Ray Martin lists exclusive Sunshine Coast home
Legendary TV journalist Ray Martin and his wife Dianne have put their Sunshine Coast holiday home up for sale after more than 20 years, in defiance of the trend of people moving further north during COVID-19. The couple say they are planning on spending more time in Sydney with family.
The four-bedroom home can be found at 13/87 Toolga Street, Mount Coolum, and it went up for sale this week. Dolby Property Group Noosa’s Marcus Dolby declined to share with Domain what the exact asking price was, but confirmed that similar properties in the area were listed for more than $3 million. The couple paid just $250,000 for the home in 2001.
Dolby said of the decision to sell, “They’re like a salmon going the wrong way upstream. But it is a gorgeous house and it’s the perfect opportunity for them to sell.”
Ray Martin told Domain that the family loved the home because of the restaurants, cafes, and clothing stores, describing the area as a “church for the soul”. “That’s why it’s been our second home … besides, it lets us claim we’re Queenslanders when the Maroons whip the Blues in the State of Origin, which they so often do,” he joked.
He continued, “We call it ‘the Coolum state of mind’. The minute we open our front door, we hit the shorts and the T-shirts – and the blood pressure drops to chilled. Deadly. ‘How good is this?’ is the standard, rhetorical question.”
The home is located in Mount Coolum’s exclusive The Lakes estate, and is adjacent to the Palmer Coolum Golf Resort, meaning avid golfers can simply open a gate and walk to the nearby course to play a round or two.
The two-storey home features a gourmet kitchen, home cinema, and views of the Coolum Lakes and Mount Coolum from most rooms. It also boasts a large library and office, which is connected to each of the bedrooms. It has enough parking for two cars, and, naturally, a golf buggy.
Martin told Domain, “The truth is, life moves on and you have to chase new dreams. The COVID lockdowns have drastically changed our habits and our expectations. So have our family circumstances changed – especially now with gorgeous grandkids to dote on.
“Work-wise, my television life is still chaotic but very different to the nightly shows – even though I spend as much time on an aeroplane as I ever did, until COVID grounded everybody, of course. So, for a myriad of good reasons, we’re moving on – with a thousand great photos and a million even better memories.”
Martin became a household name in Australia for his work on a number of current affairs programs, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he was the host of The Midday Show, winning five Gold Logies for his work on both The Midday Show and on A Current Affair.
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