Sport star Crowe on Dubai venture

By Greg Ellis
Updated November 5 2012 - 5:35pm, first published May 30 2008 - 12:29pm
Johnathan Crowe and his sons Nathaniel and Emerson. Picutre: MELANIE RUSSELL
Johnathan Crowe and his sons Nathaniel and Emerson. Picutre: MELANIE RUSSELL

Jonathan Crowe has won world and national ironman championships and starred alongside Pamela Anderson in Baywatch.But now he is about to embark on his biggest challenge.And it will involve living on a man-made residential and tourism resort described as the eighth wonder of the world.Crowe was recently headhunted by the company working on the biggest marina developments on the planet and will soon move to Dubai to work with Donald Trump and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai's ruling family.Less than 12 months after returning to Port Kembla from four years working on developments in Queensland, he received a phone call asking if he would be interested in a Middle East development director job based in Dubai.After flying to the United Arab Emirates with wife Joanne he decided to accept the offer and will head back to Dubai within two weeks to oversee 12 development teams working on projects worth around $5 billion.They include the 560-berth Anchor Marina on Palm Jumeriah and another project on The World man-made island resort.Despite landing such an amazing job in a city boasting a University of Wollongong campus and its own Wollongong Beach, Crowe said it would still be difficult for him and his young family to leave their home town.And he admitted it would be especially hard for Nathaniel, 7, and Emerson, 4."I had just had four years in Queensland and I love Wollongong," he said. "We have got a wonderful home on Port Beach. But this is another chapter in our lives."We always said it would be good to live overseas and get paid to do it."The first jobs for Crowe will be the much talked about QEII development and working with Donald Trump on the Trump Giga Yacht Marina with its 100m-long berths."He is also building Trump Tower, a five-star hotel on Palm Jumeriah, and he is going to have a marina associated with it. "The QEII has been bought by the sheikh and he is going to turn it into a hotel, so we will be doing a floating marina. Right at the end will be the QEII." Crowe is looking forward to being able to hop into the surf on Wollongong Beach and be reminded of home.He can also take comfort in the fact that Australia has sold sand to the Saudis for use in the construction of some of the world's tallest buildings.He is looking forward to catching up with other Wollongong ex-pats working in Dubai. Crowe said he was initially worried about moving his young family so far. "We will be living on The Palms. They call it the eighth wonder of the world. And it is going to be an incredible experience," he said.Crowe said the rest of the family won't move until September when the new school year starts and the weather is a little cooler in Dubai.

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