Great Barrier Reef’s Pumpkin Island up for sale
A small, private island at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef has hit the market for the first time in 17 years, with the slice of tropical living coming with a price tag of $25 million.
It is just the second time Pumpkin Island has come onto the market since it first became available in 1961. Situated at the base of North Keppel Island and 14km offshore from Yeppoon on Queensland’s central coast, the six-hectare resort destination has been recognised internationally for its eco-friendly luxury.
The island is possibly best known for its advertising collaboration with food and beverage company Lion, which leased and renamed the tourist spot “XXXX Island” between 2012 and 2015 in a promotional campaign for the iconic Queensland beer.
The Rumble family purchased the island’s leasehold in 2003 for $1.3 million, running an eco-resort under the Sojourn Retreats brand. Roger and Merle Mason are the only others to own the land.
Pumpkin Island hit the market on Thursday for the first time in 17 years with a price tag of $25m.
Knight Frank agents Deborah Cullen, of the Prestige Residential team in NSW, and Pat O’Driscoll, partner and head of Knight Frank Rockhampton, have been tasked with the sale.
Cullen hopes to capture the imagination of a buyer wanting their own tropical paradise in a COVID-struck world, or someone hoping to run a tourist escape.
“The buyer will be purchasing an entire island – rather than just a parcel of land on an island – on a rolling lease current until 2046, which is an opportunity that only presents itself once in a blue moon,” she says.
“We expect it will be even more attractive in the current climate post-COVID-19 for someone who wishes to use it as a safe haven during any possible future pandemics. During this pandemic, life continued on the island as normal.”
Since first opening to guests in 1964, Pumpkin Island has evolved into an off-the-grid eco escape and was named Australia’s most sustainable hotel in Australasia in 2018 at the World Boutique Hotel Awards.
It was also the first Australian Island to be recognised as “beyond carbon neutral”, offsetting 150 per cent of its annual greenhouse gas emissions with solar and wind energies and extensive rain water reserves.
Reef Pumpkin Island.
Guest accommodation currently caters for 34 people with five fully self-contained oceanfront guest cottages and two bungalows, which all have open-air kitchen and bathroom facilities.
The property also contains staff quarters, a double-storey lookout building, a bar lounge area, two registered moorings, a helicopter landing pad and a custom-built 36-passenger catamaran.
There is opportunity for development with the appropriate approvals from council and state authorities, Mr O’Driscoll said. An oyster lease also belongs to the owner and can be sold or be used to allow for the shucking of fresh oysters off the rocks.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
