Noosa Heads Accommodation

Branson's Makepeace Island available to rent in Noosa

Located minutes downstream from Noosa Heads’ bustling dining and shopping precinct, the 25 acre authentic Balinese built property offers luxurious accommodation for up to 22 guests and is available from AUD$7900 per night.

Designed for privacy, and sensitively developed in keeping with its unique coastal habitat, the secluded property was completed in 2009 on a heart shaped island in the expansive Noosa River.

To date, Makepeace has remained a private retreat for family and friends of the owners Sir Richard Branson and Brett Godfrey, founders of Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia).

In Australia on a brief visit to Noosa, his “favourite place in Australia”, Sir Richard announced Makepeace Island would occasionally be offered to other guests.

The British entrepreneur also launched www.makepeaceisland.com , the island’s new web site providing a sneak peak of Makepeace magic beyond the property’s previously closed Balinese doors.

“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,” he said.

Makepeace Island comes complete with its own riverboat to transfer guests, as well as a full-sized tennis court and pavillion, spa facilities, theatre, a substantial two-storey open aired Balinese wantilan for relaxing or gathering of friends and family, 500,000-litre lagoon pool, office facilities and an expansive indoor bar designed for entertaining on a grand scale.

Gardens and indoor decor include giant sculptures, teak, granite and stone finishes, volcanic boulder bathtubs, ornamental lighting and antiquities and furniture commissioned and acquired in Bali, Java and elsewhere throughout Indonesia.

Learn About Top Luxury Noosa Accommodation: Experience Australia's ...

Surfing on the excellent Pacific Ocean beaches is one of the main attractions in this popular holiday region. The annual Noosa Festival of Surfing is a top event of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP).

Australia’s most popular National Park is right at the end of Hastings Street. This is the Noosa National Park, which is visited by over one million people each year. Swimming, fishing, snorkelling and rock-climbing are all popular activities in the park. Note that camping is prohibited. Also there are no patrolled beaches, and strong currents at Alexandria Bay, so swimmers and snorkelers should take care.

The varied terrains in the park include heathlands, grasslands, rain forests and more open eucalypt forests. There are many koalas living here, and other animals include possums (ringtail and brushtail) and bandicoots. The bird life in the park includes cockatoos, parrots and bowerbirds. Humpback whales make seasonal migrations along the Queensland coast, so visitors may sometimes be able to see these from the headlands in the park. Several short and medium length trails through the park start at Noosa Heads.

From Noosa one can also experience a scenic 4WD tour through the hinterland’s unspoilt scenery. Many of these trips visit the Blackall Range (Montville) and the Glasshouse Mountains. The mountains are in fact plugs of volcanic rhyolite and trachyte. These hard rocks were once the molten cores of volcanos, and they are now sticking up through a flat landscape, after the pyroclastic cone of softer volcanic ash has been eroded.

Captain Cook sailed along the Queensland coast in 1770, and said that the mountains’ strange shapes reminded him of the large glass furnaces in his native Yorkshire.

It is also possible to explore Queensland by river. There are river cruises along the local River, which visit Lakes Cooroibah and Cootharaba, and the Everglades region of the Great Sandy National Park. The Great Sandy also covers Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. This has over 100 freshwater lakes, including the famous Lake McKenzie, which is completely surrounded by white sand beaches of almost pure silica. The dingo population on Fraser Island is reputed to be the last remaining population of pure bred dingos in Eastern Australia.

Noosa Heads, and the Hastings Street area, is generally a classy and upscale resort, sometimes referred to as the Monaco of Australia. Luxury Noosa accommodation is easy to find in the district. The Quay West Resort and Spa is at 94 Noosa Drive, offering apartment accommodation, and the Sebel Resort Hotel and the Noosa Sheraton on both on Hastings Street itself.

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