Australia’s craziest beach castles

THESE houses are so fancy they come with private beaches and helipads. They’re up for grabs now, but you’ll need to pay a bit to claim them.

Spring time sparks dreams of owning the ultimate beach house.

SAY goodbye to the classic beach shack and say hello to the dream beach castle.

Not content with having the coolest coastal addresses in the country, the owners of these awesome Australian beach houses have pimped out their pads with loads of extreme extras from helipads and airstrips to multiple swimming pools and private marinas.

Although the different dream digs can be found in almost every corner of Australia, the one thing they have in common is they are all one the market — with a hefty price tag.

The ultimate Queenslander

Mandalay at Airlie Beach has had its asking price slashed.

There are so many “bells and whistles” in the resort-style mansion Mandalay at Airlie Beach that it took three and a half years to finish the ambitious project.

But unfortunately for current owners, property developers Neil and Denise Murray, it seems like it could take just as long to sell the extraordinary estate.

The Mediterranean-inspired Queensland beach pad was listed for sale more than 800 days ago with price hopes in excess of $25 million, but just last month Mandalay’s selling price was slashed to “$19.9 million”.

As well as the obligatory helipad and marina fit for a 22.5m yacht, the sprawling 4200sq m property has a six-bedroom homestead with more than 2500sq m of living space including an oceanfront entertainment pavilion, climate-controlled wine cellar with dining area, nine bathrooms, a cinema and pool room.

And to help clean those nine toilets, there is room for the staff on site with a fully self-contained “servant’s cottage”.

Floating fancy in Far North Queensland

Award-winning Alkira in the Daintree region has 600m of secluded beachfront at hand.

Floating on a man-made lake deep in the Daintree, Alkira is a contemporary concrete beach house that earned the Australian Institute of Architects House of the Year gong in 2014.

The uber modern property, which is surrounded by World Heritage national park to one side and the Great Barrier Reef to the other, has 600m of secluded beachfront and an asking price of $15 million.

The Charles Wright-designed house is more than just a cement pod by the beach, the innovative design features a 250 kilolitre underground tank that acts as a massive cooling resource and with a 18kw solar power system the home is self-sufficient.

Inside there is a commercial grade kitchen with Teppanyaki grills and a custom made walk-in cool room and freezer plus a 2400-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar.

There are also six separate bedroom pods with ensuites, a living pavilion, open air theatre and, you guessed it — a helipad.

Fly in, fly out in Western Australia

With a $20 million price tag, Maitraya near Albany has plenty of bells and whistles.

Maitraya near Albany takes the notion of a “flying visit” to the old beach house to new heights. The $20 million plus property fronts onto three beaches and not only does it have its own helipad, but there is also a 900m coastal airstrip and even an “aviator’s cottage”.

Over 222ha of oceanfront land there is an eight-bedroom sandstone manor, a five bedroom “fisherman’s lodge”, a theatre, tennis court, gym, indoor pool, spa and sauna, cricket pitch and a golf putting green.

The hobby farmer can even enjoy the abundant fruit orchards, raise cattle, fish the trout-filled lake and a gather eggs from the chicken coop.

Make a splash in Cottesloe

The contemporary beach pad in Cottesloe has two swimming pools.

A five-bedroom designer home on Deane St in Perth’s trendy Cottesloe, this 800sq m beach pad is just a quick walk to the sand but happens to have two swimming pools including a third-storey lap pool.

There are also two kitchens, an underground limestone wine cellar, an eight-car garage, motorised blinds and curtains plus an elevator.

And despite the balmy weather along the Indian Ocean, there is Hydronic floor heating throughout the $9 million home.

A very Versailles island home

Chateau Le Marais means “castle of the marsh” in French.

A grand French-inspired stone manor surrounded by roaming deer and fruit orchards, Chateau Le Marais on Wallis Island is probably the most elaborate fishing retreat in NSW.

The $20 million 105ha estate near Forster (300kms north of Sydney) is the unfinished dream home of Sydney antique dealer Andre Fink and his wife Cecile.

On the market since late 2012, the extreme five-bedroom beach house was modelled on the palace of Versailles and features a host of ostentatious inclusions such as a vast games room, conservatory, seven bathrooms and baroque sculptures inside and out.

The palatial estate, which has its own electricity generation system and solar panels also features a flat savanna with an abundance of bird life, a private jetty, 1.5km of personal beach and there is an air strip nearby.

New world order in Newport

These designer digs in Newport have sweeping ocean views.

Starring in a book for design junkies, Best 100 Beach Homes Downunder, this near new property at Karloo Pde in Newport on Sydney’s Northern Beaches was designed by award winning-architect Rob Brown.

Owned by Steve Howe of Buizen Yachts, bespoke luxury yacht manufacturer, and his wife Amanda are offloading the four-bedroom beach pad with the hopes of earning about $4.5 million.

Overlooking Bungan Beach, a long time holiday spot for the rich and famous, the home has four pavilions around a central courtyard, a state-of-the-art home theatre, a palatial main bedroom suite with an enormous walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.

As well as a host of glamorous inclusions, the beach house has plenty of high end architectural features such as hand-hewn sandstone, native gardens, interconnecting decks, patios and terraces plus an turntable in the driveway for managing the car collection.

Victorian splendour

An uber contemporary home with dramatic coastline views in St Andrews.

Fans of rugged and moody coastlines would fall for this modern beach house in Moana Court at St Andrews Beach.

Built like a human aquarium, there are glass floor-to-ceiling windows in every room making the most of the dramatic backdrop, the designer residence features reclaimed bridge and pier timbers, custom made steel doors and a staircase modelled on one at Tasmania’s MONA gallery.

Created by John Lochhead of Architecture Works, the five-bedroom house has a main bedroom wing with its own access to a roof top terrace, a feature wall fireplace and hi-tech gadgets throughout.

Tasmanian holiday treasure

This designer beach house near Tasmania is cheaper than many coastal units in Sydney.

A bargain compared with beach houses elsewhere in Australia, this sleek modern house on Jetty Rd near the holiday town of Bicheno is on the market for “just” $1.79 million.

On a 2000sq m block, the contemporary Tassie pad has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a conservatory, home theatre, underfloor heating, automated everything and 40km of coastline plus colonies of fairy penguins on its doorstep.