Noorla Heritage Resort
The Noorla Heritage Resort is a grand award winning Italian art deco villa built on two acres in 1926. Situated on Queensland's Tropical Coast in between Townsville and Cairns, the place has been beautifully restored and features extensive gardens, wide verandahs with cool breezes, al fresco verandah restaurant, atrium lounge room, Tapas Bar, Ceylon Tea Rooms, 18 heritage bedrooms, heritage cottage, eight Winnebago/campervan sites, period furniture throughout, tropical breakfasts, gourmet barbecues, three function/conference/training rooms and business facilities, children's play area, swimming pool and internet cafe. The Noorla Heritage Resort is only 30 minutes away from the highest waterfall in the southern hemisphere, 15 minutes to Australia's World Heritage rainforest, 30 minutes to Hinchinbrook Island, 30 minutes to access the Great Barrier Reef, Orpheus Island and 20 minutes to the eight kilometres of white sandy beach at Forrest Beach. Five minutes to Australia's largest urban wetland rehabilitation project Tyto ...read more
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My wife and I were the only guests on a Saturday night in late November 2013. Things at the Noorla have certainly changed from the above description. From the outside, it looks like a magnificent building. We glimpsed the interior of what appeared to be a dining room on the lower level and it looked to be tastefully decorated as was the wide passageway upstairs. Everything seemed to be locked up and there was no offer of a drink from the bar or any mention of dinner or breakfast. As the management told me it's a training resort where they train Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in hospitality, I'm assuming refreshments and victuals for hotel guests has gone by the wayside. The bedroom we were allotted and another we peeked in were a different story altogether from the dining room. They were just old public hotel rooms painted pink and had some period style furniture thrown in wherever it would fit. Ours was rudimentary even ...read more