Many places we stay as travel journalists are remarkable but as I sip my ice-cold martini on the wrap-around balcony looking over Kirra Beach I feel like a proper A-lister. That is no coincidence, this brand-new Gold Coast penthouse has been designed with the movie set in mind.
Rise is a two-storey penthouse atop Kirra Point Holiday Apartments in the southern Gold Coast. At a whopping $10,000 a night in high season, this sprawling stay is the newest and most over-the-top address on a strip of coastline not known for doing things by halves. The idea is that should a Hollywood star be filming on the Goldie, then, boy, does the team at Rise have the pad for you.
The first thing that makes an impact is the scale of the place. Rise is a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom luxury penthouse but it is also filled with breakout spaces like a play area for the kids, an office space, a games room with a full-sized pool table and a rooftop swimming pool. The tiled space surrounding the pool is big enough for a film’s wrap party with lounges and daybeds. As the first media to spend the night here, and being on my own, I feel like an eccentric billionaire wandering around my capacious home; the balcony along is so long it feels like a running track.
And it appears that I made my billions in tech, because the penthouse – from the music to the curtains – is orchestrated via iPad. One swipe and my tunes go up, another and the final curtain retreats leaving a view of sand, sea and sky. But there are hiccups. I think I am putting music on in my bedroom and a TV appears out of nowhere, rising slowly out of an alcove in the wall and for a while I can only get songs to play from the “recently played” list which are not really my scene (perhaps leftover from the opening cocktails the night before).
The master bedroom alone is big enough to spend the whole weekend in. An L-shaped space with king bed, walk-in wardrobe with enough room for Elton John and a bathroom with a quirky bath shaped like a giant ink blot, dual rain showers and his and hers sinks. A lot of my time is spent wandering around unsure what to do next, plinking pool balls, taking a book to the library, only to be distracted by a bedroom I missed on the first pass.
A big luxury of Rise is its position, just a few steps outside the building is Kirra Beach, a popular stretch of sand with onshore casual diners like Siblings where I head for dinner. Right on the sand at Kirra Beach, Siblings is the sort of beachside party spot the Gold Coast does without breaking a tropical sweat. Natural wooden tones, wicker chairs and very large “small” plates of crisp buttermilk chicken with fermented chilli honey and dill pickles that means I have leftovers to take back to my penthouse, which is looming over me the whole time I dine. Catching the lift up a fellow lift-goer nods approvingly as I hit the top floor button: “You must be one of the first people staying up there”.
Rise feels very of the moment in a Gold Coast that is shedding its schoolies image and becoming a luxury destination.
In addition to high-end hotel brands like The Dorsett (part of The Star entertainment complex with its see-and-be-seen Isoletto Pool Club) and The Langham Gold Coast – where the film and TV stars of the AACTAs (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) hang out – Mariners Cove on The Spit is getting a new Ritz-Carlton and an expanded super-yacht marina. Everywhere you look on the Goldie there is something shiny and new.
I put my chicken leftovers in the fridge and crank the tunes – a “cocktail” playlist packed with Rat Pack faves – with Frankie and Deano wafting out into the night air.
My “Coastal Grove” martini comes from a booklet of cocktail recipes devised especially for Rise and uses Grey Goose vodka, Brookie’s Dry Gin, and macadamia and wattleseed liqueur. As my glass chills in the ice machine, I mix the ingredients together, decant into my frosty vessel and take it out onto the balcony. My very own movie star moment, though I am sure Chris Hemsworth has a mixologist to do the hard work for him.
