Visitor and Accessibility Information

Accessibility & inclusion

We want our guests to experience rest, retreat and renewal on the land of Gembrook Retreat. We continue to work towards making the land and buildings of our bush retreat  as accessible and inclusive as possible. 

If you can’t find the answer to your questions below, please contact us. We welcome feedback on things we could do to make this work better for all.  

Map of Meeting House & Sleeping Pods

Assistance Animals

We welcome Assistance Animals. 

We can cater for Emotional Support animals in some of our spaces. 

David’s Cabin  

• Assistance Animals only

Meeting House and Pods  

• Support dogs allowed in Meeting House (not on furniture) 

• Support dogs allowed in Blackwood pod (not on furniture) 

• Dogs must be on a leash when outside the buildings

Map of Meeting House and Sleeping Pods

Map of whole property

Parking

Black Cockatoo House, office and worship room  

• 20m from the Gate 2 car park, across an uneven flat grassy area, with some spaced  pavers.  

• Automatic lighting for some of the distance.  

• 50m from the Gate 1 carpark, and requires walking down 8 steps, across uneven grassy  ground and up a narrow steep path. 

David's Cabin  

• 50 metres down a steeply sloped field from the Gate 2 car park.  

• Ground is rough and uneven in parts. 

The Meeting House, and Tawny, Blackwood and Lilly Pilly Pods  

• 150 metres down a steeply sloped field or 300m down a gravel track from the Gate 1 car park.  

• 1 car space behind Lilly Pilly Pod, about 20m from the Meeting House deck entrance
• Path between the Lilly Pilly car park and the Meeting House deck entrance has 5 steps  and sloped/uneven ground. 

• Drop off area 5m from Meeting House deck entrance

Physical Features

Black Cockatoo House office and worship room 

• Sharp 1 metre turn to access the office entrance, and a slight step through the doorway.
• Seating includes couches and upright chairs.

David's Cabin  

• 1-3 steps to access the cabin front deck 

• 1 step into the front door entrance 

• 1 small step into the back door entrance 

• 1 step into the toilet building 

• Not wheelchair accessible

Meeting House and Sleeping Pods  

* Tawny has 1 step onto the deck of the building, and 50m of uneven ground to access  toilets and kitchen in the Meeting House.  

* Blackwood has 4 steps with one handrail onto the deck of the building, and 30m of  uneven ground to access toilets and kitchen in the Meeting House.  

* Lilly Pilly has 3 steps into the entry of the building and 10m of uneven ground to access  toilets and kitchen in the Meeting House.  

* The Meeting House has 5 steps with 1 hand rail on to the deck.  

* There is ground level entry at the Kitchen end of the Meeting House. Only 4WD vehicles can drive up to the Kitchen entry and access may depend on conditions, this must be  arranged beforehand. 

* The Meeting House meeting room, dining room and kitchen are wheelchair accessible 

Toilets

Black Cockatoo House office and worship room  

One Ambulant toilet, with grab rails.

David’s Cabin  

One Ambulant toilet.

Meeting House and Sleeping Pods  

• One Accessible toilet and one Ambulant toilet accessed from the Meeting House deck.
• One long drop toilet between Tawny and Blackwood Pods with narrow entrance. Entry mechanism requires 2 hands. 

Accessible toilets nearby

Gembrook Skate Park 

Puffing Billy Park Gembrook 

Closest Changing Place Facilities

Emerald Lake Station (Emerald Lake Rd, 20 minutes away) 

Cardinia Life Pakenham (4 Olympic Way Pakenham, 21 minutes away)