Former Geelong mayor and Australian media personality Darryn Lyons has placed two high-profile properties on the market, marking a major shift as he relocates overseas for travel and work.
Mr Lyons is selling his beachfront home in far north Queensland alongside his long-held Sydney apartment, with the combined value of the two properties exceeding $6 million.
The tropical retreat, a four-bedroom residence at 16 Rankin Street, Newell, is being marketed by Ray White selling principal Mark Flinn with a price guide of $2.5 million plus.
Located just under 15 minutes from Port Douglas, the property sits between rainforest and ocean, offering direct access to a private stretch of beach.
“You don’t hold a property like this unless it continually gives something back to you,” Mr Lyons said.
“This hasn’t just been ownership; it’s been a long-term love affair.”
The home is known for its bold architectural style and distinctive gorilla sculptures, a reference to Mr Lyons’ former art business.
“The gorillas are powerful, grounded, and protective, much like the home itself,” he said.
Now spending most of his time abroad, Mr Lyons said the decision to sell had not come easily.
“The world simply falls away when you arrive here. Any stress disappears the second you enter,” he said.
“I do sometimes wonder why I’m selling – but this home deserves someone who can truly inhabit it.”
Mr Lyons said his first experience of the property was immediate and emotional.
“It was spiritual, instant and undeniable,” he said. “It’s a luxurious observation home for the natural world.
“Every space is designed to frame what’s outside – the ocean, the rainforest, the sky, the light.
“You don’t live beside nature here, you live inside it.”
Describing the home as a personal retreat, he said it had offered a rare lifestyle.
“It’s not just a home, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime way of living, and I’ve lived the dream with this home,” he said.
“How many properties can you walk down your back garden and step onto a private seven-mile beach? You have the ocean as your backyard and rainforest as your front yard.
“Newell Beach is not just a home – it’s a once-in-a-lifetime way of living and I’ve lived the dream with this home.”
Alongside the Queensland sale, Mr Lyons has also listed his two-bedroom apartment in Sydney’s Harry Seidler-designed Horizon Building, one of the city’s most recognised architectural landmarks.
Purchased off the plan in 1998, the north-east corner apartment sits on the 15th floor and has been reworked into what the listing describes as “a masterpiece of design and art”, incorporating Mr Lyons’ well-known pink aesthetic.
The apartment offers sweeping views across the Sydney CBD, Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf.
The dual listings signal a new chapter for Mr Lyons, who rose to international prominence in the 1990s as a paparazzo before entering politics and serving as mayor of Geelong.
