the park, the main amenities block is new, with rain showerheads and a well-finished fit-out, and accessible access to it is around the back of the building. The new camp kitchen is generously spaced. Pets are not permitted in the villas and are limited to the campsites.
Sam’s Notes
“The staff are genuinely engaged with this. They asked for feedback, and when I suggested lowering the wine glasses so someone in a wheelchair could reach them, they went further and said they’d look into fitting a pull-out rack under the bench. That’s the kind of response you want. Just note the bed clearance is only 4cm, so factor that in if you’re hiring a hoist.”
Access details verified: 28 September 2026.
📣The Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast Verdict
Seven stops, and a fair spread of results. Crystal Castle and the Solar Train are the standouts for independent access, both well thought through and easy to plan around. Stone & Wood shows what a willing operator can do with a route change and a bit of notice. The Clarence River cruise is a lovely afternoon as long as you sort the toilets before you board. The Big Banana is a hillside site that will suit some travellers and not others, and we’d rather say so plainly than oversell it. And at either end of the run, two Reflections parks: Urunga for a well-specified base up north with 10cm of bed clearance, Forster Beach for newer build quality and a standout location, with the caveat that its 4cm clearance rules it out for many hoist users.
Next stop, Sam and Charlie keep heading south.
Ready to explore inclusive Australia?
Don’t guess, use our data. The AccessibleOz team can plan your Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast trip around Sam’s on-the-ground audits, from the cabin to the cruise booking to the tour reroute at the brewery. You can also browse our wider Accessible New South Wales destination guide.