This is old news. It was announced about 8 months or more ago. What wasn't= =20 announced is that the island will only have about 10 or 12 huts so it will= =20 be a looooooong waiting list for the staff to get there. Spin doctoring=20 is one thing Virgin execs have always been good at. Grant SYD QF At 01:59 AM 03/12/03, you wrote: >Branson gives staff Virgin paradise >Branson: Island will be "a lot of fun" > >British entrepreneur Richard Branson has bought an island off Australia's >Queensland Sunshine Coast as a leisure haven for staff of his Virgin >companies worldwide. > >Makepeace Island, covering 10.2 hectares (25 acres), will be developed into >an "eco-tourism retreat", according to the website of his Australian budget >airline, Virgin Blue. > >Alongside an existing "Queenslander" house, it will have tree-house >accommodation, tennis courts, camping facilities and opportunities for >nature walks, fishing, sailing and water-skiing. > >Mr Branson is investing 5m Australian dollars ($3.2m US) in the leisure >complex. > >It will be the first Virgin staff island in the world. > >It lies in a broad stretch of the Noosa River, upstream from Tewantin. > >Virgin Group already owns Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, but >that is run as a business for outside clients. > >Thanking his staff, Mr Branson said Makepeace Island would be "a wonderful >retreat for them" and "a great way for our team to spend time together and >to get to know each other outside of a work environment". > >Virgin Blue's pre-tax profits soared to A$158m ($102m , =A363m) in the past >financial year ending in March - up from A$47m a year earlier, and defying >the global travel slump. > >Virgin Blue has about 2,500 staff based in Brisbane - just a two-hour drive >from the island. > >Worldwide, the Virgin companies employ about 50,000 people.