Seaspray Beach Motel
Seaspray, Cooee Bay – Holiday Accommodation, Yeppoon
When I was twelve, our family stayed at Seaspray for a weekend, during my first year of boarding school.
Located at Cooee Bay and comprised of eight units and a beach house, Seaspray was a favourite destination for many families to relax and connect on the Capricorn Coast.
My early memories of the stable doors and secluded beach remain etched in my mind along with hours spent exploring the rock pools on the southern end of Fisherman’s Bay.
So too did the memory of the vibrant, former owner Blossom, who until earlier this year, had owned and managed the property for some 40+ years.
About ten years ago, my husband and I and our young daughters booked the Seaspray house for Christmas.
We spent each day on the beach and marvelled at the beautiful location, near the centre of Yeppoon.
Each night we lay in bed listening to the waves lap the shore and watched the sun rise over the Keppel Islands on Christmas day.
A few-years-ago, I began searching for a holiday house on the Capricorn Coast to list on Airbnb, as well as use for a getaway.
Our family lives on a cattle property and the Capricorn Coast, just under three-hours-away, is a convenient place for us to catch up with extended family and friends as well as chill and explore the Keppel Islands.
After almost two decades of writing for Country Style magazine and showcasing beautiful homes and towns in regional Australia, I knew Yeppoon, with its laidback, village charm was something special.
My dream was to create layered holiday accommodation with unique, nautical pieces that conjured adventure, nostalgia and relaxation.
I arranged an inspection at Seaspray, researched and costed the project and weighed up the considerable step to take on something much larger than first anticipated.
With family support and two of my favourite sayings, ‘don’t die wondering’ as well as ‘you have to push it to make it go’, urging me on, we took over in February this year.
Once settled, an intense, month-long renovation began. Along with our wonderful contractors and team, we transformed the retro style accommodation into something fresh and nautical.
The renovation included new bathrooms, flooring, lighting and kitchens for some of the units and fresh interior and exterior paint to update the existing terracotta exterior and rainbow striped doors. I named the house, ‘The Skipper Shack’ and we sanded the floors, painted throughout and installed a new kitchen.
The office was relocated from the house into one end of the laundry room to provide better access for guests.
One of my favourite aspects of the project was adding unique pieces sourced from Coastal Vintage to each room, such as the brass hardware on each door, oars above the beds, and vintage marine flags.
With the updates completed early March, we welcomed our first guests. It’s been such a fantastic journey, and I am thrilled that many more generations will make happy seaside memories here.
For more information visit @seaspray_yeppoon
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