Dreamworld founder’s Hinterland retreat hits the market

105 Wongawallan Road, Tamborine Mountain

A luxury retreat built by Dreamworld founder John Longhurst has been listed in a Hinterland hotspot favoured by crypto traders.

The striking A-frame home at 105 Wongawallan Rd, Tamborine Mountain was designed as a holiday retreat for the late Gold Coast theme park creator and remains the suburb’s highest recorded residential sale. It last sold sight-unseen for $5.025m in 2021 to a crypto-trading family from New Zealand.

Sprawled over 7.11ha, the property is marketed by Ivy Realty agents, Ivy Wu and Aidan Knox, and goes to auction on June 1.

An A-frame design with expanses of glass captures stunning views

John Longhurst founded Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied

It includes five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a self-contained guest suite, and a triple garage.

There’s also a huge shed, a caretaker’s cottage, dams, a horse facility, and a fully irrigated food forest packed with fruit trees and climbing grapevines.

A lift connects the home’s three levels, with floor-to-ceiling glass framing coastal and Hinterland views.

The interiors feature quirky touches like an elk antler chandelier, while the master bedroom suite is housed in a dramatic wing that juts into the forest canopy, complete with a marble spa ensuite.

A lift connects the home’s three levels

An elk antler chandelier enhances the US ski lodge-inspired style

Mr Knox said the rare estate had drawn unexpected levels of inquiry from overseas and interstate buyers.

“It’s an awesome home and such a different lifestyle,” Mr Knox said. “We’ve had calls from New Zealand, Perth, and Melbourne – all wanting that unique vibe.

“It is such a beautiful estate in a picturesque location with standout architecture.”

Mr Knox said the owners had made their fortune trading digital currency, rolling profits into high-end real estate.

The home has five bedrooms

The marble spa ensuite

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It’s a trend reflecting the broader national interest in cryptocurrency, with new data revealing 57 per cent of Australian coin holders have reported profits over the past year.

The 2025 Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index shows 31 per cent of Aussies now own some digital coin.

While 25 to 34-year-olds are the largest cohort of investors at 53 per cent, Baby Boomers are increasingly buying in, with 8 per cent of all owners now aged over 65 — up from 2 per cent five years ago.

Sydel Sierra rolled crypto profits into real estate. Pic: Glenn Hampson

Sydel Sierra, dubbed the Gold Coast’s “crypto queen”, is another cashed-up trader calling Tamborine Mountain home.

Ms Sierra also churned Bitcoin profits into bricks and mortar, splashing $4.63m on a luxury retreat in the Hinterland suburb in December 2021.

She views real estate as a strategic way to “lock in profits from crypto’s volatile cycles”.

“I like to say, it’s time in the market and timing the market,” she said.

“The [Cryptocurrency Index] shows 73.5 per cent of all Australian investors made a profit if they stayed in the game for six to 10 years.

“Bitcoin has had an average annualised return of 86 per cent over the past 10 years — how do you argue with that?”

Movie nights in style

Mr Knox said his clients had put the home on the market as they contemplated their next international move.

M. Longhurst, who died in 2022 aged 90, purchased the site for $2.3m in 2010 from former Gold Coast councillor Eddy Sarroff and reportedly spent $5m redeveloping the estate.

PropTrack data shows the median house price in Tamborine Mountain is $1.015m.

This is general information and not intended as financial advice.

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