Saturday Briefing

By Grant James

The team from Outrigger Australia’s head office, together with our property-based Sales Executive and our General Sales Agent (GSA) based in Sydney, were treated to an exclusive site tour of our latest resort under construction — Outrigger Little Hastings Street Resort & Spa, Noosa.

Located at the northern tip of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Noosa is the undisputed holiday playground for Australia’s “rich and famous” and attracts 1.7 million domestic and international visitors annually.

Donning hard hats and boots, we were guided around the A$350 million project by Hannah Blue of Leighton Properties, which is a joint development of Leighton Properties and Macquarie Group of Companies.

Our tour was nothing short of spectacular, and the developers are to be commended for the close attention to detail that has gone into the beautiful hilltop resort surrounded by the dense native vegetation of Noosa Hill.

When complete, Outrigger Little Hastings Street will feature 197 luxurious suites, lavish villas, and penthouses. An 11-room day spa will leave guests wanting for nothing, with a mix of rooms offering everything from Vichy showers and Japanese hot tubs to a six-metre (19 ft 8 in) long salt floatation bath.

Other resort facilities include two pools, gymnasium, a theatrette, open-air restaurants, licensed bar, and expansive conference facilities that can host up to 350 people.

We viewed a number of room types spread across eleven different buildings, and the quality of fixtures and fittings was impressive to say the least.

Raked plied timber ceilings offset sandstone floors, and the extensive use of glass and louvres draws the eye out to the beautiful bushland setting, while deep all-weather balconies allow for year-round dining and entertaining.

There is a real buzz among Australia’s tourism bodies and wholesalers for Outrigger Little Hastings Street, and I attribute this to not only the fact it is one of the first new five-star resorts to be built in the area for 20 years, but also because of its position so close to the action of Hastings Street and Laguna Bay.

Due for completion in mid-2010, we are extremely excited to be opening a resort of this calibre and in one of Australia’s most famed holiday destinations.