‘Life of an A-lister’: What $20,000 a night accommodation on private island is really like
Grab a group of friends and make like millionaires during a stay on a private Noosa island where luxury food, and accommodation await.
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It’s barefoot luxury, Michelin star-quality food and billionaire fun on the private island playground of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
Heart-shaped Makepeace Island – hidden in the upper reaches of the Noosa River – is emerging from its largest renovation to strengthen the region’s status as an Australian tourism icon.
The sprawling and secret island has served as the luxurious escape for some of the world’s biggest stars: Justin Bieber, the Hemsworths and Drew Barrymore.
They’re the ones we know about, for the workers of this island pride themselves on maintaining discretion.
Anybody, however, after parting with almost $20,000 a night for eight people, can peel back the curtain and experience what life might be life for an A-lister.
Makepeace Island is an out-of-this-world travel experience as unique as co-owner, Sir Richard Branson (Brett Godfrey, Cathie Reid and Stuart Giles, James McBeath and Rikki Bannan are also owners). Built for a short-lived stint as a retreat for Virgin Australia staff at the turn of the millennium, Makepeace now offers a stunning and exclusive island getaway. The 10-minute journey from the Noosa Marina on-board a luxury 10-person ferry offers the first glimpse of the new world you’re about to enter.
Its timber jetty slowly comes into view, where each staff member is waiting and waving at you. On the mangrove-lined island is a sprawling Balinese compound complete with a huge relaxation and breakfast area overlooking the pool and a central bar larger than most new homes.
These Balinese buildings were pieced together with the help of Indonesian craftsmen and labourers who accompanied the 117 shipping containers the materials were packed into. White-cushioned daybeds scatter the island and it isn’t long before your half-a-dozen staff are ready with a drink and lunch.
Lapping at the edge of the whopping main building and bar is a 550,000L swimming pool that was once the largest private pool in the southern hemisphere – probably until an inspired Hemsworth went bigger, staff joke. A high bridge crosses it and a separate 15-seat heated spa bubbles away in the distance. There’s one rule for the pool and we’re immediately fearing the bridge will be off limits to any juvenile behaviour.
Not so: We’d forgotten this is the home of young-at-heart Sir Richard.
“The first time you enter the pool has to be off the bridge,” guide Laura tells us.
To reinforce the seriousness of this request, we’re told just a fortnight ago a grandma was here and she jumped off.
The villa is equipped with a bath slightly smaller than the pool carved from an astonishingly large rock so heavy it fell through the floor on installation.
A highlight of our stay is the bath service, which staff run and mix with a cocktail of calming minerals, salt or bubbles. It’s topped with a white rose and a glass of Champagne. Any more relaxed and you’d be dead.
While the jaw-dropping villas on the edge of the river, deep volcanic rock baths, endless activities and mouth-watering food are enough to bring a tear to the eye – we discover the personal, friendly and unpretentious approach of the island’s staff is what makes this experience memorable. They’re quick to offer you a bespoke cocktail by the pool after breakfast and no request is too much.
We nonchalantly suggested a casual fish off the jetty that afternoon, only to arrive and find the rods rigged, live bait caught and two chilled beers sitting in the chairs.
Soon the fish are jumping on the hook and the rod bends when a shovelnose shark joins in. All this while the more mindful partners enjoy a fly-in visit from a masseuse. We’re relaxed and ready for a boat cruise up the river to witness a stunning sunset with a cocktail in hand.
Island general manager Kate Gilbert says there’s no other experience in the nation, if not the world, like Makepeace Island. “You’ve got the exclusivity and the level of food and the level of service also without it being fussy and pretentious,” she says. “It is really barefoot luxury.”
The $19,950 a night for the first eight guests and an additional $1200 a person a night for every guest over eight, up to a maximum of 22, seems a lot.
But consider the location, included activities, quality of food and having butlers to shake a cocktail at your command. “If your budget is hosting those 22 people on Hastings St (Noosa) in one of the five-star hotels and you have to pay for breakfast, lunch and dinner, coffees and an activity every day, smoothies and snacks for the kids … we’re actually quite comparable,” Kate says.
“Why would you not have an exclusive-use island and have this experience?”
In charge of the island’s diverse menu is executive chef, and Kate’s partner, Zeb Gilbert. Co-owner of Noosa fine-dining institution Wasabi until 2020, Zeb’s crafted skills from the two-hat restaurant are applied in almost every meal on Makepeace. For lunch he slow cooks pork above hot coals and finishes with a sweet and ice-cold raspberry sorbet.
It appears as a curtain-raiser for the main performance: Dinner under fairy lights on a luxury pontoon berthed in the slow-flowing Noosa River. Lamb is the centrepiece and it seems to fall apart just by looking at it. For this inexperienced group of visiting foodies, Zeb expands the horizon and is a wizard with every dish he places in front of us.
Mouth-watering venison, a five-course Japanese degustation, banana and cinnamon pancakes for breakfast.
Every visitor to Makepeace is asked to detail their food and drink preferences to ensure the chef can craft a menu personal to them. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served when the guest wants and are usually held in a different location of the island every time.
Sometimes, Kate says, guests need a change from the sit-down meals. “They’ll say I just can’t do fancy food anymore, I want a hamburger and the chef will make a hamburger – but it’ll be the best hamburger that they’ve had,” she says.
Locally-sourced bespoke artisan food and drink is used on the island and the seafood is dropped off on the jetty by a nearby fisherman. “The wide range of different menus is something that you can’t get in other resorts,” Kate says.
“We’re really lucky that we’ve got a really wide skill set in the kitchen from all the different people.”
Living like a millionaire is fun and the luxury is unparalleled, but Makepeace Island focuses more on creating lifelong memories with family and friends. Staying here is kind of like flying first class. Once you try it, everything else falls short.
Makepeace Island
Noosa River
From $19,950 a night for the first eight guests. All inclusive besides alcohol.
makepeaceisland.com
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