Page 93 - Port Douglas Magazine 30

David is a former director of Winspear
Diamonds, Vancouver, Canada, which was
sold to diamond mining giant De Beers for
C$305 million in 2000; and Jane established a
successful group of fitness centres in the South
Island of New Zealand.
They have six children who live around the
world in London, Los Angeles, Queenstown,
Melbourne and Wellington, New Zealand. For
the children and grandchildren there is nothing
more satisfying than holidaying in Port Douglas.

Ironically, it was the camera crew’s standard cue that prevented “It’s these characteristics that attracted us and why we enjoy a strong
and delayed David and Jane from undertaking renovations as and intimate relationship with Port Douglas,” he said.
actress Glenn Close was staying there while filming Paradise Road, But if the then Sheraton Hotel’s 1990s glossy adverts had not caught
a 1997 Australian war film about a group of English, American, his attention, he and Jane may have honeymooned elsewhere.
Dutch and Australian women imprisoned by the Japanese “It is a great place to live or have a holiday house and always will be.
in Sumatra during World War II. Port Douglas was among a number There are few safe and democratic places in the tropical latitudes to
of shooting locations. live in.
Now, 23 years later after purchasing Villa Hemingway; and 19 years
after acquiring what is now known as The Beach Residences, David “We love nature and the tropics offer an excess of gardens, birds and
says Port is still markedly attractive to them and holds the same animals – all of which are in your face, they are colourful and loud,”
charm it had in 1996. says David.
He says it has a distinguishing feature, which is unique, and can lay In turning the once dirt road off Mitre Street into a seven-lot site,
David is offering distinctive beachfront living in the 21st century.
claim to being a proper village. And it differentiates itself from the
many other man-made tourist destinations. “You can enjoy the beach and sea without any of the anxieties or risks
“Despite the influx of buyers and developers over the past 35 years from climate change or storm surge.
– with Christopher Skase the lead architect transforming the town “We have built up the site with more than 10,000 tonnes of fill which
in the 1980s – it has still managed to develop slowly and retain its also provides a captivating elevated aspect towards the esplanade
personality. and Four Mile Beach.
PORT DOUGLAS MAGAZINE 93