Adventurebilities is a brand new Bendigo based disability support service for people within the Central Victoria region.

Over time our adventures will see us travelling the Calder Hwy allowing us to pickup additional participants in the following regions: Castlemaine, Kyneton, Woodend, Macedon, Gisborn, Sunbury, Diggers Rest and more.

The Adventure Bus is equipped to transport wheelchairs, giving those reliant on them for mobility the option to join in the fun in a group environment.

We will pick up and drop off participants at various community centres around town with an option to also travel to individual residents as required.

All of our group outings will be based on a maximum 1:3 (Carer:Participant) ratio. On some adventures we may be able to offer 1:1 support and you find that information under the Adventure Details section on each event page of our website. 

Adventurebilities prides ourself on our high level of support and believe that groups larger than 1:3 don’t receive the attention and care required for most participants to get the greatest enjoyment out of their adventure.

If your needs are 1:4 or higher get in touch with us so we can cater directly for you.

Everyone has different support needs so we have put together some pointers to give you an idea of what ratio you may require when in our care. This is by no means a comprehensive list so if you still have questions or are unsure please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

1:3

• A person who is independent in all areas of personal care including going to the toilet, having a shower and brushing teeth (may just require prompting). 
• Can eat independently, make drinks for themselves and has good communication, social skills. 
• Understands road rules, social settings and can stay with the group on outings.
• Can understand and follow staff instructions.
  

1:2

• Requires prompting or some assistance with showering, toilet breaks and brushing teeth.
• May require prompting to pick appropriate clothes and get ready for the day.
• May need supervision or help eating or using cutlery. 
• May need staff to look after spending money and help with daily living choices. 
• Requires closer supervision in the community and on outings.
• May display some mild to moderate behaviours of concern.

1:1

• Participants who use manual or electric wheelchairs and need assistance.
• A person that needs full assistance with personal care such as showering, toilet breaks, brushing teeth and with dressing.
• Has special requirements during meal times and needs assistance to eat.
• Requires full assistance and constant supervision in the community.
• May have challenging behaviours.
• May have limited social skills. 

Adventures are what we do best. We plan our trips months in advance and you will find them in the Upcoming Adventures page on our website.

Basic details for each Adventure will be displayed on the website including duration, cost and age guide. If you are interested in one of the outings on offer just register your interest and we will send you some more details including a deposit invoice to secure your place.

Whether you have joined us on an adventure before, or this is your first time, it is always good to read through the rules of our adventures to ensure a good time is had by all:

1. Please ensure you have had a shower in the morning before coming and are wearing freshly washed clean clothes. All of our adventurers know that because we are traveling in a small confined space for a couple of hours it is really important that all of us are smelling our freshest. We also encourage you to bring some additional deodorant to smell nice for the bus trip on the way home too.

    

2. Please use the bins on the buses to put your rubbish in.
    
3. The bus is a happy place. We love laughter, jokes and having lots of fun. We do however need to be respectful of some adventurers needing quiet time so on occasions we may ask for silence in the bus, especially if it gets a little rowdy and some adventurers are not dealing with it very well.
    
4. We encourage you to bring technology on the bus and some headphones as well. Noise from devices can annoy other adventurers so if you forget headphones you will be asked to mute your device.
    
5. Our adventures are very friendly in nature because we have the number one rule of RESPECT. You must respect each other and all staff members. No bullying or anti-social behaviour will be tolerated and anyone found to be doing so will not be invited on further adventures. It is very rare that we encounter disrespect on our trips, however if someone is not treating you with the respect you deserve please talk to any of our team members and we will deal with the situation in an appropriate manner.
    
6. Please follow staff directions at all times so we can keep you and your fellow adventurers safe and feeling comfortable wherever we are.
    
7. Leave all your worries at home. Our adventures are for fun people wanting to meet other fun people while doing fun things. Enjoy your time away from home with us.

Each adventure will have a minimum participant capacity that needs to be reached before the trip is activated. If minimum capacity is not reached the trip may be cancelled and any deposits will be refunded as per your service agreement.

Each trip will have a different minimum capacity.

To become an adventurer all you need to do is complete our intake form and let us know a little about your needs, likes and dislikes and how you like to be supported. We can then ensure that we have the right team leaders on our adventures to take care of your every need.

You may have completed an intake form for some of the other local services you deal with, ours is no different. There will be questions that you can answer and there may be some questions that are not relevant to you, just answer as many as you can. We will also ask for your NDIS Participant number and a copy of your NDIS Plan Goals so we can make sure that you are funded for our service. We will then create a Service Agreement for you that lists our charges and cancellation policies so we are all on the same page before our adventures begin. 

Now, before we hand over the form (which you can complete online or we can send you a paper copy) we would love to have a quick phone chat with you or your primary carer to ensure we are going to be the perfect fit for you. We love a chat and want to get to know you a little bit first … we also want you to feel comfortable asking us every question you can think of about our service. We pride ourselves on our honesty and if we do not think we will be able to provide the service that you need we will be the first to say so.

Our highest priority is to make each adventure as low cost as possible.

If you have NDIS funding available for Social and Community Participation, generally that will cover the cost of our support workers providing you care for the duration of the event.

You may be able to receive funding from other support categories, get in touch to find out how.

Inevitably there will be some out of pocket expenses and these will include things like transport, entry tickets and food & beverages. With help from our partners and sponsors we hope to keep these expenses very minimal. On each of our adventures you will see the approximate OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES, these are approximate because we book our adventures many months in advance and sometimes entry prices (etc) may rise within that time.

Adventurebilities is an NDIS Registered Provider (Registration ID 4-E73ROP6). This means you can access our services using your NDIS funding:

• with Self Managed NDIS funds
• if your NDIS funds are Plan Managed
• and plans that are NDIA (Agency) Managed

If you are not a current NDIS participant you can still join our adventures via a fee for service payment.

Give us a call and let’s chat about what we can do to help you.

The registration groups that we provide services for include:

• 0136 Group/Centre Activities
• 0133 Specialised supported employment
• 0125 Participate Community
• 0120 Household Tasks
• 0117 Development-Life Skills
• 0116 Innovative community participation
• 0115 Daily Tasks/Shared Living
• 0108 Assist-Travel/Transport
• 0107 Assist-Personal Activities
• 0106 Assist-Life/Stage, Transition
• 0103 Assist Prod-Personal Care /Safety
• 0102 Assistance to access and maintain employment or higher education
• 0101 Accommodation/Tenancy

Our NDIS registration 2A allows us to implement Behaviour Support Plans (BSPs) and you can read our policy and procedures on restrictive practices in full by clicking on the button at the bottom of this FAQs page..

For those of you that are Plan or Self Managed the process is simple, after you have completed our intake form and given us your NDIS particulars, you can just register for anything that takes your fancy on our website and we then invoice after each service. Invoices are emailed to you if Self Managed, otherwise they are emailed directly to your plan managers.

It is a little different for our NDIA (Agency) Managed adventurers as you need to allocate some of your NDIS funds to Adventurebilities for a select period of time (ie: 6 months). Once those fund have been allocated and you have signed our Service Agreement the NDIA will be happy with us all and you can then register for any of our adventures during that 6 months. We then charged the NDIA directly on your behalf for our services and they pay us from the funds you have allocated to us. At the end of that 6 months or if you come on lots of adventures and the allocated funds are close to being exhausted, all we need to do is create a new Service Agreement with you. Most support services choose a 12 month period that coincides with your NDIS Plan so all of your paperwork gets done in one hit. If at any point you need to reallocate your funds to other services you can do that too, we just need a little notice to prepare the paperwork. Sounds like mumbo jumbo? Don’t worry we can walk you through the process. 

Please refer to your Adventurebilities Service Agreement for cancellation and refund terms.

Programs of Support:

Adventurebilities Programs of Support (Tuesday Sports Group, Wednesday Workshop, Thursday Bowling League) are block funded which means you are agreeing to participate every week of the program’s term. If you are unable to attend on any given day throughout the term, you will still be invoiced for the service.

You may leave the program at any time, however a minimum of 2 weeks notice in writing is required and will be charged against your funds. If we are immediately able to find someone to replace you on the program then your funds will not be charged.

If you decide to leave any of our Programs of Support for a short period of time, it is not guaranteed that you will be able to rejoin the program. Re-entry is dependent on group numbers and availability at the time.

If Adventurebilities cancels any sessions your funds will not be charged. If we can find someone to take your place on the session that you are unable to attend your funds will not be charged.

Special Interest Adventures:

If you are unable to attend an Adventurebilities special interest adventure, you must contact us by phone or email no later than 7 days before a support is scheduled to be delivered.

If the scheduled support is an overnight getaway then a minimum of 14 days notice is required for cancellations.

We will aim to fill your place on the adventurer with someone from the waiting list and if this is possible then no cancellation fees will apply.

Adventurebilities will at all times work with participants and their families to make alternative arrangements to reschedule a support if we are contacted within this timeframe. If we are not contacted within this timeframe we will charge for the support as per the recommendations set down in the NDIS Price Guide. If a pre-paid service is canceled by event organisers due to unforeseen circumstances, any deposits that can be refunded will be completed within 14 days of cancellation date.

1:1 Supports:

If you are unable to attend your regular weekly support session, you must contact us by phone or email no later than 7 days before the support is scheduled to be delivered.

Non Face to Face (NF2F) charges relate to the time it takes for us to curate the adventure specifically to meet your disability needs. It also includes report writing that we do for every adventure, debriefing time that we spend with your primary carers either on the phone or when we drop you home, the time it takes us to set up the program for your needs each week, conversations we have with your support coordinators or plan managers, time created for writing progress reports that we create for your NDIS plan meetings, and other such similar tasks that we do behind the scenes.

If you are a support co-ordinator, plan manager or work at the LAC, you can find referral information here

During our adventures we will take photos of the group enjoying their time and may display on some of our social media pages. Every participant will be asked for their consent before any images are published by completing our Social Media Policy form upon signing up to the adventure. If you do not give your consent, then you will not appear in any photos that are published to public.

If you would only like family members & primary carer givers to receive photos from your adventure then we are happy to accommodate that.

The NDIS Practice Standards were introduced to provide a framework to ensure that services such as those provided by Adventurebilities are delivered in accordance with the requirements of the NDIS Act, attendant rules and in keeping with contemporary policy in disability services, namely the National Disability Service Standards.

The services and supports to people with disabilities, their families or carers provided by Adventurebilities will meet the provisions of the NDIS.

A copy of our complete Policy and Procedures Manual can be access by clicking the below button. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to offer some feedback.

If you have a significant and permanent disability and have a lifelong need for a high level of support to participate in community events and activities then you may be eligible to apply for a Companion Card. The card allows a person’s carer  free entry into participating venues and events.

A companion can be a family member, friend or a paid support worker who provides your high-level attendant care support. They must be of an age to be able to assist you to participate at a venue or activity.  You can choose who you wish to have as your companion, and this may vary depending on the activity and the occasion.

Adventurebilities team members use our adventurers companion cards to receive free entry into participating venues and events. If no one on the group has a companion card, then the price of entry tickets for all team members will be divided up between all group members.

We encourage all of our adventurers to apply for a companion card which can be done via the link below
Click here to apply for a companion card

To send us some feedback please click here

A complaint is telling us about something you do not like or are not happy with. If you are unhappy we want to know. To find out more or make a complaint, please click here

If you have your Cert IV in Disability and/or relevant lived experience and are interested in joining our Adventure Crew we’d love to hear from you.

Please send your resume to hello @ adventurebilities.com.au and one of our team members will be in touch when we are next hiring.

Registering our trademark is a crucial step in protecting our brand identity and intellectual property. It grants us exclusive rights to use our brand name and logo in connection with our services and products. This legal protection helps us prevent others from using a similar mark, which could confuse consumers or dilute our brand’s reputation. It also demonstrates our commitment to providing consistent quality and builds trust with our customers.

If unauthorised use of our trademark occurs, we have legal recourse to protect our rights. This may involve sending cease-and-desist letters, negotiating with the infringing party, or taking legal action in extreme cases.

We can license our trademark to other businesses or individuals, allowing them to use it under specified conditions.

Look for our registered trademark symbol (®) next to our brand name or logo. This signifies that the product or service is indeed from us and meets our quality standards.