Romance fans are obsessed with this Airlie Beach villa paradise - here's why

Where: 9a Hermitage Drive, Airlie Beach, Queensland

How much: Holiday ownership packages with Club Wyndham South Pacific start from $22,000 (one-off payment). Rooms are available to public from $269 per night, Presidential Villas from $999 per night.

Timeshare is back in a big way, with a new generation jumping aboard the holiday ownership model. This condo-style Airlie Beach resort is a flagship in holiday ownership program Club Wyndham South Pacific's portfolio of 54 Australian and international properties.

About half the resort's rooms are also available to the public, including two of the lavish new $3 million Presidential Villas featured in the latest Married at First Sight Australia season as a lovenest for Insta-couple Eden and Jayden. (The relationship didn't make it, but I wouldn't blame the backdrop - it's ravishingly romantic.)

From a commanding hillside perch overlooking the Whitsunday Passage, almost all 105 apartments enjoy views across the Great Barrier Reef's dreamy blue gateway. Directly below, Port of Airlie, the town's newest marina development, glitters with ritzy yachts and waterfront mansions. You're a 20-minute walk into the Airlie Beach epicentre of bars, cafes and shops.

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Design cues all come from the ocean, which makes a stunning fourth wall for palm-fringed, white and blonde indoor-outdoor spaces. Decor soothes with sea, sand and tropical greens and the shared spaces combine upscale comforts with a come-as-you-are vibe. You'll feel right at home in beachwear, armed with a poolside pina colada while the kids splash around.

There's a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, fully kitted out so self-catering's an option. The split-level, three-bedroom Presidential Villas are set up as oceanfront residences, with secure private entry, gadget-rich kitchens, media rooms, entertaining areas and tropical-print wallpapered feature walls.

I've lived in apartments smaller than the villas' vast decks, where jacuzzis and daybeds dial up the decadence along with indoor-outdoor bathrooms with ocean vistas.

As the name suggests, Tides Restaurant and Bar focusses on fresh seafood, and longstanding head chef Matt MacCullum is happy to chat across his kitchen counter about the day's catch and his favourite local ingredients. He's enlivened the line-up with tasty touches of Asian, Mex and Med but it's hard to ignore a chilled bucket of juicy Whitsunday king prawns, while my young one applies herself to Tides' menu of $12 ice cream sundaes.

It's tempting to while away lazy days gazing out over the infinity pool at the widescreen sea views, but the Great Barrier Reef beckons. Airlie is your jumping off point for all things in, on and around the ocean: kayaking, standup paddleboarding, snorkelling, diving, jetboating, plus rainforest adventures in Conway National Park. Most tour operators pick up and drop off at the resort entrance. During school holidays, the resort has kids' activities including a resident mermaid and talks from a local wildlife rescuer accompanied by her orphaned joeys.

Some of Queensland's swankiest mansions occupy the surrounding hills, but from the privileged position of a Presidential Villa outdoor bathtub with the sunset-gilded ocean at your feet, they seem like poor neighbours. It's easy to appreciate the allure of this princely lifestyle, and why new timeshare fans are opting to buy a slice that lasts longer than a holiday (or a MAFS marriage).

Explore more: clubwyndhamairliebeach.com.au

The writer was a guest of Club Wyndham Airlie Beach