Travel agency king selling remote Cape Tribulation resort
British travel industry pioneer Mike Gooley has put his Daintree Rainforest resort in tropical north Queensland up for sale and is asking for about $15 million as he looks to divest his remaining Australian assets.
Mr Gooley, who turned a “seemingly pathetic little start-up” he founded in 1970 into Trailfinders, one of Britain’s biggest privately owned travel agencies, has an estimated fortune of close to $700 million.
Until 2011, Trailfinders operated travel centres in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney.
Mr Gooley purchased the remote Bloomfield Rainforest Lodge at Weary Bay at Cape Tribulation in 1990 after he became interested in the region when Thai Airways started direct flights from Bangkok to Cairns.
The 2.9-hectare oceanfront property, originally a fishing lodge, was developed by Mr Gooley into a luxury eco-resort with 18 guest suites for his personal use, family and friends, and paying guests.
Accessible only by chartered plane, helicopter or boat and nestled within the Daintree Rainforest, the Lodge was voted the world’s best remote hotel by Forbes magazine in 2010.
“To get to the Bloomfield Lodge in Queensland, Australia, you must hop on a chartered plane, drive through the Outback, then cruise down a river,” Forbes contributor Monte Burke wrote at the time.
“Then you’ll find yourself in an oasis of beauty and solitude, in a hotel located in the Daintree Rainforest and right by the Great Barrier Reef. While there, you can hike through rainforests, swim in waterfalls, fish, sail and – at the end of the day – receive a well-earned massage. You’ll be lucky to see another soul.”
The lodge closed five years ago as Mr Gooley, who is now 84, began to divest his Australian investments. This included the Hinterland Aviation company, which he sold in 2015. Since closing, the lodge has been maintained by live-in caretakers.
“I was never happier than when up a tree pruning with a chainsaw or when gathered with the guests around the bar excitedly reliving their day of adventure,” Mr Gooley told The Australian Financial Review of his time at Bloomfield Lodge.
Mr Gooley has appointed Lynn Malone and Barbara Wolveridge from Sotheby’s International Realty, Port Douglas to sell the lodge.
Price expectations for Bloomfield Lodge start from $15 million but it could sell for considerably more given another Daintree resort, Silky Oaks Lodge, was purchased for $20 million by luxury resort operator James Baillie in December 2019 and is undergoing a $20 million revamp.
Mr Gooley also owns the neighbouring Mount Louis cattle station, a 1200-hectare property with livestock, a luxury timber ranch house and an airport with terminal facilities and hanger storage.
Although not yet listed for sale, it is understood Mount Louis could be worth around $10 million.
“The Bloomfield Lodge’s next owner has the option to lease the 1100-metre paved airstrip located at Mount Louis station – along with its terminal facilities and storage for private aircraft,” Mr Gooley said.
Ms Malone said the buyer of Bloomfield Lodge would likely be a “high-net-worth individual looking to own their own extraordinary escape.”
“It will take no more than $250,000 to get the property up and running again and a month in time for it to be ready to take guests,” Ms Malone said.
While winding back his international investments, Mr Gooley remains the owner and chairman of Trailfinders.
He said the business was in a sound position having built up a “mighty war chest from retained profits”.
“The pandemic has brought great disappointment but it is no threat to Trailfinders’ existence as we are financially bombproof,” he said.
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