Well the MC gig at the Merimbula Jazz Festival went off without a hitch. I was the master of ceremonies at our local RSL club on the Saturday night and our golf club on the Sunday afternoon. The town was abuzz with Jazz fans and most of the venues around town were booked solid. Desiree joined me for one of the gigs and she really enjoyed the jazz.

 The Jazz Festival must bring a ton of money to our town and it is good to see an event that is run professionally and with the support of its patrons. What did occur to me was that the Jazz fans are now starting to age. I would say that there were very few of the Jazz fans on the lower side of 50. I was wondering if this is the norm for Jazz fans all around the world and whether there is anything that can be done to promote Jazz to the younger generations.  The festival has become such an important part of the Merimbula tourist plan that it would be sad to see it decline over the next 10 years. We probably need to start to think about other events to supplement the tourists that visit for the Jazz Festival.

 We have had a number of people stay at Bimbadeen since the Jazz Festival, most have been children with cerebral palsy and their carers, giving the parents some much needed respite. We have some bookings over the next few weekends, so the word is starting to get out that our facility is an easy & relaxing place to stay for people with disabilities and access issues.

A few people have asked me about the back end of the Universal Design Renovations Blog.

It is built on a Wordpress platform and uses a theme called Anaconda. The site is hosted by a company called Hostgator who I would recommend to anyone who is considering starting up a website. Their service is great and I have been using them for over 5 years for a number of websites and have not had any problems.

I am not a “code monkey” so all of this has to be useable by someone who has just basic editing skills.

Here is a link to Hostgator have a look for your self.

We have had a steady stream of guests into Bimbadeen over the last few weeks. Most of these have been referrals from the Bega Valley Respite Centre. We have had three children with Cerebral Palsy, Colleen, Sarah & Jake and their carers. There have been a lot of compliments about the quality of accommodation and how easy it is to live in with a wheel chair. This is because of the good circulation space and the set up of the bathrooms.

 This makes Desiree and I very happy. All of the work we put into the design is now starting to pay dividends.

Over the Queens Birthday weekend ( June 5 - 8 ) Merimbula  will stage the 29th Jazz Festival. This has become the biggest weekend outside of Christmas in our town. The whole place turns into one big Jazz jam and we have thousands of people come to stay for the event.

In a moment of “weakness” I decided to do my bit for the festival and volunteered to become one of the announcers for the event.  (Really I am looking forward to becoming involved) You can download a pdf copy of the weekends program or go to the official site on the links below.
Merimbula 29th Jazz Festival Program
Merimbula Jazz Festival Website

I have put together a small Google Adwords advertising program to promote Bimbadeen as a suitable venue for people with disabilities to stay during the festival. Hopefully this will be successful.

Now that we have almost finished fitting out Bimbadeen we are starting the marketing process. Initially we will be using online methods which include this blog and various websites to spread the word.

We have set up descriptions of Bimbadeen on Australia for All which is a website that bills itself as a one stop shop for accessible tourism in Australia and overseas. We have set up a booking page on the Sapphire Coast Tourism website which is affiliated with Tourism Australia.

I have compiled a fairly big list of  health industry contacts during the development process and have emailed them a copy of our electronic brochure Bimbadeen Disability Friendly Holiday Accommodation 

So hopefully this will start the marketing ball rolling. Feel free to post this link to people you feel appropriate.

Its pretty funny how things come up. Last week I was talking with Jim my local nurseryman. He has been the supplier of many of the plants that have gone into the garden. We were discussing Bimbadeen and as it happens Jim was a renal nurse prior to being a plant grower and he said that there were very few holiday facilities where a person who needs dialysis can stay. Apparently you need a highly filtered water supply and uninterruptible power. I think that with a few minor modifications we can set up the back bedroom of Bimbadeen so it is dialysis friendly. I am making enquiries with the Australian kidney foundation now about what I would need to do. Lets hope that we can get this done as it would open up another market for us and provide a much needed facility.

The garden is still very much a work in progress but it is starting to take shape. The birds have found it and in the mornings and evenings there are a wide variety of birds that are starting to visit. Some of the plants have also attracted the local wallabies so the place is becoming a bit of a sanctuary. Anyway here are a couple of photos of the garden and fauna.

The little green bird is a bell bird and you can hear them chirping all day, the red parrot is a king parrot and they are pretty reclusive but when they come out they are magnificent, the multicolored bird is a rainbow lorikeet, these guys must be the clowns of the bird world not only for their color but also their antics. The black-wallaby is playing havoc with the new leaves on our lilly pilly trees. I think that he comes in at night.

It has been a couple of hectic months since my last posting. I have been putting the finishing touches on Bimbadeen. I had forgotten how much stuff you need to fully set up a home. We managed to get get all of our furniture last week. A lot of it was flat pack so I spent a day putting tables, chairs, bedside tables and entertainment units together. Multiple trips to the supermarket to pick up all sorts of odds and ends. The results have been great.

In the meantime the garden has started to grow and we are attracting a hoard of local birds.

 If you are interested to come and stay with us, here is a brochure that you can download that gives you some details about the facility.

Bimbadeen Disability Friendly Holiday Accommodation

Now that we have all of the structural work finished and we are on site, I can start to concentrate on the outdoor site works. This means the garden and surround. I have struck up friendship with Alan from Woodlands Nursery in Merimbula which is walking distance from Bimbadeen. I will be using Alan for advice and to supply all of the plants that we will need for the garden.

We have also put a lot of though into the layout and landscaping of the block. We want to achieve a number of things.

• Have the entire block accessible by wheel chair.
• Create a garden that attracts native birds and marsupials.
• Have a vegetable garden to help with self sufficiency.
• Retain all of our magnificent views.

Making the gardens accessible by wheel chair was quite a feat for the landscapers. The rear of the block falls away about 3 metres from the back of the house to the boundary. I do think that they have achieved this, check out the terracing in the picture below.

All of the pathways are less than a 1 in 14 slope which is in keeping with access standards and we will plant them with a local grass that is very hardy and gives a firm surface to wheel across. You will also be able to touch the plants from wheel chair height.

To attract birds and marsupials (we border onto the bush) we needed to focus on native Australian plants. Using Alan from Woodlands Nursery and a bit of research here are some of the species that we will be putting into the garden.

 
Acmena Smithii
These are commonly known in Australia as Lily Pily they have unusual flowers and both bird and marsupial attracting berries. We will plant these on the back border so that the wallabies and kangaroos can get good access.

Callistemon Endevour
These are commonly referred to as bottle brush plants. The endevour is a brand name for the citrinus strain and has striking red flowers. This will attract the nectar feeding birds.

Callistemon Pallidus
The lemon bottle brush is also planted for the nectar feeding birds. It grows to about 5 metres high but we will keep it trimmed to retain our views.