Sir Richard Branson’s Noosa getaway for hire – for $17,000 a night
Makepeace Island, Virgin tycoon Richard Branson's getaway off the Sunshine Coast, has now been opened to the luxury resort hire market.
It costs $7,900 a night for a party of eight guests and up to $16,890 a night in peak season for up to 22 guests. It’s a bit cheaper than Branson’s Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, which costs $US53,000 ($A49,380) per night to hire.
Once a muddy patch of land floating on the Noosa River, the 9.2-hectare heart-shaped island has been transformed into an ultra-luxurious Balinese-style retreat with 11 bedrooms.
Sir Richard, along with Virgin Blue executives Brett Godfrey and former colleague Rob Sherrard, bought it for $2.86 million in 2007.
On its purchase Sir Richard said he had purchased it as a present to his employees.
"It's incredible when you think of the achievement that all of the staff have done down here. Airfares have halved and hundreds and thousands of more people are travelling," he said.
"None of that could have been possible had it not been for our magnificent staff.
"As a thank you, we have bought a beautiful island off Noosa for the staff to use with their friends to come and party," Sir Richard said.
But the initial plans to develop it as a luxury staff resort failed to gain Noosa Council approval. In 2008 work finally began to renovate the old timber cottage on Noosa's only privately owned island.
The subtropical island, six kilometres upstream from the coast, originally featured a classic 1911 Queenslander residence with corrugated iron roof dating back to the days when the island was known as Pig Island.
The property now comes with a main long house with a giant bar, a four-bedroom guesthouse, several two-bedroom villas, a boathouse and a lagoon pool with a lap lane, dive spots and a 15-person spa.
The island has its own riverboat to transfer guests, a full-sized tennis court, outdoor cinema, two-storey open-air Balinese wantilan, a games room and office facilities.
Sir Richard, who says Noosa is his "favourite place in Australia", says Makepeace is available for whole-of-island rental only. It comes with staff, who prepare all meals.
"When neither Brett nor myself are visiting Makepeace, we will make the island and its facilities available for others to enjoy the tranquility of what is a very special place," Branson said.
The house had been the home of artist Brian Spencer and his wife, Beverley, between 1980 and 1997.
Makepeace Island was first owned by Charles Nicholas, who built the Queenslander in 1924. The island, alongside the Sheep and Goat islands, was renamed after a spinster housekeeper named Hanna Makepeace who inherited the house after starting work there in 1924.
