Wednesday 13 January

White Cockatoo up for sale

After eight successful years, Tony Fox and his wife Lenore are putting their White Cockatoo resort in Mossman, near Port Douglas, up for sale with an asking price of around $1.5 million.

The three star White Cockatoo is a traditional family motel through the winter months but changes its focus in the summer months to become one of the most famous nudist and swingers resorts in Australia.

According to Tony, the summer months are ideal for the nudist enthusiasts, temperatures go up to the mid thirties during the day and don't fall dramatically in the evenings, no need for jumpers to spoil visitors stays.

This niche market has been very successful for eight seasons now and even through the difficult global financial crisis of last year the bookings continued strongly. 

The first question that was being asked when the news of the White Cockatoo being put on the market broke was why ? Well it seems that the owners are planning to retire to write their memoirs or perhaps more correctly their story of the resort and the many untold tales that they have accumulated during their tenure.

This may have some of their past visitors getting a little nervous and it seems some of them are justified in having those feelings because Tony and Lenore have reported that they have some juicy stories to tell and since the announcement of the resort sale interest in a possible book has soared with inquiries from a number of publishers.

However Tony has said, 'The White Cockatoo's liberal clientele have nothing to fear'. It seems that the planned content for the book will be handled in a discreet manner, just the same as they had run their business.(Editors Comments: What a shame, I was looking forward to the juicy bits!)

Tony said that he felt potential buyers of the resort would be foolish to change the tried and tested business model of the resort. He said that the business is about getting bums in beds and the way they have been doing it obviously works. 

The White Cockatoo resort comprises 23 self-contained chalets, a four-bedroom manager's house, swimming pool, licensed bar and an eight person spa.