John and Genevieve Martin sell Ferns Hideaway Resort for $1.36 million
After more than 40 years of meeting guests from across the country, the owners of Ferns Hideaway Resort on the Capricorn Coast have sold their business and are looking forward to starting the next chapter of their lives. Find out who the new owners are here.
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After more than 40 years of meeting guests from across the country and hearing their stories, the owners of Ferns Hideaway Resort in Central Queensland have sold their business and are looking forward to starting the next chapter of their lives.
John ‘Marto’ Martin and his wife Genevieve came across the property in 1980 after falling in love with Queensland while on their honeymoon from Victoria.
“We wanted to stay here and buy some land but it had to have a good water supply,” Marto said.
“We couldn’t find that until we came to Yeppoon.
“Everyone was telling us Byfield was beautiful and Water Park Creek was a beautiful water supply that never stops running.
“A real estate agent told us about the block, so Gen and I went up with backpacks, a prismatic compass and maps and found our way through the forest and found the beautiful Water Park Creek.
“We swam across the creek and thought it was so beautiful, we couldn’t believe it was for sale.”
Marto said he and his wife had given up their previous lives in Dysart, where he worked in the mining industry and Gen worked as a nurse and midwife, cleared the block and built Ferns Hideaway Resort.
“We did as much as we could ourselves because we wanted to learn skills and be fully involved in the building of Ferns Hideaway so it had the Gen and Marto stamp on it,” he said.
After two years of building their business, they opened it to the public on April 13, 1990.
“We bought the block, not knowing what we were going to do but with a bit of an idea,” Marto said.
“I had been a musician all my life, so we wondered if we could tie in our skills and create something there so we didn’t have to go to work.
“That’s where the idea of Ferns Hideaway the musical restaurant evolved.
“The lifestyle cabins were a natural progression because that gave the restaurant a more permanent chance of filling up with guests.”
The resort is located 39 kilometres north of Yeppoon on 40 acres of sclerophyll forest at 67 Cahills Road, Byfield.
The resort has a Colonial style, 100-seat licensed restaurant, four-bedroom owner residence, four log cabins, one lodge and a number of amenities for guests, including a tennis court and eight canoes on Water Park Creek.
Over the years Marto and Gen have had the pleasure of welcoming guests from across the country, including Ian Thorpe, Midnight Oil, the Premier of Queensland and cabinet ministers.
Marto recalled when Australian actor Leo McKern arrived one day and wanted to find a snake.
“I took him off to try and find a carpet python for him,” he said.
“While we were looking, a big carpet python went under his car, so his wife grabbed a camera and took heaps of photos and asked us not to tell Leo and wait until he developed his film.
“I never got to ask what his reaction was.
“We have had really interesting characters stop and have a cup of tea with us and exchange stories. That made our life really special.”
He said the worst thing that happened to them was Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcia in February 2015.
“Gen and I had been raising wallabies and wildlife and when the cyclone came through we had 28 wallabies and an emu and they were all killed,” he said.
“That was the saddest time of our lives.”
Although Marto and Gen had to close Ferns Hideaway Resort following the cyclone to rebuild, there was an added incentive to work extra hard with their daughter’s wedding at their restaurant in June that year.
“The sadness from the cyclone was still there but our daughter getting married just washed away all the grief,” Marto said.
“It gave us some focus because we knew we were getting ready for our daughter’s wedding. It made the work just a little bit harder and a little bit longer.
“It was an exceptional weekend and one of the happiest times for Gen and I.”
After more than 40 years, Marto and Gen are looking forward to retirement and spending time with their family.
“We have been there for 42 years of constant work,” Marto said.
“It’s a very big change in our life to finally pass it on. Our two children grew up there and we are very proud of it.
“We are going to stay in Yeppoon and stay as active as we can but it won’t be seven days a week working with the public.
“We will be with our family and swimming. We love the islands, we love the ocean, and we love Yeppoon and Rockhampton and the people in it.
“We would like to thank all the beautiful people, musicians, groups and schools that have supported us.
“We couldn’t have done it without the Byfield community.”
Principal of One Real Estate Julie Cochrane said the property had a lot of interest before it sold.
Ms Cochrane, who was the selling agent, said the property sold to buyers from the Sunshine Coast on February 1 for $1.36 million.
The new owners, Wayne Moore and Anna Honders, will continue to operate the property as Ferns Hideaway Resort with some “small changes and improvements”.
“We are going to do up the cabins and renovate them,” Ms Honders said.
“We are also going to do up the tennis court and extend the restaurant hours in the future.
“We are going to run Ferns Hideaway how Marto and Gen ran it but at a slightly higher level.”
She said she and her husband had moved to Byfield from Caloundra with their two children.
She said she owned a boutique in Caloundra called Villa Verde Living and that she and her husband used to work on super yachts.
“My husband used to work on super yachts as a chef and I used to look after the housekeeping and arrange everything for the guests,” she said.
“We worked for movie stars, presidents and high up business people.
“My husband will be looking after the restaurant.”
She said she and her husband had been looking for an acreage on the Sunshine Coast but couldn’t find anything.
Eventually her search led her to discover Ferns Hideaway Resort in Byfield.
“We wanted a bit of land and water supply and we were looking at the Sunshine Coast but it got really expensive, so I decided to look further and still couldn’t find anything,” she said.
“One night I thought what else do I really want, so I added a tennis court to the search because both my kids love tennis and Ferns Hideaway came up and thought I would like that but Wayne said it was too far away.
“After a few months he asked if it was still available, so we drove up and fell in love with it.”
She said they were looking forward to a lifestyle change.
“I love that our kids will get this big opportunity to see how a small family business is run,” she said.
“Marto and Gen are lovely people and it has been a pleasure.
“They are loved by the whole community and it’s nice for them to be retiring after all these years.
“We are very happy we have Ferns Hideaway and we will continue their legacy.”
Ferns Hideaway Resort offers accommodation seven days a week, with the restaurant open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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