Skye hits 60

 right: party girl Skye Leckie with fashion journalist Melissa Hoyer

Skye Leckie has reached 60 (believe me, that seems very young to some of us) and she held a shindig to celebrate at her Southern Highlands farm. Skye recently featured in the "reality" TV show Filthy Rich & Homeless where she lived on the streets for a time to see just what it was like. It made for riveting TV especially for a lady who enjoys a fairly sumptuous house in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs with her family and husband, the former TV boss David Leckie plus a pretty nice stretch of land in the ritzy south. As a dedicated charity worker- she's helped raise $millions for the children's hospital in Randwick Skye put her expertise to work and housed one homeless family she met during her homeless experiment.

Check out the magnificent hat on guest Jonathan Ward in our snap. Jonathan is the designer for the famed R.W.Williams and his fashions feature in stores around the world.
There to cheer on Skye: publicists Deeta Colvin and Nikki Andrews who between them created the legendary Cointreau Balls that guests flocked to from all over the world during their heyday in the roaring nineties.
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Our exclusive snap here shows film director Baz Luhrmann who is now living in New York and developing new film projects.

Last week he was in Queensland celebrating here with the QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the occasion: Baz is to film a new biopic of Elvis Presley on the Gold Coast. I guess it has a passing resemblance to Memphis.

Malcolm's beach party

Whispers has been privileged to attend a shindig at Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull's exclusive Point Piper mansion (pictured above) . It was charity fundraising event and well before Malcolm was Prime  Minister, merely the local MP.

It's a splendorous house with magnificent harbor views and it's own tiny beach at the base of the garden. Now a small group of protestors have taken up residence on that beach to agitate about the controversial proposed Adani coal mine in Queensland which it's claimed will do untold damage to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.
The freezing weather has driven off the protestors for the moment but I'm reliably informed that they have more plans to enliven life in genteel Point Piper- the most exclusive and expensive suburb in Australia. Meanwhile Mal & Lucy are residing at The Lodge (above right) in Canberra. It's freezing there as well. Not in the Lodge itself but Canberra. Winter in Canberra is something else. Life is just tough sometimes.

Barefoot Contessa Moment

Prince Charles and Camila demonstrate they are real people by walking onto the sand at Surfer's Paradise beach. She is barefoot- he wears suede shoes which many are complaining about. We have no view either way. Others claim the Duchess of Cornwall read a magazine during the opening ceremony. Whispers is reliably informed she was actually reading the program for the Commonwealth Games opening night gala events. Perhaps she was trying to check what time the misery would end.

Bob Sings

For your sheer delight: former PM Bob Hawke sings an operatic version of Waltzing Matilda today at the Woodford Folk Festival in sunny Queensland. Whispers can't work out whether Bob was the inspiration for Sir Les Patterson or visa versa.

The Real Thing

The Gold Coast is nothing if not colourful and glitzy in a sort of refreshing way that Sydney and Melbourne could take more notice of.
The Magic Millions is now one of the world's great race meetings with prizes that dwarf others. Obviously an injection of cash from (always complaining) retailer Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie is welcome. Yet the often clueless social writers who snatch their freebie flights and Casino hotel rooms in Queensland and breathlessly report on the z-list celebs that attend always forget whose idea it always was and who put the whole idea of a race meet on the Gold Coast into motion, against the odds, and was successful

Angela Belle McSweeney

And credit for that goes to Sydney socialite Angela Belle McSweeney who comes from a well known racing family. It was Angela's brainchild and it was her efforts that eventually saw Queensland's recalcitrant racing officials finally concede that her idea had merit.
The Magic Millions should always pay homage to one of Australia's more interesting public relation's experts and entrepreneurs.
Here are a couple of snaps from this year's event.
 Princess Anne's commoner daughter Zara Phillips (hey guys- she is not Royalty which was  the whole idea of her parents not giving her a title) and one of Sydney's glam couples, fine vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn (right)and his always glamorous wife Deborah Thomas who is head honcho at Bauer Media and doubles up as a Double Bay councilor in her spare time, with a couple of good looking chaps.

Birthday News

Did anyone know that former Treasurer and Deputy PM Wayne Swann was an old rocker at heart?.
We knew he was a surfer in his young days living in sunny Queensland and still regularly hits the waves with his board and wetsuit but we have pleasure in outing the backbencher as a card carrying & bandanna wearing Bruce Springsteen fan.
Yesterday Wayne celebrated his 60th and as our exclusive snap shows  good pal and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard dropped by to celebrate and bop away to Wayne's surprise gift from friends, a concert by The Springsteen Experience.

We think bandanna wearing should be encouraged to loosen up the House of Reps and have forwarded a communique to our pal Speaker Bronwyn Bishop MP. Failing that we may lobby Clive Palmer MP . He should be up for it.

Below is a video of The Springsteen Experience in action. Gosh, aren't they good!

( although we think a few drinks beforehand may help aid that experience)

Versace bargain : "it's just not etiquette"

Paris Hilton, Bono of U2, Mick Jagger and the Dubai Royal Family are just some of the slebs who have resided at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.

 There isn’t another hotel or residential resort in Australia that can invoke such recognition and reaction with it's Italian extravagance.Now living the lifestyle of a celebrity is no longer exclusive for high rollers or the rich and famous at an establishment listed in the prestigious Leading Hotels of The World.

Gold Coast real-estate agent Rob Astbury has just listed a  three bedroom residential apartment at Palazzo Versace for just $1,450,000. Some would describe it as an unbelievable bargain but Astbury told the Shuttle “I have been informed that using the words “Versace and bargain” in the same sentence is just not etiquette.” 

The reality is after an unprecedented property boom the Gold Coast is now undergoing a major price correcting and nothing is exempt, not even Palazzo Versace. After a decade working with a property developer in Thailand  Astbury has returned to the Gold Coast where he was once crowned the top Ray White sales person in Queensland. Winning two prestigious marketing awards Astbury is renowned for his theme “still the ONE”. It was the call sign of Channel 9 where Astbury built a reputation as the top sports journalist in Australia.

Despite one of the toughest Gold Coast markets ever  Astbury has had nine sales in three months totalling over $8.7 million and attributes his success to thinking outside the square when marketing prestige real estate.

And who is buying into the Gold Coast ?. Just about everyone who is anyone in Sydney and Melbourne has a holiday unit on the Gold Coast but the word is that Middle East oil sheiks and millionaires are snapping up properties at the top end of the market viewing Queensland as one of the safest spots on earth to invest. The Shuttle also hears that billionaire James Packer is looking for the quintessential property to complement the extravagant Vauclause mansion he is currently building.

Elena Ioukhnovitch

Rob Astbury

Astbury recently teamed up with glamorous Gold Coast resident and agent Elena Ioukhnovitch. The pair is now making an assault on marketing properties in Mermaid Beach including Hedges and Albatross Avenues long renowned as “Millionaire Row” with some of the most expensive real estate in Australia.

In the past month Rob and Elena have listed several properties ranging from a three bedroom apartment at the tightly held Broadbeach On The Park to a spectacular three level residence at 203 Hedges Avenue, both boasting absolute beach frontage.

On The Park is a boutique six level building with one apartment per floor reduced from $3,000,000 to $1,625,000. Three years ago at the height of the boom 203 Hedges sold for $9 million and today it can be snapped up for $6,950,000. With three bedrooms, a private movie theatre and roof top swimming pool there is parking for six cars in the basement.

Astbury’s website www.robastbury.com.au has complete details, photos and videos of the large price range of properties listed including a spectacular 700 square metre Broadbeach Penthouse for $4.9 million and a stunning four bedroom beach house at La Sabbia for $4 million.