The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 13

13 ibs Age aararaay, August iao THE OTHER half of our history OMARS fcovo bbeomo mockory ENCOUNTERS fho irondlos ofo VI STVA. fYoung people looking for carefree fun, complete families landholder couples they're all part of the Great Reef Revival. CAVEY flew north to investigate why business is booming off the North Queensland coast Vr Barrier Reef brochures promise sun, sand and beautiful other side of the story. whose record since speaks for itself. From the fruit and flowers delicately arranged in its lodges to its frangipani-f ringed grounds, Hayman Island.

is the last word in opulence. Andre Maestracci has a huge complement of 210 staff to look after the 400 (maximum) guests and very little is left to chance. Haynian is probably best known as a honeymoon island yet Mr. Maestracci says that only 10 per' cent of its guests, taken year round, are honeymooners. "We don't court a special market we love them he says.

"What we do have is kids coming here on honeymoon whose parents honeymooned here. We like that" -Generally, guests stay an average of 8.3 days with SO per cent -staying 10 days, 25 per cent more and 25 per cent less. They have the choice of six grades of tariff the cheapest being half the price of the dearest (about $46 a day). Until recently, the biggest attraction was the option of your own cabana on the beach. Now there is Palm Lodge a complex of units which Mr.

Maestracci says is of the highest standard north of Brisbane. Hayman, it would seeni, has jnst about everything even its own. branch of the TAB and a late-night disco. The only noticeable absentee is a golf course and Maestracci won't have that because "if I did. it would have to be perfect and we don't have the water" Hayman puts a high premium on night-life and entertainment it has just re-hired a versatile, piano-accordion-playing showman named Alfredo Luciani who just might be the best of his kind in the country which is incongruous WHILE Victorians last week faced up glumly to their third month of winter, a couple of thousand fellow Australians did the best they could on a sprinkling of islands along the Great Barrier Reef.

A few hundred more tried to do the same. They couldn't at least not on the island of their first choice because accommodation at nost was booked to the hilt Such is the 1978 popularity of the island-playground resorts along the North Queensland coast where the skies seem bluer, the atolls more scenic, the beaches more golden and the winter sun warmer. Too islands are enjoying the greatest boom in their turbulent history and the future is unlimited as trig companies notably the transport groups TAA, Ansett, and Cobb Co. pour millions of dollars into constructing world-class facilities. The islands' developers and planners are carving up the packaged-holiday plum greedily with most pitching a hard-sell at specific markets Great Keppel the young; Lindeman families; Dusk the sophisticates.

Hay-man, and to a lesser extent Brampton, are the exceptions, casting their marketing nets at a more genera audience. All have planned even more extensions, upgradhigs and ambitious developments. Money zain with the exception or rotes isalnwst no object. i year dispelled all doubts that the return on capital is there. Yet it hasn't always been this way in the seventies.

Cyclone Ada in 1970 ripped the heart out of the Whitsunday resorts of Hayman, South Molle and Daydream Island. South Molle is only now in the rge of a strong recovery and aydream is reopening under its r0D0 co ownership and Bro iling dynamic things. Hayntah Sir Reginald An-" sett's baby and unquestioned island resort supreme was closed 1 tor six months after Ada hit. Lives of staff were lost, every boat smashed or set adrift and all buildings damaged. Thp impact of Ada caused holi-diyiliakers to shun the islands in their thousands.

It' amounted to one of the worst downturns in Aus-ttaHa'i tourism history. Tfien last year for reasons probably economic die bottom started fall out again. Brampton, which i have the advantage or an line backing, was hit severely the toss of custom. There was of it closing down but a strong Men tele of regulars helped it fight bPCk. wrecked on Great Keppel Island which might have a corny ring about it but which obviously works.

The Island itself has a lot of pluses. It is big. has vast expanses (about 25 km) of white sandy beach and, according to manager Mr. B. H.

"Barney" Steven, more sunshine, days than other islands because of its latitude. Mr. Steven, 45, runs the Island with an efficiency drawn from 17 years as a top Avis executive and years in die Naval Reserve. He has no doubts that the future is rosy. Owner TAA completely agrees.

-The airtine haspot in an air ter-rOiaallor its strip and is about to embark on stage two of a master plan which involves a rebuilding programme to lift the island's capacity from about 130 now to around 350. The plan also includes a four-hole golf course, a large lawn-banked clover-leaf swimming pool and a palm-fringed resort concourse. Mr. Steven's staff numbers 53. He permits them to mingle with guests but insists they take second place.

He also places great store in entertaining guests and employs a' resident three-member band which costs him $30,000 a year. Great Keppel's popularity with the young is reflected in the statistics 60 per cent of guests are under 30, 35 per cent between 30 and 60 and only 5 per cent over 60. That you can get wrecked there was reflected in the words of one young Melbourne man who said he gone through all but S30 of $300 in a week. And that $30 was to get himself and his lady through their last night in the bar. Brampton Island, made famous throughout Australia by the big-game fishing exploits of former radio and TV quiz show king Bob Dyer, has the 'distinction of being the last family-owned island resort It is, according to family head Captain Tom McLean founder of the Roylen cruises the hottest piece of real estate on the Queensland coast Two weeks ago a consortium of Melbourne doctors with a reported $2 million to invest flew to Brampton to try to buy a slice, preferably THE slice.

Captain Tom thanked them for thinking of him and sent them back empty-handed. Captain Tom. 78. but with the drive of a man 40 years younger, says Brampton is not for sale at any price. He bought it in 1962 (against all advice) for 100.000.

Now the saying is that he didn't buy it he stole it. The island of Brampton IS beautiful, as the ads extol. It is the only other island Ansett is interested in acquiring. It has two excellent beaches either side of a small peninsula which means that one is always sheltered. It is also less expensive than the other islands.

Bar prices are appreciably lower and all cruises and other marine activities, except the long-distance trip to the outer reef, are free. It has a golf course of sorts and does not pursue a particular market though the crowd is noticeably older. But Brampton also has its problems. Compared with the other resorts it is unkempt and has a rundown appearance. Captain Tom does not have the millions to push into it as do the transport giants.

One young couple from Tern-plestowe who liked the look of But, if last year was bad. this year is exceptionally good. Last week Dunk and Hayman were fully booked. Lindeman could have taken more people but all rooms were occupied and Great Keppel's figures keep rising to the stage that it is now getting growth on growth. Basic reason for the boom is that the two Australian airlines now the major island resort owners want more and more seats on their jets filled.

They are promoting heavily. This in turn helps the other islands and the burgeoning North Queensland coast. (Airlie Beach and Shute Harbor are certain to be the next areas to "take But what are the islands really like behind the travel brochure gloss? Who and what makes them, function and are they really the place for a dream holiday justifying hard saving and year-through sacrifice for middle-income Australia? To the last question. broadly yes. There probably isn't one that doesn't provide a holiday par excellence, allowing even for highly subjective judgments.

Prices of the packaged tears naturally vary with the season and standard of accommodation. Tey are also about to rise next month because of the air fares increase. ut basically the cost of seven days twin share accommodation in "average" lodgings on most islands is $4204460 each person. Undoubted pacesetter is An-sett's Hayman. TAA expects Dunk which it wasn't possible for "The Age" to visit to match it soon but it's doubtful if Sir Reginald is losing sleep over that.

Apart from the ample Ansett funds, the entire credit for Hay-man's success goes to its manager for the past 20 years, Mr. Andre Maestracci a charming host, ruthless disciplinarian and far-sighted planner and organiser. Mr. Maestracci, now 48, went to Hayman to work in the kitchen two months before the resort opened in 1950. He had been restless since coming to Australia with his family who had been planters and nickel miners around the Pacific for generations.

"As soon as I landed on Hayman I knew I would never want to leave," he says. "For me this was home." Mr. Maestracci's career wasn't spectacular in the early years. He made it to head chef while Hayman went through a rapid succession of managers, until, after eight years. 13 had held and left the post.

Then Sir Reginald handed the ejnsothojmjgMMtnacci girls: but cyclones and recessions are the Brampton from the brochure were disappointed in the extreme when they arrived three weeks ago. They thought the resort looked tired. However, within two days it had grown on them. They left after a fortnight describing their stay as but it is that Initial impression that Brampton has to flveirsme. Lindeman Island, which ties between Brampton and Hayman and is the oldest island resort, has instigated a brilliant marketing drive to lure young families.

Its success has exceeded expectations. The promodon was simple: two parents bringing two children to stay in the same lodge get the chil- dren's tenancy and meals free. Obviously it got a lot of familes thinking island holidays for the first time. During the first six months of last year, when the promotion began. 19,029 adults and 2778 children stayed at Lindeman.

The first six months of this year saw the figures grow to 24.981 and 6598. The boom time naturally was the May school holidays when Lindeman had 41 10 guests of which 2345 were children. (Island executives admitted privately that of course there was a built-in component in the parents' price to defray some of the cost of the "free-loading" children. However, Lindeman base price is still lower than, most islands. Shipping company 6 owns 73 per cent of the Lindeman resort, having bought most of the, shares The Crack-a-Joke Book ($1.50) is a very special kind of book.

Through television, radio and press, children in the UK were invited to send in their favourite jokes, and this new Puffin Book is the result All proceeds from the sale of the book in Australia will go to Community Aid Abroad, which helps needy children all over the world. The book is full of fun and laughter "elephant" jokes, "doctor doctor" jokes, of the family of Mr. Lach Nicolson who has stayed on as managing director. plans to increase guest capacity from 200 to 300 and undertake other improvements although because the island is a national park, acquiring more resort land might prove difficult. Lindeman is very green and clean but suffers the disadvantage of a pocket-sized home beach.

However, executive assistant manager Barry Lyne, 26, says this is offset by the fact that there are about 12 other beaches within relatively easy reach. Lindeman 's big asset is an excellent six-hole golf course originally hacked out of tie scrub by Mr. Nicolson. It also has the novelty of a grass airstrip for O's light aircraft ferrying visitors from Mackay. The staff of about 60 at Lindeman is actually encouraged to mix with the guests because, says Mr.

Lyne, this makes for a friendlier island. He may have a point but It can work the other way. Guests in the lounge did not seem to be getting the same enjoyment as the staff, due perhaps to the guests' strangeness with one another. FOOTNOTE: During a trip Involving about 15 separate flights island hopping is on no regular schedule I found the management and staff of TAA, Ansett and Lindeman Aerial Services courteous, co-operative and efficient It was service I have not encountered in countries other than Australia. what do you get if yon cross an elephant with a goldfish! Swimming trunks.

to the concept of a palm-swaying, balmy, laze-away island. "I thought that myself once." says Mr. Maestracci. "But up here a funny thing happens. A businessman will arrive feeling tired and jaded, determined just to lie in the sunshine and do absolutely nothing.

"Within a couple of days he feels so good he jumps up, claps his hands, and says, "Right Where's the We give it to him." Mr. Maestracci has been criticised for his rigid rule that the staff dont fraternise with guests. He defends it by saying that it's a regulation that works both ways why should the staff have to mix socially with people on whom they have waited tables and served drinks. However, the point Is they can't, even if they so choose and it's a rule made.for guests not the staff who- nonetheless have their-own-bar and games room and primary school for their children. Well south of Hayman, off Rock-hampton, is Great Keppel an island named by Captain Cook after a Lord of the Admiralty be ob-vkioslyndniired.

tte'imerY the Barrier Reef resorts and TAA has ploughed into it a million dollars or so ensure that; the prediction comes-true. Certainly, the figures point mat way. Guest occupancy at the island escalated 56 per cent in one year and went from 33S in March 1977 to 3800 in March this year an increase of 1000 per cent. The big selling point is the pur-. suit of the younger market once held firmly by South Molle but lost through Cyclone Ada and not yet regained.

The theme is to come and get National Gallery off Victoria 180StKiWaRoad. Just over Princes Bridge. opm. Htg Jf 3r" HMN vi'- iv TawnsvallCDaydrearn SajthMoltel. ifcr VUrdernarfl.

1 Vampton I. I 1 Keppel I. it wm uuuttsEs of accommodation. L-- -2 --J Great Keppel Island offers beautiful beaches and a variety SPRING PROGRAMME Detail rtng 347 7092. Australian Institute of Human Halations.

TOTAL RELAXATION ISA WAY OF LIFE "DOIUG THEOLOGY HERE" Uoint Cooference of ANZ Association sumta una nusmuian Asaocianon ror me sway OI KeiMUOOS. To be held at: CHISHOLM COLLEGE. "knock limericks hundreds of great jokes for the kids to try on their friends, or on you. For only $1.50, this wonderful book can bring much pleasure into the world. There should be one in every family.

August 14.30. 1978. fewakera include of Tbeofogfcal Schools, Society for LA TROBE UNIVERSITY win oe as follows (Cone). pm Reist; 4 pm (Rekt); Friday, 2 pm (Mbiti); om (Cone). a 9 days Jaft Closing August 20 GENESIS OF A GALLERY StecWd wmto ftqm th cotlctioo of AimnHW Ortwy.

Cmtwrrs. Fronted by tfr ANG orgyiiwd bYth Australian Callwy Dlisetei' Council. AlVO Oft VlAW! 8URVBY4 J0HNLETHBID8umllAu8U27 RAM8HAW ft WATKINSUowollcry) until StpMmtwr 3 SIX 8ERIIS (Mratognpriy) until October 1 THE PRE-RAPHAEUTES until October 8 CBA MOM: Music tnd Dine frofrl Utvia 2.30 pm. tomorrow, in the Groat Hall. fRte PUBUC LECTURE: B.lineeeTrodltlon.1 Relntino ProM Anthony Foroe.

7pm Wod. August 16 Oillory hour: 10 am -5 pm Sat. Sun. 10 am-9 pm Wad. Monday, axcapt on public holidays.

'-10 am-S Dm Tuas. Fit. StU. 10. am-9 pm Wad Clossd 5 ADMISSION af THE WORKSHOPS ON TOTAL RELAXATION are an Introduction to the educational programmes in personal development of the Helen Vale Foundation.

They comprise three weekly sessions of one-awte-half hours each. The objectives of the workshops include: To explain the role of attitudes and values In developing a tension-free approach to living. To introduce an approach to personal development. To introduce practical techniques which enhance relaxation and the capacity for mental quietitude. Further information is available from the Secretary of Courses THE HELEN VALE FOUNDATION 12 Chapel St Kilda, 3182.

Telephone 51 988i; 9 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday 7AMES CONE, leading theologian from Union York. ppHN MBITI. Director, Ecumenical institute of World Council of Churches (BENJAMIN REIST, Professor. San Francisco Theological Seminary book depot 1R hranr.hK- tv. Kuonc aaaresses Monday.

'4 pm (Mbiti) and 8 pm Wednesday. 8 pm (Cone); Thursday. fcjf Saturday. 8 VIC: Crty (6622711): 86 Bourke St: 144 Swanston St. 401 Svranston St 115 Elizabeth St.

Australia Arcade Southern Crass Foyer Suburbs; Knox City Northland Ooncaster Shoppingtown Airport West Hishooint West, Maribyrnong Geelong: Wi Griffiths NSW: Westfield Shrjminetown. Parramatta (6332225) Great Western Shopping Centre. Mt Druitt (625 7133XCT, Woden Plaza (81 3968) BelcoSren Mat I (51481 Fot further infomation conts (ference tOBveacjr -Rev. Dr Fullerton (347 9061) r-sv-ss-vounsn-.