Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Luxury real estate deals are closing across Palm Beach County as the winter season kicks off.

The latest roundup of residential deals spans Boca Raton to Jupiter Island, with sales ranging in price from $8.4 million to $13 million.

In Boca Raton, the ex-wife of longtime Planet Fitness boss Chris Rondeau sold her penthouse in One Thousand Ocean. Records show Michelle LeMay sold the combined units 603 and 604 at 1000 South Ocean Boulevard to a trust named for the address for $13 million. The true buyer is unknown.

John Poletto and Mark Nestler of One Sothebys International Realty had the listing, and Marcy Javor of Signature One Luxury Estates brought the buyer.

The 7,500-square-foot penthouse has nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms and one half-bathroom, the listing shows. Built in 2010, LeMay bought the units in 2021 for $12.1 million. She listed the penthouse for $14.7 million in July, selling for $1.7 million below the asking price.

The seller, LeMay, heads LeMay Family Goodworks, a philanthropic foundation based in North Hampton, New Hampshire. She lives there on a 60-acre farm dubbed Le Beau Domaine, where she was recently seeking a director of estate management with an annual salary between $85,000 and $140,000, the job listing shows. LeMays ex-husband, Chris Rondeau, was CEO of Planet Fitness for 30 years until he was unexpectedly ousted in September, according to published reports. The pair sold a waterfront Delray Beach mansion for $10.5 million in 2021.

Planet Fitness co-founder Michael Grondahl sold his mansion in the Bears Club in Jupiter for $14.5 million in October.

On Jupiter Island, William and Marcia Ulm sold their SeaGlass condo for $8.8 million. Records show the Ulms sold unit 403 at 1500 Beach Road in Tequesta to Michael and Marla Murphy.

Jane Letsche with Waterfront Properties & Club Communities had the listing. The buyers did not use a real estate agent.

The condo spans 5,200 square feet, with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and one half-bathroom, the listing shows. The Ulms closed on the SeaGlass unit for $9.6 million in November of last year, when developer Jeffrey Soffer completed the 10-story, 21-unit project. They listed the condo for $19.8 million that month.

Marcia Ulm founded Athens, Georgia-based MLU Services, a firm that provides temporary medical facilities for emergencies and events.

Records show the Murphys bought a mansion at 103 West Bears Club Drive in the Bears Club for $8.3 million in 2017. Jeremy Browne and Thomas Hughes of Compass have the listing, which is asking $18.5 million for the 9,100-square-foot home.

In another Jupiter gated community, Illustrated Properties agent Gregg Kelley sold an incomplete Admirals Cove waterfront spec home for $8.4 million. Records show an LLC named for the address and managed by Kelley sold the home at 115 Regatta Drive to another entity named after the address. The true buyer is unknown.

Rob Thomson of Waterfront Properties & Club Communities had the listing, and Donna Lederman with Waterfront Properties & Club Communities brought the buyer.

The 6,500-square-foot home will have five bedrooms, five bathrooms and two half-bathrooms. The 0.4-acre property will be completed next year, and will have a pool and dock, according to the listing. Kelley bought the house in September for $4.6 million in September, records show. He listed it in October for $13.5 million.

On the island of Palm Beach, another real estate agent closed her own deal. Records show Brown Harris Stevens agent Mara Raphaels entity sold the house at 210 Osceola Way to Benjamin and Andrea Griswold for $8.8 million. Raphael represented herself and the buyers.

Raphael bought the Osceola Way home for $4.3 million in 2021, records show. Built in 1953 on 0.2 acres, the six-bedroom, six-bathroom house spans 3,800 square feet, the listing shows. Raphael extensively renovated the North End property, which has a pool and deeded access to a beach cabana, according to the listing.

She is married to John Mendell Jr., a managing director with West Palm Beach-based venture capital and private equity firm Comvest Partners. Raphael listed the home for $12.8 million in February, Redfin shows.

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Resi Roundup: Winter season kickoff in Palm Beach County - The Real Deal

Almost 10 years in the making, Bullsbrook fun park Outback Splash last week unveiled its spectacular resort-style pool, The Lagoon, just in time for summer.

Created by the same team behind Crown Towers luxurious outdoor pools, The Lagoon features an expansive, crystal clear pool surrounded by lush green gardens and some lavish amenities thatll keep kids of all ages very happy.

Were delighted to bring this concept to life and officially welcome guests to take a dip in our newest attraction, just in time for summer, said Outback Splash Director Paul Woodcock at The Lagoons unveiling last week.

Opening The Lagoon showcases our commitment to creating a full day of fun for all ages. Outback Splash is a place where families can make lasting memories, friends can relax and play, and adventure enthusiasts can revel in the thrill of the adventurous waterslides there really is something for everyone.

Evan Hall, Tourism Council Western Australia CEO, said the new pool cements Outback Splashs status as one of WAs leading tourism destinations.

Watching the venue evolve, grow, and develop over the years has been truly inspirational, he said.

Today, it stands as one of the States most distinguished tourism destinations. The unmatched quality of its attractions, the meticulously maintained grounds, and the industry-leading guest service standards are all commendable.

Key features of The Lagoon include comfortable sun beds around the pool with private cabanas available to hire, a pop up poolside bar called The Pool House from Gage Roads and an array of water features including swim-up island and windmill waterplay structure for the little ones.

Gage Roads will also be hosting a special showcase event on February 24 and 25 next year, with guests able to enjoy some limited released brews, merch giveaways and more.

Outback Splash is open seven days a week from 10am-5pm over December-January, before dropping down to Wednesday-Sunday in February head to the website for more info.

Image Credit: Supplied

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Outback Splash's resort-style pool The Lagoon is now open - Perth Is OK!

A nephew of media mogul Rupert Murdoch has listed a 6,300-square-foot ranch house in Brentwood for $21.5 million.

Businessman and producer David Calvert-Jones and his wife Karina are selling the equestrian estate at 13233 Riviera Ranch Road, in Riviera Ranch, according to the Robb Report.

The couple bought the two-thirds-acre property with a guest house and horse stable in 2010 for $4.4 million.

The five-bedroom, six-bathroom home, designed by Cliff May in 1941, was owned for half a century by Hollywood actress and activist Maxine Cooper, best known for her role as private detective Mike Hammers secretary Velda in the 1955 film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly and TV spots on Dragnet, Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone.

She and her husband Sy Gomberg, an Oscar-nominated producer and screenwriter, bought the home they dubbed Paradise Found for $122,500 back in the mid-1960s.

The Calvert-Joneses renovated and expanded the split-level home, built of stone and stucco and topped by a red-tile roof.

The house, hidden behind a hedge at the end of a gated driveway lined with mature olive trees, has rustic hardwood floors, vaulted wood-beam ceilings, and steel-framed windows and doors.

Behind its hand-carved wooden door is a fireside living room that doubles as a screening room, which leads into a formal dining room through pocket wood doors.

A gourmet kitchen connects to a glass-lined breakfast room with an antler chandelier. Highlights include a family room and private office. A master bedroom has a fireside sitting area, walk-in closet and spa-like bathroom.

Two French doors open outside, where the detached guest house and stable form a courtyard containing a swimming pool and open-air cabana. A motor court leads to a three-car garage.

Brokers Drew Fenton and Bjorn Farrugia of Carolwood Estates, and Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Realty hold the listing.

David Calvert-Jones mother is Elisabeth Janet Murdoch Calvert-Jones, younger sister of the Australian-born publishing and broadcast mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Dana Bartholomew

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Murdoch Nephew Lists Horse Estate in Brentwood for $21.5M - The Real Deal

Custom built-one owner executive home on the golf course in NC Foothills! Your guests will be greeted by the stunning 2 story foyer! Home features 3 bedrooms (plus bonus room), 4 full baths/1 half bath, laundry room, spacious kitchen w/breakfast nook, living room & formal dining room for all your family gatherings. Large primary suite boasts a walk-in closet, soaking tub & separate shower. The HUGE bonus room w/full bath is used as a 4th bedroom. Study is located on the main level! Love to entertain?! The basement level offers an oversized family room (with gas logs), kitchenette w/breakfast bar, 2 booths for additional seating, plus a spacious game room...the perfect spot for your pool table. Basement has plenty of unfinished area for your storage needs, including the ideal space for your golf cart & workshop. Sitting on 2 prime lots (1+ acre)! Cedar Rock Country Club offers a club house, outdoor pool, tennis courts, social events, dining & more! Only 30 minutes to Blowing Rock!

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Morganton home listings for people who need a lot of living space - Morganton News Herald

The coming year will be a big one for new cruise ships, with three major new vessels on the way that promise to break new ground in cruising.

The most notable of the three, Icon of the Seas, is the first of a new series of megaships from Royal Caribbean that will be larger than any cruise vessels ever built. It'll be loaded with all sorts of gee-whiz attractions, restaurants, bars and entertainment.

Icon of the Seas is just one of two major new Royal Caribbean cruise ships arriving in 2024. Also on the way is Utopia of the Seas, the sixth and final vessel in the line's hugely successful Oasis Class of ships.

The year will also bring the first new ship in more than a decade from storied cruise line Cunard (Queen Anne) as well as the first of a new class of ship from cruise giant Princess Cruises (Sun Princess).

For more cruise guides, news and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter.

Both of the latter vessels will feature notable new designs for the brands with an expanded lineup of restaurants, bars and entertainment areas.

Those three vessels Icon of the Seas, Queen Anne and Sun Princess are the three new cruise ships for 2024 that have us the most excited here at TPG. But they're far from the only major new cruise vessels arriving during the next 12 months.

To whet your appetite for cruising in the year ahead, take a look at our list of the eight new cruise ships arriving in 2024 that have us the most excited.

Maiden voyage: Dec. 23, 2023

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This newest ship for cruise giant Carnival technically arrives at the end of 2023, but its maiden voyage is so close to the start of 2024 that we're calling it a new vessel for 2024.

The 15-deck-high ship is a sister to the line's recently unveiled Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration, which have made waves in the past two years for their huge size and what might be the most unusual attraction ever on a cruise vessel: a deck-top roller coaster.

Like Carnival Celebration, Carnival Jubilee will measure 183,521 tons, putting it in a tie with the former ship for the position of biggest vessel ever to sail for Carnival (at 181,808 tons, sister ship Mardi Gras is slightly smaller). Carnival Celebration and Mardi Gras, notably, are a whopping 35% bigger than the next-biggest Carnival ships currently afloat, and they are also bigger than all but a dozen other cruise vessels in the world.

Like Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration, Carnival Jubilee will have a roller coaster on its top deck. Dubbed Bolt: Ultimate Sea Coaster, it'll be similar to the roller coasters on its sister vessels, with an 800-foot-long track and vehicles that reach speeds of 40 mph give or take.

Also, like its sisters, Carnival Jubilee has been designed to hold up to 6,630 passengers. That's just a tad below the 7,600 passengers that will be able to fit aboard Royal Caribbean's soon-to-debut Icon of the Seas the new world's largest cruise ship (more on that vessel below).

Related: The ultimate guide to Carnival Cruise Line

In addition to a roller coaster, Carnival Jubilee will have a giant water park on its top deck. Like its sister, its interiors will be filled with a far broader array of suites than earlier Carnival ships. But the vessel won't be a carbon copy of the previous vessels. New features will include two ocean-themed zones with new bar and dining options including an underwater-themed bar adorned with octopus arms that will serve drinks.

The development of ships on the scale of Carnival Jubilee and its sisters has been a big deal for Carnival. Until recently, the line had resisted the trend among major brands to build even bigger vessels that offer a supersized megaresort-at-sea experience.

Carnival's last new vessel before the arrival of Mardi Gras in 2021, Carnival Panorama, didn't even crack the top 40 list of biggest ships when it debuted in 2019.

After an initial transatlantic voyage from Southampton, England, to Galveston, Texas, Carnival Jubilee will sail seven-night voyages to the Western Caribbean out of Galveston. Fares start at $669 per person, not including taxes and fees.

Maiden voyage: Jan. 27

Call it the new grande dame of the megaship world. At 250,800 tons, Icon of the Seas will be the biggest cruise ship ever built, and it'll be chock-full of more amusements, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues than any cruise vessel ever.

In other words, if you're a megaship fan, this is your new go-to ship assuming you don't mind vacationing with a lot of other people.

In size, Icon of the Seas will be about 6% bigger than the biggest of the Oasis Class ships, the one-year-old Wonder of the Seas. But it'll be able to hold about 7% more people 7,600 passengers as compared to Wonder of the Seas' total capacity of 7,084 passengers. That's a new all-time record for a passenger ship.

The bigger passenger capacity is in part due to the ship's greater focus on family travelers. Icon of the Seas is being built with more cabins offering extra bunks to accommodate families with children. It'll also have more amenities geared to families, including a new-for-the-line outdoor "neighborhood" called Surfside dedicated to families with young children.

Related: Icon of the Seas will cater to families

Surfside notably will feature splash areas for babies and kids, pools and lounge spaces for parents, family-friendly eateries and shops, and a bar with "mommy and me" matching mocktails for kids and cocktails for grownups.

Icon of the Seas will also feature the largest water park ever built on a cruise ship, with a record six waterslides. No other vessel comes close when it comes to water attractions on a cruise ship.

Other notable new attractions will include the AquaDome a massive, glass dome-covered area at the front of the ship. A true engineering marvel (the 363-ton glass dome had to be built separately next to the ship and winched into place), the AquaDome will be home to the AquaTheater a venue found in a different location on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class ships that hosts acrobatic and diving shows in a high-tech stage/pool.

The AquaTheater will be the marquee attraction within the AquaDome, which also will offer dining and drinking venues, as well as cozy seating areas for daytime and evening hangouts. One such spot, the Overlook, is an elevated lounge featuring special nooks (Overlook Pods) and wraparound windows providing fantastic ocean views and easy viewing of the aqua shows.

In addition, Icon of the Seas will have a record-for-a-ship seven pools, four of which will be at a main pool area called Chill Island. The latter area will be home to the line's first swim-up bar on a ship, Swim and Tonic.

Related: The ultimate Icon of the Seas guide: Pricing, itineraries and what's onboard

Ten new food outlets on the ship will include Surfside Eatery, a family-friendly buffet in the Surfside neighborhood, and Empire Supper Club, an upscale venue designed to evoke the atmosphere of New York City in the 1930s. The latter will serve an extravagant eight-course meal (think: caviar and wagyu), with each dish paired with a cocktail created by celebrity mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim.

Among lodging options, Icon of the Seas will boast 14 new cabin and suite types plus 14 categories of rooms that already exist on earlier Royal Caribbean ships. That's a whopping 28 types of accommodation in all.

Many of these cabin categories are family-friendly rooms that sleep four guests; some can accommodate six or eight guests. In total, 313 cabins and suites are listed specifically as family-focused accommodations, though many regular room types can sleep more than two people.

Note that Icon of the Seas is just the first of three sister ships Royal Caribbean has on order for delivery by 2026, all of similar dimensions. Together, they will make up what is known as the Icon Class.

Icon of the Seas will operate seven-night voyages to the Caribbean out of Miami. Fares start at $1,577 per person, not including taxes and fees.

Maiden voyage: Feb. 8

Like Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises is going bigger with its next new ship a lot bigger.

Under development for more than six years and the first of an all-new series of vessels for the line, the 4,000-passenger Sun Princess is about 21% bigger than the biggest ships currently in the Princess fleet. And yet, while it's 21% bigger, it's designed to hold just 17% more passengers.

In other words, its space-to-passenger ratio will be greater, making the ship feel roomier if only modestly.

Sun Princess will also be the first Princess ship with suites that come with exclusive access to a private restaurant, lounge and sun deck a sign Princess is finally getting serious about pampering its best customers.

In addition, Sun Princess will boast an innovative new type of "cabana cabin" along the ship's extra-wide 10th deck, which will come with access to a private deck area (sort of a riff on the Havana-class cabins found on a handful of Carnival Cruise Line ships). Plus, the top deck of the ship is getting some unusual-for-Princess sizzle with the addition of a glass-dome-topped pool area that will transform into a nightspot after the sun goes down.

Related: A sneak peek inside Sun Princess under construction

Other notable differences between Sun Princess and earlier Princess ships include the lack of a buffet restaurant on its main pool deck. Don't worry, buffet lovers: There will still be a buffet-like venue on the ship. It will be eight decks below the pool deck, closer to the ship's central piazza and just off the ship's outside promenade.

The ship's main theater, to be called the Princess Arena, will also have a new look. Its new-for-Princess in-the-round shape can be converted into a more traditional proscenium-type theater or a keyhole-type theater to allow for different types of productions.

The ship's three-deck-high piazza called the Sun Princess Piazza, is getting an upgrade, too, with a new circular shape, a stage that pops up from the center of the floor for performances and a giant, three-deck-high moveable LED screen that will play a role in evening productions in the space.

Among other standout venues, Sun Princess will feature a secret hideaway for magical performances designed in partnership with the Magic Castle performance venue in Los Angeles. Kids should love the new-for-Princess fun zone called Park19, featuring a ropes course and what's being billed as the first roll glider at sea, an electric ride that goes up to 11 mph.

Sun Princess initially will sail in Europe through the fall before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for voyages to the Caribbean. Fares start at $467 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a five-night Caribbean sailing.

Maiden voyage: May 10

It's been a long time coming, but storied cruise line Cunard is finally launching a new ship. Built to an all-new design for the 183-year-old brand, the 3,000-passenger Queen Anne will be Cunard's first new vessel in 14 years an unusually long period for any line to go without a new ship.

Queen Anne, notably, will embrace the latest trends of travel and cruising in a way that Cunard ships haven't done before, including a new focus on choice in dining and entertainment, wellness and onboard celebrations.

The ship will offer 15 different places to grab a bite, more than double the number on the line's other ships. The options will include Aji Wa, a new restaurant concept for Cunard that will serve Japanese cuisine influenced by the seasons of the year. Also new for Cunard will be Aranya, an Indian eatery; Sir Samuel's, a high-end steakhouse; and Tramonto, which will serve Mediterranean dishes.

Wellness-focused areas will include a new-for-the-line, glass-enclosed Wellness Studio at the top of the ship that will offer classes in yoga, Pilates, Zumba and line dancing during the day and ballroom dancing classes at sunset.

A new juice bar and a cafe near the main pool will serve healthy dishes, and the ship's spa is being built as a temple to wellness. It'll offer a sprawling thermal pool complex that includes eight heated loungers, four experiential showers, a reflexology footpath with textured stones flowing with hot water, a cold room (a first for Cunard), a large steam room, a Himalayan salt sauna and a traditional sauna. A relaxation room and wellness suite will round out the offerings.

Related: Peek inside Queen Anne under construction

On the celebrations front, Queen Anne will have a lounge specifically designed for weddings that spills into an indoor reception room and, just beyond, a new-for-the-line private rooftop terrace space for wedding and vow renewal receptions.

Other notable features of the ship will include an expanded Commodore Club observation lounge and a main pool area (The Pavilion) topped with a retractable glass roof designed to be as much a showpiece as a functional structure.

Not everything about Queen Anne will be different from previous Cunard ships. A lot will be familiar. As is always the case for Cunard vessels, Queen Anne will have a soaring Grand Lobby with a cascading staircase where you can take selfies in your formal night splendor. That staple of all Cunard ships, the ballroom known as the Queens Room, is also making a comeback.

Queen Anne initially will sail in Europe before setting off on an around-the-world cruise in January 2025. Fares start at $449 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a quick two-night cruise from Hamburg, Germany, to Southampton, England. Seven-night sailings in Europe start at $849 per person, not including taxes and fees.

Maiden voyage: June 27

The newest ship for the luxury line Silversea Cruises is a sister to the brand's recently unveiled Silver Nova a groundbreaking vessel that has been turning heads since it debuted in August.

Like Silver Nova, Silver Ray will be bigger than Silversea's previous ships and feature an unusual, asymmetrical design for its public decks that reorients its key features toward the sides of the ship instead of the center. Whether you're floating in the ship's main pool or dining at its open-air Marquee restaurant, you'll be looking out at the sea (or whatever destination the ship is visiting) like you've never been able to before.

Silver Ray's pool area, in particular, will be striking, as is the pool area on Silver Nova. The long and narrow pool won't be in the middle of the deck but offset to its starboard side, and it'll be oriented to face outward to the sea. Nearly all the lounge chairs around the pool will face in the same direction toward the sea, too.

Related: The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Silversea ship

As we wrote about in our recent first look at Silver Nova, part of what makes this new outward-facing orientation for these ships so magical is that they don't have any structures rising from the starboard sides of their pool decks. Passengers floating in the pools on these ships or lounging on nearby lounge chairs get an unobstructed view of the sea off the starboard side.

Silver Ray's asymmetrical design will also be evident at two food and beverage venues at the top of the vessel both new-for-Silversea concepts that first debuted in August on Silver Nova.

The first, Marquee, will be an alfresco dining venue that is also off-center, with an orientation that offers commanding views of the sea from the ship's port side. It'll be home to The Grill, Silversea's signature outdoor "hot rocks" dining venue, and also double as the ship's Spaccanapoli pizza outlet. The second venue, The Dusk Bar, will be an open-air sky bar at the back of the vessel that, like Marquee, is positioned on the port side of the ship.

Additional dining venues on board will include versions of Silversea's main signature restaurant La Terrazza, French eatery La Dame, seafood eatery Atlantide and sushi outlet Kaiseki.

In addition to asymmetry in many areas, one thing that will be particularly noticeable about Silver Ray is its spaciousness something it will share with Silver Nova. At 54,700 tons, the two ships are about 34% bigger than Silversea's last three new vessels Silver Muse, Silver Moon and Silver Dawn but they are designed to hold only about 22% more passengers. That gives them significantly more space per passenger.

With every berth filled, Silver Ray will sail with 728 passengers the same as Silver Nova and just 132 more than the three earlier Silversea vessels.

The extra space on the two vessels has allowed Silversea to expand its lineup of cabin categories, with more large suites. As is always the case with Silversea ships, every cabin on the ship will be a suite. But Silver Ray and Silver Nova offer new premium aft suites, including a massive 1,324-square-foot complex called the Otium Suite.

Even the smallest cabins on Silver Ray will measure at least 357 square feet, which is unusually large for a cruise ship cabin.

Silver Ray will initially sail in Europe before repositioning to North America in December 2024 for winter sailings to South America and the Caribbean. Fares start at $4,600 per person, including transfers, for a nine-night South America sailing out of Panama City.

Maiden voyage: July 22

Royal Caribbean's second new ship of the year will be a giant, too, though not quite as big as Icon of the Seas. The sixth and final vessel in the line's groundbreaking Oasis Class of ships, Utopia of the Seas is expected to carry up to around 6,700 passengers and measure around 237,000 tons, which would place it just behind Icon of the Seas as the world's second-biggest cruise ship.

Like the five earlier Oasis Class ships (the newest of which, Wonder of the Seas, is the current size leader in the cruise world), Utopia of the Seas will be loaded with lots of family-focused attractions, including multiple main pool areas, a kiddie splash zone, surfing simulators, a miniature golf course, a basketball court and even a zip line. And that's just on its top deck.

Inside the vessel, you'll find more lounges, bars, restaurants and shops than you can imagine, plus a huge casino, spas and theaters with Broadway-style shows.

As with earlier Royal Caribbean ships, it'll even have an indoor ice-skating rink.

In design and features, Utopia of the Seas will be nearly identical to Royal Caribbean's last new Oasis Class ship, Wonder of the Seas, which debuted in 2022. Like that vessel, it'll have a dedicated suite area with a private lounge, restaurant and sun deck something not found on the four earlier Oasis Class ships.

Utopia of the Seas will be based in Port Canaveral, Florida, for short three- and four-night sailings to the Bahamas. Fares start at $431 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a three-night sailing.

Related: Why Royal Caribbean is about to own the market for short cruises from Florida

Maiden voyage: Aug. 19

The world's newest cruise line, three-month-old Explora Journeys, is doubling in size in 2024 with the addition of Explora 2.

Designed for 922 passengers, the high-end vessel will be an almost identical sister to Explora 1, the line's first ship, which debuted in August. It will similarly target the luxury market.

Like Explora 1, the new ship will offer oceanfront suites, penthouses and residences designed to be "homes at sea," and it'll be packed with upscale amenities. They will include 10 distinct culinary experiences, 10 indoor and outdoor bars and lounges, four swimming pools, outdoor deck areas with private cabanas, wellness facilities and entertainment.

A creation of the deep-pocketed MSC Group, which already owns MSC Cruises, Explora Journeys plans to launch at least six of the superluxurious vessels by 2028, with the first four being roughly the same size and the last two being even bigger.

In just a few years, that'll give Explora Journeys a bigger capacity than such well-known luxury cruise operators as Seabourn and the recently relaunched Crystal.

Explora Journeys is competing in the same upscale cruise space as Seabourn and Crystal, as well as luxury lines like Viking, Silversea and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. It's run completely separately from its sister brand, MSC Cruises, which caters to a mass-market audience.

Explora 2 will initially sail in the Mediterranean before repositioning to North America for the winter. Fares start at $4,275 per person, not including taxes and fees, for a seven-night Caribbean sailing.

Maiden voyage: Dec. 21

Disney Cruise Line is shifting into growth mode again with the unveiling of Disney Treasure, its second new ship in two years (after a 10-year period where Disney didn't unveil a single vessel). Due at the end of 2024, it's coming out in relatively quick succession to Disney Wish, a similarly designed ship that arrived in 2022.

Like Disney Wish, Disney Treasure is part of Disney's new Triton Class of vessels, and it'll share many of the same features and layout as its older sister. But it will be far from an exact copy. Disney has announced quite a few major changes for Disney Treasure, including the addition of an all-new Mexican restaurant called Plaza de Coco that is themed around the events of the "Coco" movie. It replaces the "Frozen-" themed eatery on Disney Wish.

There also will be a new Haunted Mansion-themed bar that will replace the "Star Wars-" themed Hyperspace Lounge on Disney Wish.

Other new venues include Jumbeaux's Sweets, an ice cream parlor and candy shop inspired by Jumbeaux's Cafe in the movie "Zootopia," and Skipper Society, a new bar inspired by Disney's Jungle Cruise ride and its wisecracking skippers. At the latter, which will be located where The Bayou is on Disney Wish, passengers will find a menu of themed cocktails and light snacks, such as waffles.

Yet another new drinks venue is Periscope Pub, inspired by Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas" (and Disney's 1954 movie version of the book and theme park attraction). It will replace Wish's Keg & Compass as Disney Treasure's sports bar. The bar is designed to look like the Nautilus submarine from the story, complete with a giant periscope, porthole windows and a ceiling designed to look like you're underwater.

Disney is also launching a new Broadway-style musical on Disney Treasure, "Disney The Tale of Moana." The show will feature popular songs and characters from the animated movie and mark the first time Disney has brought the story of Moana to the stage.

The ship's two other main shows, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Disney Seas the Adventure," are repeats from earlier Disney ships.

Read more from the original source:
The 8 best new cruise ships launching in 2024 - The Points Guy

Todd Olson, the chief executive officer of Raleigh software company Pendo, says he has withdrawn plans to develop the southern end of Topsail Island.

We are extremely disappointed to get to this point after two years, but we do not believe that a successful outcome is possible based on the current process, said Olson in a statement to Business North Carolina.

Olson said there are three options for the property, known as The Point: a permanent conservancy by the community or town, a larger scale development by a professional development group, or a low-impact private development like the one his family proposed.

The proposal was for single-family homes on 24 acres of a 150-acre area. The plan included six single-family dwellings, access roads, a swimming pool and cabana, a maintenance building and garage, a beach shelter, a gazebo and uncovered deck, and an elevated pier with six boat lifts.

Olson said he signed a letter of intent with the NC Coastal Land Trust to establish a conservation easement on at least 80% of the land. He also took feedback from both residents and town officials and updated his plans and drawings to reduce the impact on the land to less than 4% impervious surfaces.

We have listened, iterated, and stayed patient through a very tedious and lengthy process that unfortunately still remains far from complete two years later, said Olson in his statement.

Topsail Beach, located south of Surf City, has a population of about 460 full-time residents. The proposed development was opposed by some in the community who believed it would harm the environment. Olson expressed frustration in dealing with local politicians.

Despite our repeated requests for time to discuss the details of our rezoning request and come up with solutions together, the Commissioners refused to meet with us one-on-one and routinely passed us off to the Towns staff and external planning consultant, he said in the statement. Meanwhile, we understand the Commissioners directly conversed with members of the community who opposed our plans. This one-sided behavior has led to confusion and an unending set of proposed conditions.

The land that Olson wanted to develop is currently zoned as a conservation district, and its located within an inlet hazard and Coastal Barrier Resources Act area.

A nonprofit called Conserve The Point has said its interested in acquiring the property, which went on the market in 2019 for $7.9 million.

The Topsail Beach planning board voted unanimously against conditional rezoning back in May.

We invested the time, money, and energy to find a solution to protecting an area of the world we love, said Olson. But solving problems requires collaboration, which the Town appears to have been unwilling to do. We have no choice but to withdraw our application.

Pendo is among the states most promising technology companies. Its market value has been estimated to be more than $2.5 billion. Olson cofounded the company in 2013.

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Pendo CEO Olson withdraws plans for Topsail Island - Business North Carolina

New Custom Log home. 24/7 secured Rumbling Bald Resort with golf courses, lake, marina, indoor & outdoor pools, tennis/pickleball courts, spa, sauna, exercise equip, wooded trails, restaurants & robust activities calendar for members. Excellent entertainment home. Main level features primary living quarters & attached garage w/ open floor plan, soaring vaulted beamed ceilings, huge great room /dining area, chef kitchen w/ granite countertops, walk in pantry, laundry room, primary suite with his/her walk in closets & adjoining bath, separate Den & guest bath, complete w/ outside deck/grill area. Lower level has gorgeous 10 designer tiled ceilings, oversized windows w/ quartz sills, full kitchen w/ quartz countertop, living room, large recreation room, washer/dryer room, 2 bedrooms & bath, huge office w/ separate outside entryway & high speed internet avail. Builder envisioned lower level (sound insulated from primary) to be used for entertaining or short-term rent. A must see!

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Newly listed homes for sale in the Marion area - McDowell News

Morgan Group won city approval for a 452-unit multifamily development in Sunrise.

The Houston-based multifamily developer won approval earlier this month of a site plan for the low-rise apartment and townhouse complex, called Caroline at Sunrise, as well as a rezoning of the 21-acre development site.

Two companies own the site and are partners with Morgan Group in the development of Caroline at Sunrise, said Aventura-based Lauren Iaslovits, who manages one of the companies.

The owners of the site on the southwest corner of North Pine Island Drive and West Oakland Park Boulevard are 3363 Pine Island, LLC, and Humbold 18, LLC, according to Morgans rezoning application.

Steve Flasz of Hallandale Beach manages 3363 Pine Island, which owns a large eastern swath of the development site that includes a former ice rink that was called Sunrise Ice Chalet. His company paid $3.9 million in 2019 for the former ice-skating property at 3363 North Pine Island Road in Sunrise, according to county property records.

Iaslovits, manager of Humbold 18, told The Real Deal that the total price the two companies paid in 2019 for the Caroline at Sunrise development site, including the old ice rink, was about $13 million.

The Sunrise City Commission rezoned the development site on Nov. 14 from general business district (B-3) to planned unit development (PUD) and approved a 14-building site plan for Caroline at Sunrise.

Morgan agreed to reserve 15 percent of the residential units, which equates to 68 units, as affordable housing with below-market rents for moderate-income tenants, as defined in the Broward County Comprehensive Plan.

Other conditions of the rezoning include Morgans agreement to pay $150,000 to upgrade a nearby bus stop with a bus shelter design, and to build a seven-foot wall on the west side of the development site, next to a cluster of single-family homes.

The development is designed as eight four-story apartment buildings with 412 units, and six three-story townhouse buildings with 40 townhouses. The townhouses would range in size up to 2,358 square feet.

The apartment section of the development would include 35 three-bedroom units, each with about 1,400 square feet, along with 219 two-bedroom units ranging from 1,088 square feet to 1,275 square feet, and 158 one-bedrooms ranging up to 759 square feet.

Amenities will include a swimming pool with cabanas, a clubhouse with a gym and resident business center, a pocket park, a tot lot and a dog park. An outdoor kitchen and seating area is planned in the townhouse section.

Family owned Morgan is led by Chairman Michael Morgan and CEO Philip Morgan, and has built or acquired over $4.5 billion of multifamily assets with over 23,000 units, according to its website. Its current portfolio includes more than 17,000 units in Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Florida. In addition to its Houston headquarters, the firm has regional offices in Austin, Denver, Dallas and Miami.

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Morgan Group Plans 452-Unit Multifamily Project in Sunrise - The Real Deal

I was first seduced by the dramatic landscapes of Western Australia (often called "the real Australia" by Aussies) as I watched Baz Lurhmanns epic 2008 Antipodean western, Australia, which was largely shot there. A tale of love, war, and the plight of Australia's Stolen Generations (Indigenous and mixed-race children who were forcibly removed from their families by the government, supposedly for their own good), it stars Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and a mesmerizing Brandon Walters as an Aboriginal Australian child of dual provenance ("I not a black fella; I not a white fella either"), and it has just been released as an expanded six-part series on Hulu and retitled Faraway Downs. Luhrmann has recentered and recontextualized the film: It is now expressed from the perspective of the Aboriginal boy.

Coincidentally, likewise in 2008, Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd formally apologized to Aboriginal Australians (especially the Stolen Generations) for the centuries-long, near genocidal depredations they endured. It was the culmination of a national project of reconciliation, begun a decade and a half earlier, to reintegrate Indigenous Australian people and culture into the country's history and economic life.

Nowadays, as a visitor to Australia, you will come across a number of Indigenous Australian guides, indigenous place names attached to English ones (Perth is Boorloo in the Nyungar language), and "acknowledgement of country" rituals at many gatherings, including on planes before landing and at lodges before dinner service, when some version of the following is intoned: "We acknowledge the traditional owners of this land and pay our respects to elders past and present."

The Bungle Bungles, in Purnululu National Park, are one of the highlights of the Kimberley region.

In Faraway Downs, Kidman plays an aristocratic Englishwoman who arrives in the outback, as World War II is about to break out, to claim a million-acre cattle ranch (which she inherits after her husband dies) and to sell it off. Or so she thinks before she falls in love with the country, a man, and a child. "When [she] came to this land," the child, Nullah, says of the Kidman character in a pivotal early scene shot in Western Australia's Bungle Bungles, an otherworldly area of 360-million-year-old sandstone eroded into giant striped, beehive-like formations, "she look but she not see. Now she got her eyes open for the first time." He may be talking about the effect on her of this fantastical geology, but it's more than that. She is also beginning to appreciate the complexities of this ancient land and of a people struggling mightily for redemption.

I embarked on my trip to Western Australia almost on a dare. "Nobody goes there," I was told. "It's too far." Americans mostly focus on Australia's developed east and southeast: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Queensland's so-called Gold Coast, and the Great Barrier Reef. For Australians, 80 percent of whom live along the east coast, the flight to Perth takes almost as long as one to Bali or the South Pacific.

A HeliSpirit chopper in the Kimberley, a good way to get around. They are often operated without doors "so you can see better," as a pilot told me. Wheee!

Distances between settled places in Western Australia are often so great (the state is 3.7 times the size of Texas) that unless you're prepared to spend days driving (from Perth to the Bungle Bungles, for example, takes 33 hours), exploring WA, as Aussies refer to Western Australia, requires some combination of commercial flights, small chartered planes, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and helicoptersbut it's worth the logistical effort both for the experience of WA's singular, off-the-beaten-path natural wonders and for the places you'll get to stay. Several of WA's lodges belong to an exclusive 20-member club, the

Below is the itinerary of my two-week journey of discovery last August, in map and textfrom Perth northeast to the wilds of the Kimberley region (home of the Bungle Bungles and El Questro), south to the Margaret River wine region, and then northwest to Ningaloo Reef, the west coast's answer to the Great Barrier Reef, where I hoped (major wish list item) to swim with whale sharks and perhaps humpback whales. The itinerary was developed with Sydney-based travel advisor Stuart Rigg of Southern Crossings, my go-to man for travel Down Under.

My magical mystery tour of Western Australia in a nutshell. Read on.

My trio of Perth hotels. From left: Comos the Treasury; Crown Towers Perth; and Ritz-Carlton Perth.

Perth is by far WA's largest city and the state's gateway. Your international flight will land here (I flew New YorkDohaPerth), as will most flights from Australia's east coast. It is also the departure point for destinations in WA's north and south; I would end up coming through on three separate occasions.

Como the Treasury occupies a decorative mid-19th-century colonial government building in a historic, recently revitalized part of downtown, and its serene interiors were designed (listen up, Aman junkies) by Kerry Hill, the founding architect of Aman resorts. Not much remains of old Perth, so if you like a whiff of history, this is the place. The Ritz-Carlton Perth has huge, wood-accented rooms with panoramic views of Elizabeth Quay and a buzzy restaurant, Hearth. The views from my room at the resort-like Crown Towers Perth, overlooking Swan River, made me gasp when I walked inspring for a high floor. There is a large lagoon-pool complex with private cabanas near the river, and multiple restaurants and boutiques.

Kings Park in Perth is a nice place to wander about and get acquainted with Western Australian flora.

My stops here were short but revelatory. The Aboriginal Australian guide, Justin Martin (@DjurandiDreaming), who took me on a foray into Kings Park and its botanic gardenone of the largest inner city parks in the world, harboring 3,000 species of WA's native florawas at first keen to talk plants but soon moved on to the history of his people, the Wadjuk Nyungar, whose traditional lands stretch over the Perth metropolitan area. The 200 years after colonial settlement began in Australia (in 1788 on the east coast, 1829 here) were not pretty, and he reminds me of the facts in broad strokes: the declaration by the British government of the continent being a Terra Nullis, "land belonging to no one" (i.e., uninhabited, to justify colonization); the attacks by white settlers on Indigenous Australians, from the late 18th until the early 20th centuries, with more than 400 recorded massacres; the tragedy of the Stolen Generations, which unfolded from 1905 until 1969 (and some say continued into the 1970s); and right here in Perth, the "Native Pass" system, which between 1927 and 1954 prohibited Aboriginal Australians from entering the center of the city without a permit.

At the WA Museum Boola Bardip (note the Indigenous name) I found myself contemplating, in a display of 32,000-year-old shell beads, the Aboriginal people's more distant past. Discovered in a cave near Mandu Mandu Creek, on WA's northwest Indian Ocean coast, they are among the world's oldest extant jewelry, each bead bearing a faintly visible groove on each end, probably made by a long-vanished twine on which they might once have been strung into a necklace. As remarkable as their ageand as yet further proof of the primal human desire for physical adornmentis the fact that the story of Aboriginal Australians is older still. They arrived by sea from southeast Asia in a single migration around 60,000 years ago, ultimately forming as many as 250 language-based groups, of which 123 are still in use today (they are as different from one another as French and English). The Aboriginal groups are connected to stretches of territory known as "country," which Indigenous Australians view in both physical and spiritual terms. Collectively, "country" comprises the oldest continuous culture in the world.

I had time for dinner only once in the hip greater Perth neighborhood of Fremantle (frequently abbreviated to Freo, but Walyalup in Nyungar), but I would have liked to spend a day. The original British port in Western Australia, first settled by whites in 1829, it has well-preserved examples of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, traces of Australia's past as a British penal colony, and a thriving arts and culinary scene. The many black swans in Perth were altogether a revelation: They appear not only in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake but all along Perth's Swan River.

You can go alone into the gorges and chasms of the Bungle Bungles, but I strongly recommend a guide. As the child in Faraway Downs says, "There are spirits here."

It's home of the aforementioned Bungle Bungles, the extraordinary, UNESCO World Heritagelisted sandstone massif carved over million of years into weird domes, pinnacles, and wavy walls, riven by gorges and chasms and striped orange and dark gray (layers of sediment rich in iron are orange, those rich in clay, home to cyanobacteria, are dark gray or green). It was "unknown" until 1983 (except, of course, to the indigenous Gija people, who have inhabited the area, and walked through here, for at least 20,000 years). But that's the Kimberley for youWestern Australia's northernmost region and also its wildest, most remote, and least traversable. And coincidentally, or perhaps not, where Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first come ashore. Slightly smaller than the entire state of California, it consists of steep-sided mountain ranges and plateaux from which extreme monsoon rains (November to April) and harsh winds have removed much of the fertile soil. Rivers flood regularly; roads, many of them corrugated, wash away; and nature rules. Which is also the source of its attraction.

Via a three-hour commercial flight from Perth to the town of Kununurra, gateway to the eastern Kimberley, followed by a six-seater Airvan (there's an 8 kg luggage limit) to Purnululu Park's tiny Bellburn airstrip. The pilot shouted over the roar of the engine as we flew over Lake Argyle, the largest man-made lake in the world; the recently shuttered Argyle diamond mine, which until 2020 produced 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds; and cattle stations (Lissadell, Texas Downs), their homesteads just tiny specks in the vast, hilly, ochre-colored emptiness.

The platform tents of the APT Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge may look modest, but its sheer luxury just to be here.

The solar-powered APT Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge is not luxe in a traditional way, but its 29 tents are well spaced for privacy, with their own decks, comfortable beds, and strong, hot showers, and there's an inviting central communal space where meals and drinks are served. The meals are long-table affairs, and on my first night the open kitchen produced, in this middle of proverbial nowhere, pumpkin soup, charred prawns with salsa fresca, and a dark chocolate mousse. I walked back to my tent in environmentally correct low-voltage-lit darkness, amid a cacophony of cicadas, looking up at the Milky Way and stomping as hard as I could on the sandy path. Why? Because, as one of my Australian dinner companions noted nonchalantly, "snakes in Australia are poisonous. But they will try to keep awaythey can pick up our vibrations on the ground."

Bec Sampi, my guide in the Bungle Bungles. "I dont guide here at night, but i do come out with the grandchildren. its magic."

What one does in the Bungle Bungles is hike: out of the baking daytime sun into cool, shady, often palm-fringed gorges hidden among the strange domes. My guide from Kingfisher Tours, Bec Sampi, is a speaker of the local Gija and Jaru languages and is a Gija "custodian of country," a traditional honorific bestowed on those who have long lived on a piece of land and walked through it, appreciate it, take care of it.

Cathedral Gorge in the Bungle Bungles. Matters sacred to Indigenous culture take place here when no one else is about.

In the aptly named Cathedral Gorge, an immense circular cavern about two kilometers roundtrip from the southern edge of the Bungles, Bec breaks into a Gija "Welcome to Country" song: an Indigenous ceremony in which local elders have for millennia welcomed people from other areas to their territory. Her words, unintelligible to me, echo hauntingly in the vast space, which vibrates with the sound. There are a few white Australians in the Cathedral, and they come up to thank her; one woman is crying. It does feel like a giftand a form of time travel, something incomprehensibly ancient brought to new life.

I'd read before my trip that Australian Indigenous culture is famously impenetrable to outsiders. The majority of sacred sites and rock artworks are off-limits to visitors; myths and stories, considered powerful and private, cannot be shared. Bec tells me that "men's celebrations" take place in the Cathedral in December, but when I ask her for details she recoils. "That's taboo. I can't speak about that." Yet on our way out she leads me under a rocky overhang and points to two small, faint paintings of boomerangs. "They are thousands of years old. They mean 'no trespassing.' If you saw this, you'd have to declare who you are and what you want here."

Who I am and what am I doing here is a powerfully existential question I feel even less able to answer at our next stop, Echidna Chasm, on the north side of the park. In contrast to the Cathedral, it is dramatically narrow and high-walled, the sky a shard of blue far, far above our heads. The path in and out is a mess of loose stones and boulders, each step a balancing act. I feel as small as an ant, and as squishable. A tad unnerved (a touch of claustrophobia plus an incipient worry about snakes), I'm chatting (a bit manically, I'm sure) as we make our way out. "Non-Indigenous people are loud," Bec observes, kindly but pointedly. "They find it very hard to be quiet. It takes them a long time to just sit and listen." Indeed.

An hour before sunset she takes us to what she calls her favorite sundowner spot and sets up folding chairs and snacks. And we sit. The park feels ours. Not a single vehicle passes on the corrugated road; the only sound is birdsong. Our attention is drawn to the bands of color on the Bungles, which grow ever more surreally orange. "This place," Bec finally says, "has a special feel to it." All I can do is nod. The child Nullah in Faraway Downs said as much of the Bungles: "There are spirits here." I'm starting to understand the reverence Australians of all stripes feel for this burned, austere, ancient land, which is still inhabited by direct descendants of the first humans who arrived here tens of thousands of years ago and who are still, generation after generation, guarding its mysteries. "The elders," Bec says, "have to tell us what stories we can tell, and how to tell them. They are in discussions now. Also, some of our words have no counterparts in English."

El Questro Homestead lodge, just 10 suites on the Chamberlain River in the immensity of the Kimberley outback.

In equal measure for the beauties of this rugged, 700,000-acre cattle station in the wilderness of the East Kimberley (they still run 3,500 head of cattle here, 2,000 of them wild) and for its El Questro Homestead, a 10-suite oasis of privacy and all-inclusive good living originally built in 1991 as a private home and guesthouse by Will Burrell, scion of the British Penguin Books fortune. It is one of the Luxury Lodges of Australia and the outback's crme de la crme, a marriage of harsh frontier landscapes and the finer things in life.

It is also, significantly, the first tourism property in all of Australia to have signed, in November 2022, an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the Ngarinyin people, traditional owners of this land (who call it Malabu). Not only has a vast expanse of El Questro407,000 acresbeen given to them as a "freehold" to manage as a reserve, but, as general manager Geoff Trewin tells me, "we have leased the land we are on from them for 99 years, which secures their financial future. It is a very detailed agreement, signed off on by the government, wherein we also help them develop touring and other employment, and it's being used as a benchmark for agreements with other Indigenous groups across the country. But it's early days."

Part of the pleasure of El Questro is the sheer achievement of arriving. "For many of our guests," Trewin says, "that alone is the goal. Two or three flights, a long drive, two river crossings with the water past the chassis" I did it differently. The Airvan pilot who brought me to the Bungle Bungles two days ago picked me up again at its Bellburn airstrip and, after a last farewell flyover, deposited me 30 minutes later at El Questro's private airstrip.

A Cliffside Villa at El Questro Homestead. A deep outdoor bathtub is just out of shot to the right, and the drop is 200 feet straight down to the river. There are crocs in there.

In one of El Questro Homestead's three Cliffside "villas," dramatically perched on a rocky escarpment high above the Chamberlain River gorge, with distant views, a large deck, and indoor/outdoor bathing. Note: The El Questro property has two other places to stay: the bustling hub called El Questro Station, eight miles away, which has bungalows, safari tents, and coach parks; and Emma Gorge camp, a 30-minute drive away, which has 60 tented suites. All are under the same management, but the Homestead is hands down the most high-end option. Its opening, back in the day, was covered, judging by the bound tomes of press clippings in the library, by every lifestyle publication on earth.

The boab trees (the Australian abbreviation of "baobab") at El Questro are beautifulbut best not be out and about on foot. The micky bulls (slang for wild ones) are very naughty.

Meals at the Homestead, including five-course degustation dinners, are an event, with some serious magic produced in the outback kitchen at breakfast, lunch, and dinner by New Zealand chef Gareth Newburn. (I kept some menus. Here's one dinner: kingfish ceviche with citrus, shallot, chili, and herbs; green asparagus with edamame, finger lime, truffle, and bunya nut; scallops with corn, pickled mushrooms, and chicken skin; lamb rack with carrot, pommes Anna, and salsa verde; chocolate delice with salted hazelnut ice cream, berries, and nuts.)

Feasts like this can be eaten either communally at a long table on the veranda (convivial fun) or privately, in three cliffside nooks at the edge of the Chamberlain Gorge (very romantic).

You and a fancy picnic basket are choppered to El Questros Miri Miri Falls, and a short technical hike later you arrive at the cool, deep, palm-shaded, utterly translucent pool at the foot of the falls. As Australians say, "Pretty speccy."

"It's an excellent place to do nothing at all," a surgeon from Sydney tells me during my first Homestead predinner cocktail hour. "And we've been extremely successful at it." That's one option: lounging around the pool overlooking the Chamberlain Gorge, swanning up the green lawn to the open bar, eating, repeating. But I'm with the majority (mostly well-heeled Australians who have finally made the journey to WA, with a smattering of international guests) and taking full advantage, during my three days here, of the included activities: expeditions to hot springs, gorges, waterfalls, lookouts.

For our Chamberlain River cruise, we were on a much smaller boat (five of us) and saw not another soul for the entire two hours.

No hiking boots are required for the Chamberlain Gorge boat outing. Nibbling on treats and quaffing Roederer champagne, I'm counting the adorable kangaroo-like wallabies perched like figurines in a giant cabinet-of-curiosities on the gorge's shelf-like outcroppings. And I scan the water: Lurking in there, I know, and at the opposite end of the cuteness spectrum, are the so-called salties, Australia's deadly estuary crocodiles. "They're the apex predator here," says our guide and boatman, Pete. "Been around for 240 million years, unchanged for the last 200 millionunimprovable killing machines."

But what I'm really hoping for is even a fleeting glimpse of indigenous rock art. A drone is flying along the gorge walls some distance aheadpart of El Questro's post-ILUA work with traditional owners, tribal leaders, and archaeologists to conduct a "heritage survey" of the entire property and figure out what needs to be protected and what can eventually be shown to visitors, by whom, and how. I've been told there are significant sites here, possibly including 4,000-year-old figures of Wandjina, the cloud and rain spirits from Aboriginal mythology important to communities in the Kimberley and depicted, uncannily, like helmeted characters from outer space. At one pointbut it could be an illusionI think I notice something, but Pete, admirably, neither confirms nor denies: "It's not our story to tell. At least not yet."

On my last afternoon, maybe six of us are driven to the top of an escarpment called Buddy's Point Lookout for sundowners with 360-degree views of utter, ridge-encircled emptiness. "Bloody tourists!" someone suddenly exclaims. And then we see it: tiny on a distant ridge, a single vehicle. That's how spoiled we've become. Driving back, our safari-style vehicle is enveloped in a sandstorm of red dust kicked up by the tires. It's in our eyes and noses, between our teeth. The outback is suddenly extreme and uncompromising, even in this small way. But all is well. A charming Homestead staffer is there as we pull into the driveway, with a pile of cold, wet towels on a tray.

Vineyards of the Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River.

First, because it's one of Australia's and the world's premier wine regions, yet so Western Australia: It is the world's most isolated (Africa is 5,000 miles to the west, Antarctica 2,200 miles to the south). Its ancient soils predate those of any viticultural area in Europe. And it's had the longest continuous human occupation, going back 50,000 yearsthe Wadandi people have been caretakers of this land for millennia (Margaret River's Indigenous name is Wooditup). And because it's Bordeaux with a difference: It has tasting rooms and top-notch restaurants, of coursebut also migrating whales, mobs of kangaroos, and the monstrous Indian Ocean swells of Surfers Point.

Via a reverse relay: From El Questro Homestead by four-wheel-drive back to Kununurra (90 minutes), then a commercial flight from Kununurra to Perth, where I overnighted. In the morning, a car and driver sped me over excellent roads, in three hours, to the wine country. (There is also a helicopter option often exercised, I'm told, by Perth residents with weekend homes in the wine region30 minutes.)

One of the Indian Oceanfacing villas at Margaret Rivers Injidup Spa Retreat. Time it right and you can be sipping your wine in the plunge pool while watching humpbacks breach.

Because Margaret River's venerable Cape Lodge was about to undergo a major renovation, I opted for Injidup Spa Retreat. "It's another of WA's secrets," I was told. And it felt like one: Ten serene adults-only villas hidden from view along a ridge over the Indian Ocean with private decks and plunge pools, an excellent spa, a white sand beach accessible via a narrow path upon which I never encountered a soul, and no restaurant. Who needs the hubbub? And anyway, in Margaret River, which produces more than 20 percent of Australia's premium wines, tastings and eating out are really the point.

The restaurant at Leeuwin Estates winery. settle in: lunch with pairings might take three hours and is time well spent.

Basically, a grande bouffe. With 220 wineries, 100 cellar doors (Australian for tasting rooms), and dozens of restaurants within easy driving distance (on average, 30 minutes), I had to narrow it down. Dinners were at the Cape Lodge restaurant and the informal, bustling Yarri, whose ever-changing menus are attuned to the six seasons of the Aboriginal calendar (sit up at the open kitchen and the chefs will talk you through it); they also serve some mean craft cocktails. Strong recommendation: Book a car and driver for the evenings here. Ubers are not ubiquitous, and you need to be careful about the kangaroos, which can emerge quite suddenly from among the roadside bushes.

Lunches (lovely-to-sink-into, afternoon-long affairs, with prelunch tastings, of course) were at two of the region's five founding wine estates: Vasse Felix, Margaret River's first, and Leeuwin (named for the warm ocean current that flows southward near Australia's western coast and helps create Margaret River's winegrowing climate). I kept the menu from Leeuwinprobably the best meal of this entire tripto remember the dishes and wine pairings, which I'm shopping now.

The gallery of contemporary Australian Aboriginal art at Leeuwin. If you dont have the time for gallery-hopping in perth, this is your chance.

As much as the wines themselvesLeeuwin's 2020 chardonnay is apparently the most collected white wine in AustraliaI appreciated the packaging of the "Art Series" wines. Their labels feature works by leading contemporary Australian artists, many of them Aboriginal, the originals of which, either collected or commissioned by Leeuwin owners Denis and Tricia Horgan (who, at the urging of Robert Mondavi, converted their cattle ranch into a vineyard in 1972), are on view in the estate's sprawling art gallery. On the bottle of the 2019 cabernet sauvignon is a paintingbe still, my heartof the Bungle Bungles.

Hikers along a section of the Cape to Cape track. Bring a "bather"there are protected natural pools where you can swim.

By the time my scheduled 3.5-hour hike along a section of the Cape to Cape track rolled around (its full length stretches 76 miles from the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin in the south of Margaret River to the one at Cape Naturaliste in the north), I had to refuse all food, even the breakfast pastries proffered by my Walk Into Luxury guide, Matt Fuller, who picked me up at Injidup on my last morning (the trail runs right past it). Setting aside for the moment Bec's admonition about silence in nature, I peppered him with questions as we walked, the swells of the Indian Ocean pounding magnificently on the rocks below.

What whales can you see in these waters? "Humpbacks, blue whales, pygmies, pilots." Sharks? "The area is notorious for them, especially February to April, when the salmon arrive to spawn." How do surfers deal with it? "You think about sharks before you surf, you think about them after, but when you're surfing, you're in the moment." Snakes? "Just look at me. When I stop, you stop." Why is there almost no one here? "Because the western coast is the best-kept secret in Australia. Just lookthere is no development here. And we don't want it. What you see when you stand with your back to the ocean today is exactly what the Aborigines saw 60,000 years ago. When word gets out how good all this is, we're going to be inundated."

The Ningaloo Reef coastline is another of Western Australias UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The geography: a 160-mile fringe reefmeaning it's so close to shore you can swim or snorkel out to it (unlike the Great Barrier Reef, all of which is at least 10 miles from land). Right beyond the crashing waves, the continental shelf drops off and it's all deep watera speedway for the ocean's megafauna. Called Humpback Highway (although there's a plethora of other marine life here as well, including 300 to 500 whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, which annually congregate here), it runs from Broome, further north, where the whales calve, down to Antarctica, where they spend the Antipodean summer. And Ningaloo, with its unparalleled proximity to the deep, is the world's best place to see themwhether from the shore as they breach (quite a sight at breakfast) or, the be all and end all, by getting into that deep water with them.

Because this natural wonder is in northwest Western Australia, it was generally unknown (again, like the Bungles, despite its UNESCO World Heritage status) except to a small circle of diving and snorkeling aficionadosand, of course, to the Indigenous Baiyungu and Thalanjyi people, traditional owners of the area, who call it Nyinggulu and who have lived in this area for 40,000 years. (The 32,000-year-old necklace in Perth's WA Museum Boola Bardip was discovered here.) But word is getting out, at least in Australia. The best-selling Australian author and conservationist, Tim Winton, released last summer a three-part documentary, Ningaloo Nyinggulu, available on the Australian Broadcasting Company.

From Perth, via a two-hour commercial flight to the small resort town of Exmouth, the northern gateway to Ningaloo. (Interestingly, Exmouth began life as a support community for a U.S. Navy base, which operated here from World War II until the 1990s and is now a joint U.S.-Australian operation.) Then it's another hour by rental car along an empty coastal road from the Learmonth airport to the lodge, inside Ningaloo Marine Park. (Look out for dingos, who like to sun themselves on the tarmac.)

There are few things as soothing as the end of the day at Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef. Bring your lantern to dinner for the walk back to your tent.

Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef is a little compound of 16 cream-colored tents (including a larger honeymoon one) that seem lost amid the dunes and grasses, steps from a white beach. As at the APT Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge, the tents are comfortable but simple, and shower water, if not exactly rationed, is carefully monitored (you're in a protected conservation area in an arid environment). But the overwhelming emotion you feel is, what a privilege it is to be herea feeling augmented, I must mention, by the open bar in the communal dining area and the long, convivial dinners, which feature such delicacies as duck with pumpkin puree accompanied, of course, by excellent wine pairings.

The smaller attractions on Ningaloo Reef. The camp has wet suits.

As elsewhere in Western Australia, activities abound here despite the remoteness. A frequently updated blackboard in Sal Salis's communal space lists (in addition to that day's menus) the departure times for: snorkeling (schools of tropical fish, manta rays, enormous brain corals), kayaking, and various guided gorge hikes and nature talks in the surrounding Cape Range National Park. I did all of it.

When done through an expert and sensitive small-group tour operator, the experience of swimming with a whale shark is unforgettable.

But I was here for the whales and the big fish, having booked with Exmouth's premier small group tour operator, LiveNingaloo: morning pickup, maximum of seven swimmers (with three non-swimmers allowed on the small boat that will take us over the reef into the open Indian Ocean), back at Sal Salis by 3 p.m., lunch and libations and wet suits provided.

A spotter plane flew ahead of us, communicating constantly with our captain, Murray Pattison, searching for sea animals and the right conditions. The water needs to be clear, for visibility. If he spots a female humpback with a calf, the calf must be no smaller than half the size of the mother. (If it's very young, there's a risk of her engaging in defensive behavior.) If he spots a pod, is it calm or boisterous? We wouldn't go in if they were aggressively breaching or playing, or if there were a female surrounded by males. With humpbacks, the staff explained, we wouldn't actually swim with themthey're too fast. We'd get in the water ("bunched up, in a group, no squealing, masks on"), and if we were in the right position the whales would swim right past us, 15 to 30 meters away. "They know exactly where we are in the water. They're very intelligent. There are times when the mother will lift her pectoral fin and show her calf to usor us to her calf. You see her eyes focus, taking you in."

My heart was in my throat the entire time on the boat. The open ocean was choppy, and I just felt how deep it was. It was the wildest, or most unfamiliar, environment I've ever been in. We had some near misses with the humpbackswe would slide into the water off the back of the boat, thumbs up, then something would change and we'd heave ourselves back onboard. Then a whale shark appearedseven meters long, a juvenile, and we went for it. The instructions were simpler because whale sharks swim slowly (they eat only plankton, unlike their smaller but more fearsome relatives) and, being fish, are not interactive. A few things to keep in mind when swimming alongside them: no touching, stay behind the pectoral fin, and don't get closer than four meters from the tail and three meters from its sides. And stay on the surface (i.e., no duck diving).

Our captain said, "Whale sharks are mysterious. We know they live 100-plus years in the wild, but much less in captivity. They are not migratory, but no one has successfully tracked their movements, partly because they go really deep." On my third and final swim, I was suddenly not alongside the whale shark anymore but above it. It was beneath me and growing fainter by the second, dropping into the abyss. The staff had warned us that might happen. I had just been ghosted by a giant fish. I could no longer make out the markings on its back, then not even its outline. It was just me bobbing out there, and the navy blue depths of the Indian Ocean. I have never felt so breathtakingly far away.

Executive Travel Editor

Klara Glowczewska is the Executive Travel Editor of Town & Country, covering topics related to travel specifically (places, itineraries, hotels, trends) and broadly (conservation, culture, adventure), and was previously the Editor in Chief of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

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Why Western Australia Is the Continent's Best Kept Secret - Town & Country

Development plans have been lodged with the department of planning for a new build-to-rent project in Sydneys North Shore.

Designed by leading Australian architectural practice COX for Twynam Group, the proposed build-to-rent (BTR) development, Nicholson Place is located in suburban St Leonards. Once a bustling commercial hub recognised for its excellent transport links and modern amenities near the city, St Leonards has evolved into a mixed-use precinct featuring a diverse mix of residential, retail, commercial, and community spaces.

High quality communal amenity for future residents lies at the core of COXs design for Nicholson Place. The development will provide 271 build-to-rent residences in a mix of studio, 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartmentsover 30 storeys, with the residential section sitting above 6,000sqm of mixed-use commercial spaces in the podium.

COX worked closely with their interiors team to craft health and wellbeing spaces, co-working and studying spaces, social and gathering spaces, and operational spaces, all spread out vertically. These curated amenity and communal spaces accessible to all residents help create a sense of belonging and enhance wellness within a connected vertical village.

A public plaza on the ground floor to the corner of Nicholson Street and Christie Street has been proposed as a benefit to local residents, in addition to a multipurpose room accessible from Christie Street, which will be used by the local community to cater for a variety of events.

Key design highlights:

What makes this building unique is how it has allowed people to meaningfully connect with each other. Whether its the building residents in the communal kitchen, the local community in the purpose-built community space or the public in the corner plaza, says COX director, Felipe Miranda.

Socially sustainable living

To ensure social inclusivity within the building design, the amenity provision promotes healthy habitats and lifestyles, creating a comfortable, vibrant and adaptable environment that fosters recreation, social interaction and intergenerational connections contributing to broader social sustainability. Communal spaces are designed with biophilic design principles, with green planting connecting people to nature.

Designing with Country

Paying tribute to the Gai-maragal People, who have been the traditional custodians of these lands since time immemorial, COXs design is informed by Indigenous design strategies throughout the development and built form including the orientation and positioning of the living, working and playing spaces.

Vision for Nicholson Place

As St Leonards evolves into a more diverse and mixed-use precinct, the development surrounding the site has embraced ground floor activation guidelines from St Leonards and Crows Nest 2036 Plan to create nodes of activity and enhance permeability through the area. These developments have fostered a sense of community and connectivity by linking spaces between St Leonards Station and Crows Nest Metro Station. The Nicholson Place site has the potential to contribute to this growing community by responding to the changing context of St Leonards and providing a development that reflects the new residential and mixed-use nature of the area.

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COX-designed build-to-rent project in Sydneys North Shore ... - Architecture and Design