Get your private island for $500,000
By IANSTuesday, August 3, 2010
SYDNEY - It’s true! Now you can own an island complete with penguins and other sea birds as your neighbours.
The picturesque Picnic Island off the coast of Tasmania, southeastern state of Australia, is on sale and is expected to fetch between $500,000 and $1 million.
Bidding is open through expression of interest sought by a Queensland property developer who bought the island for $65,000 in 2005, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday.
The island’s rugged sandstone rocks accommodate a large colony of little penguins and a nesting ground for short-tailed shearwaters. There are abalone, oysters and mussels, too.
The idyllic island - nestled in the shadow of Freycinet National Park’s Hazard Range in the middle of the crystal blue waters of Coles Bay - has permits for a 10-person eco-lodge.
“You can’t really value it as a normal block of land because it’s so unique,” said Paul Whytcross, from Roberts Real Estate in Coles Bay.
“If someone came along with a plan for a long-term lease to develop the eco-tourism side of things, that would be an option,” Whytcross said.
