Plans revealed for $140 million tourist and water park in Cairns

Cairns-based PPNQ Developments has submitted plans to build a $141 million tourist park at Far North Queensland’s Kewarra Beach.

To be built in multiple stages on the former Paradise Palms golf course, a development application for the attraction, branded Reefsedge, has been submitted to Cairns Regional Council with estimates that it will bring another 100,000 annual visitors to Cairns.

The development will include 364 villas and 47 van sites, a ‘village hub’ and dining precinct built with a $55 million waterpark with a 2500 metre² wave pool and 25 water slides as its centrepiece.

PPNQ Managing Director Darren Halpin said his company was aiming to have shovels in the ground by March 2024, waterslides constructed by June 2025 and the water park open for the 2025/26 summer months.

He told The Cairns Post “this is a huge and exciting development for Cairns.

“It will be without doubt one of the state’s best tourist attractions and will put Cairns on the map for the family tourism market.

“The precinct will include comfortable and stylish dining experiences and will offer our guests a complete experience.”

The development sits within PPNQ’s The Palms masterplan which is also made up of 438 residential lots divided between an estate and a land lease community, a primary school and various commercial uses.

The attraction is proposed to be completed in six stages with stage 1 to include the waterpark and 95 villas.

Future residential development will focus on the old golf driving range.

Halpin said 135 jobs would be created during the initial phase of construction and more than 135 permanent operational jobs when it opened.

He added “local tourism experts have identified the family market as a gap in Cairns’ tourism offerings.

“This tourist park is going to fill that gap. It will bring 100,000 more tourists to the region every year, and that’s a conservative estimate.

“Cairns has not traditionally been a return destination for tourists. This changes that.

“The tourist park will give people a great base from where they can stay and explore everything the greater region of Cairns has to offer.”

Attractions Challenges in Cairns
Cairns has been a problematic location for visitor attractions in recent years The CaPTA Group closing the Cairns ZOOM and Wildlife Dome in October, the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park closing in early 2021 and the Cairns Aquarium currently up for sale.

Proposed early in the last decade, the $8 billion Aquis integrated resort failed to eventuate while the Adventure Waters waterpark was never built after a series of disputes with Cairns Regional Council and a failure to attract investors.

Undeterred by this, Halpin said the key ingredient those proposals were missing, apart from secure finances, was a local’s stake in their own project.

He added “I’m from Cairns, I’ve been living here for 50 years and this will be a legacy asset for my family.

“We’ve had a local team work on the project design for almost four years including Lachlan Farquharson, Shane Bettini and Kim Thomas. We are all 100 per cent committed to making our vision come to life.

“This project is as much for locals as it is for tourists.”

Images: The proposed waterpark at Reefsedge (top), PPNQ Developments concept for the site (middle) and an artist’s impression of the clubhouse frontage at Reefsedge tourist park (below). Credit: PPNQ Developments.