Ode to the lagoon pool

Nothing says "old-school holiday" quite like man-made beaches, faux waterfalls and a round of neon cocktails at a swim-up bar

- ALEXANDRA CARLTON

RECENTLY, I FOUND MYSELF STANDING WITH A bright orange, salt-rimmed cocktail in hand, on a wooden platform known as “Mirage Island”, on the opening night of the Taste Port Douglas festival.

The “island” was strung with twinkling fairylights and ye-olde-seafarer rope handrails, and it sat on the edge of one of the nine lagoon pools that zig-zag for two whole hectares around the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Port Douglas, in Far North Queensland.

Under the peachy skies of the early evening, the palm-fringed water looked like a set from Miami Vice. Dinky bridges connected man-made islets covered in real sand. A row of submerged stools lined the swim-up bar. There were even guest rooms sitting right on the water’s edge, complete with metal ladders so guests could lower themselves into the water straight from bed. I half expected a bronzed Bo Derek or Christie Brinkley to emerge from the Curaçao-blue water clutching a Piña Colada and shaking their beaded braids in a neon Moontide one-piece.