Tourists will soon give you the chance to remain on an Australian billionaire’s island on the Great Barrier Reef, starting at $20,000 an evening.
Pelorus Island is the northernmost island within the Palms Island group and is a 30-minute helicopter journey from Townsville.
When Chris Morris bought the island in 2017, he said it only had a “little home” for private use.
But after the Computershare founder convinced the federal government to let him use the island commercially, he has spent the last two years constructing a recent house with intentions to host international celebrities and other high-profile guests.
news.com.au has been given a first-look at the brand new property, which is now taking bookings.
The island is barely 800 metres north of Orpheus Island, which Mr Morris, who’s founder and executive chairman of the Morris Group, bought in 2011. That island has a luxury resort, providing accommodation for up to twenty-eight people across 14 rooms, suites and villas.
But Mr Morris wanted Pelorus Private Island to be different. He took inspiration from the time he spent on superyachts within the Mediterranean.
“I desired to create the identical form of service level you get on these superyachts because I’m charging an analogous sum of money,” he told news.com.au.
“The staff doing it desired to put numbers on the doors … [but] that is like anyone’s home. I would like anyone to are available in and it just be like a very glamorous beautiful home and never feel like they’re in a hotel.
“One among the craziest things anyone asked me was, ‘Can we put an iron in every room?’ and I said, ‘While you’re paying that much money you don’t iron your personal clothes.’”
Like when staying on a superyacht, all “food and grog” and water “toys” are included.
There may be jet skis for exploring the island, a game boat for fishing on the outer reef, and other boats for tours. Pelorus may even “tie in lots with Orpheus”, which may offer diving tours and has a restaurant.
Again, like a superyacht, Mr Morris says the service and experiences on Pelorus might be customisable.
“What they do on boats, they sit down and say, ‘what do you desire to have for dinner for the subsequent couple of days?’ or something like that, and we’ll do it,” he said. “And if we haven’t got it on the island we’ll get it flown in from Townsville.”
Mr Morris actually brought over his own chef from his superyacht within the Mediterranean, whose wife was the senior stewardess, to be the chef and manager on the island.
He said when guests were on the island they’d likely have one other “stew” to assist clean, make beds and serve drinks, in addition to a ship person.
The property has room for six staff members in a separate constructing on the back.
For guests, there are 4 suites, accommodating eight people, but there’s a fifth room which Mr Morris explained might be for guests who bring their very own security guard or maid.
To the critics who say people won’t pay $20,000-plus an evening, his response is easy: “they may”.
He said wealthy Australians go overseas for high-end boats and pay $200,000 per week.
“There’s numerous Australians with numerous money,” he said.
He also expects to draw overseas celebrities wanting to do something special after their gigs in Australia and even corporates splurging for his or her senior staff.
“What is exclusive about that is it is completely secluded and totally private,” he said.
Mr Morris has invested $418 million into his tourism portfolio in north Queensland, but he says “all the pieces’s by likelihood”.
“I don’t do any five-year plans or anything,” he explained.
“I purchased Orpheus after which I needed to get people there. They used to have to return across to Palm Island by light planes and we had to choose them up, so then I made a decision I had to purchase a helicopter company, which was Nautilus.”
He said on the time they’d one helicopter, but now the business is the most important helicopter operator in Northern Australia with 47 in total.
“After which the opposite thing I needed after I had an island, mainly you would like somewhere to get the stuff delivered in Townsville,” he said. “People can’t deliver to the island obviously.
“So then in 2014 the casino got here up and I’ve at all times loved casinos.”
He bought Jupiters Townsville, now The Ville Resort-Casino, which he describes as one of the best investment he ever made.
