Multi million dollar facelift for the first Lady of the Reef
The first lady of the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Elliot Island, is to enjoy a substantial facelift, courtesy of its new operators.
Surf lifesaving legend turned tourism and aviation operator Grant Kenny has joined long-term friend and fellow aviation businessman Peter Gash, of Seair Pacific on the Gold Coast, and respected Gold Coast commercial lawyer Michael Kyle in the venture.
Gash secured a long term lease from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and invited Kenny and Kyle to join him in refurbishing and relaunching the Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort, while protecting the 42 hectare island’s environmental treasures.
It is a requirement that between $2 million and $3 million be spent on maintenance and refurbishment in the early years of the lease, which will improve accommodation standards on the island but leave the existing development footprint unchanged.
“This tiny coral cay is the Great Barrier Reef in miniature: birds, marine life, spectacular coral, everything that makes the reef an Australian icon,” said Kenny.
“It’s been a tourism resort since 1969 but I’d bet that very few people would even know what a paradise it is and just how close it is to the mainland capital cities,” said Kenny.
Lady Elliot Island, 80km northeast of Bundaberg and 320km north of Brisbane, is the southern most inhabited island on the reef. It’s one of only three coral cays with a resort (the others being Heron and Green Islands) and the only one with its own airstrip. Visitors enjoy snorkelling, scuba diving, turtle and whale watching, and reef walking.
The resort has 44 accommodation units ranging from tent-style “eco huts” up to two bedroom “reef suites”. It currently sleeps a maximum of 150 people at any one time.
The new operators plan to improve that by refurbishing the heritage-listed lighthouse and converting the light-keeper’s dwellings into upscale accommodation.
Lady Elliot offers a pure reef experience just a 90 minute flight from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, 35 minutes from Hervey Bay or Bundaberg.
Graham Muldoon
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