PARADISE FOUND

An escape to the idyllic Kokomo Private Island resort is everything you'd expect from an ultra-prime property with an alluring mix of luxury and insouciance

- MICHAEL HARDEN.

IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I'VE BEEN wrong.

This time, it was suspecting that the arrival experience at Kokomo Private Island Fiji resort might be a case of going in too hard, too early.

In my defence, it was a hard act to follow: a glorious 45-minute seaplane flight from the Fiji mainland over forested mountains and island-flecked ocean that lands on a glassy turquoise lagoon. Greeted on a long timber jetty by the charmingly casual management team, the water below a kaleidoscope of fish, we were beautifully serenaded by the staff while being handed cold towels and chilled coconut water, so it's fair to assume it might not get better than this. Turns out, this was the shape of things to come, something made abundantly clear later the same day by a spine-tinglingly close encounter with a very large manta ray.

Kokomo is situated on the 57-hectare sand-fringed Yaukuve Levu Island, part of the Kadavu archipelago that's sheltered by the world's fourth largest barrier reef, the Great Astrolabe. The resort was established by the late Australian property developer Lang Walker, who first spotted the island in 2010 from the deck of his yacht. He bought the island and opened it to guests seven years later. Given the billionaire money behind it and the sizeable price tag of a stay at Kokomo, there's the expectation that certain boxes - villas with private pools, elevated dining and drinking, high-end day spa, butler service will be ticked. And they are, thoroughly.