Community alliance to help revive Couran Cove on South Stradbroke Island

Want to buy a two-bedroom cabin a short walk from the beach for low six figures? A coalition of community groups is determined to make that possible at a revamped Queensland island resort.

One of Queensland’s biggest tourist resort flops has arisen from financial ruin to become a residential hideaway where two-bedroom cabins within a short walk to a glorious surf beach are selling for $110,000.

A coalition of community groups led by Wellness Australia has reclaimed more than 360 cabins, apartments and houses at Couran Cove on South Stradbroke and created a community described to me as a hippy colony for wrinkleys.

But that’s not quite fair, or accurate. Although it seems to run on a retirement village model, I saw families and young people there too.

“It’s set up to be affordable for pensioners and people on limited wages,” said Wellness Australia chief Lachlan McIntosh.

“It’s not just for pensioners and people with disabilities though. As long as you are kind you are welcome.”

There are dozens of homes for sale, many with water views.

And if you can’t afford to buy, you can rent. No bond required.

Two-bedroom cabins a short walk to the beach are selling for $110,000. Picture: Des Houghton

McIntosh is a successful corporate guru who managed large firms and who charged $1000 an hour as a leading insolvency consultant.

Now he says he has found his most satisfying “dream job” helping create an “inclusive” community called BLISS, Better Living in South Stradbroke. He used the word inclusive over and over.

McIntosh has put his money where his mouth is and purchased 10 houses. A Tasmanian investor who works in the mining services industry also bought 10 houses.

BLISS is a haven for people with no money, especially those who have fallen through the cracks (my words, not his). Widows and single women trapped in the rent spiral have found new lives there. So have those with mild disabilities who can live independently but need some support.

BLISS is run by a bunch of do-gooders (again my words, nor McIntosh’s.)

Wellness Australia is a disability service provider. Its partners at Bliss are Gold Coast Recreation and Sport, also a disability services provider, a youth charity called New Beginnings and Meals on Wheels. Also working in the community is a not-for-profit called Passion 2 Purpose that runs practical programs to “empower, educate and elevate the next generation”.

BLISS resident Jason Gibson at Couran Cove. Picture: Des Houghton

It helps run the general store which is staffed largely by volunteers who also have a splendid vegetable garden nearby.

McIntosh is reluctant to be interviewed, preferring instead to let his staff do the talking.

BLISS general manager Julie Marsh, who managed the NDIS rollout on the Gold Coast, said the community was happy to welcome vulnerable people, especially lone women aged between 55 and 67.

“Finding accommodation can be challenging for them,’’ she said.

Many jobless women over 50 who still did not qualify for the aged pension had little money left for food after paying their rent.

“Sometimes the marriage breaks up, the divorce turns ugly, and they are left with no money,” she said. “We offer affordable housing.”

Marsh said Bliss managers had to be “selective” and the community may not be suitable for some people.

“They have to have the right vision and values,” she said.

There were some wealthy people who rented at BLISS but the focus was on people reliant on a pension.

Their days are filled with activities like bushwalks, yoga, entertainment and “wellness activities”.

BLISS community care director James Odenbriet, 40, said some people with serious behavioural problems and drug issues had been turned away.

The new village that works alongside the Couran Cove Resort and hotel guests often join in BLISS activities.

Couran Cove is a pleasant 20-30-minute boat ride from the Gold Coast with a 200ha footprint. It has a 4ha harbour and marina, a 6ha lagoon and 2km of ocean frontage.

Sue Pearson runs the yoga school at the revived Couran Cove resort. Picture: Des Houghton

It was built as a showpiece resort and sports training centre by former Olympic runner, Ron Clarke, with the financial backing of philanthropist Chuck Feeney’s InterPacific Group and had its heyday in the late 90s.

Clarke, who later became Mayor of the Gold Coast, envisioned Couran Cove as one of the world’s great eco-resorts.

US track star Carl Lewis trained there and wealthy visitors like John Singleton would arrive by helicopter.

It had a 180m Tartan running track with pacing lights and an electronic timing system.

It had tennis and squash courts, lawn bowls, golf driving nets, a baseball and softball pitching cage, rock climbing and abseiling walls and a boules rink.

I was one of the first visitors in 1998 and thought it had stepped ashore in paradise.

And it is still a mystery to me why the resort failed; why paradise was lost. Or was it just temporarily misplaced.

BLISS community care manager James Odenbreit. Picture: Des Houghton

A manager deeply familiar with a resort’s history told me it operated for some years with 400 staff and an occupancy rate of 5 per cent. There were even rangers on the payroll whose job was to collect seeds for propagating native flora.

Couran Cove resort was built for $75m, with Feeney reportedly pumping in an extra $283m in the next decade to keep it alive.

It’s changed hands several times since he pulled out.

A total of 95 per cent of the island is gazetted as a conservation park that can never be disturbed.

However, within the Couran Cove footprint there are two large swathes of freehold land still ripe for more eco-cabins, Couran Cove could comfortably fit another one to two thousand permanent residents. Its day will come.