Gemma Ward makes Byron Bay's Suffolk Park fashionable
Suffolk Park, the Byron Bay's fringe hamlet, is set to become far more fashionable.
International model Gemma Ward and her photographer partner, David Letts are rumoured recent buyers at the beachside locaility.
The $1.6 million outlay by the boho couple has been pinpointed as a nondescript two storey property which only has dense trees between it and the patrolled Tallow Beach via a sandy track.
It is tipped to be an occasional retreat for the couple and their two year old Hawaiin born daughter Naia.
The pair's appreciation for the far north coast emerged when they were attendees at Byron's Bay's popular Easter jazz festival Bluesfest last year, attending with her model friend, Nicole Trunfio.
They were back again last August with Gemma posting three instragram photos of their extended holiday saying "love Byron."
In 2009 Ward, who divides her time between Australia, Los Angeles and New York, spent weeks renting a beachside mansion at Suffolk Park with Nicole Trunfio.
Gemma made her Australian Fashion Week debut at only 15 years old from Perth and went on to become the youngest model to appear on the American edition of Vogue.
In 2007, Ward earned $3 million from her doll-face looks, to be ranked by Forbes magazine as the 11th most highly paid model in the world.
After a six year hiatus from modelling, she returned in 2014 with a busy time since including work for Prada, Country Road and Ellery.
Showing off her androgynous side, Gemma made a surprise appearance in Milan earlier this month where she walked in the Calvin Klein autumn 2016 menswear show.
While I was sipping on my yellow flower mango lassi at their local Suffolk Park cafe this week, there was no sign of the beach loving couple who were instead being papped on a hot day at Bondi Beach.
Suffolk Park has long been the poor cousin to Byron's big name locaities, Belongil and Wategos.
Suffolk Park's top price stands at $3.2 million while $10 million was paid last year at Belongil. Wategos hit the highs of $15 million for a colonial style house in 2009.
Bookended by the Tallows and Tuckeroo Beach gated communities, Suffolk Park has attracted the likes of Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page and coal tycoon David Knappick, who recently secured the beachfront record late last year from a Dubai-based expatriate.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
