Back in the days when I was still highly motivated to relocate to some place where the temperature never drops below my age - I am thinking of good ol' Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit! - , I visited Kuranda where Regine Bergmann of Australian Property Connection was selling a spectacular property at 46 Cadagi Drive.
Well, I never bought it but an American artist, Steve Royster, did in late 2006 or early 2007 and, if you can believe the internet, paid $800,000 for it. They say Australian property sells on average every seven years, so bang on time he listed it again for sale in late 2014 at $1,200,000 but was then turned it into the Grand Barron Lodge - see also here (both are since deregistered and what you are looking at are archived pages).
As I said, it's a spectacular property with large rooms and high ceilings and some quite extravagant attention to detail. At the time of its construction it was the talk of Kuranda, with the best tradies in town contracted to complete the project. The brief was simple: large rooms and high ceilings! With the help of a crane and an experienced crew, this was readily accomplished. What took more time was the attention to detail. Every beam was hand-carved, walls were sandbagged, the helipad driveway hand-paved. No expense was spared. The best hickory, white beech and kauri timbers, today no longer available, were used to line the rooms. The house was similarly dressed using bespoke fittings – doors to the wine cellar imported from Indonesia, outdoor pheasant taps from Germany, an antique lamp from Russia, hand basin from France. What I didn't know is that it was built in 1986 for Peter Armitage, Alan Bond's accountant.
"Bondie" was the poster boy of the roaring 80s and famously won the America's Cup in 1983 with his yacht Australia II. Less famously, he was declared bankrupt in 1992 with debts of $1.8 BILLION, jailed for fraud in 1996, and released in 2000. Despite his criminal past, he kept his fortune and in 2008 was named one the 200 wealthiest people in Australia with an estimated $265 million. He died in 2015, aged 77 - click here.
Alan Bond's accountant sold the property for $500,000 in late 1993 and it was again for sale at $850,000 when I inspected it in 2003. Maybe it's time I visited it again but this time as a paying guest.
P.S. Three years on, I can no longer find any advertisement for the Grand Barron Lodge but the property is still - again? - for sale at $1,095,000 - click here. However, I'm not tempted as I have since learned that you don't "invest" in real estate in a tropical climate where it requires endless maintenance and where, as soon as a cyclone has dropped the first palm tree, real estate prices drop, too. If I ever get away from "Riverbend" and if there's still enough time left in me, I would opt for something small and simple in the village itself, something like 14 Barang Street which the current owners bought in March 2008 for $316,000 and which has been for sale for some years now at "offers over $299,000". Maybe I check on the price again after the next cyclone (it did finally sell in September 2020 for $295,000). Read also "Keeping the dream alive".
P.P.S. It's a cold and wintry morning at "Riverbend" in June 2020 as I look once again at the object of my (now past) desire, and I notice with surprise that its price has been (once again) reduced to $980,000 - click here. I may be tempted if they throw in a free set of steak knives!
P.P.P.S. Surprise, surprise! I've just looked again, and it sold in August 2020 for $850,000! After owning it for 14 years, he's only just managed to get his money back. I used to own a couple of properties like that!
