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https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/pacific-islands/107368091/kokomo-private-island-fiji-four-days-in-paradise
Kokomo Private Island, Fiji: Four days in paradise
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A two-bedroom beachfront luxury villa would set you back around US$2500.
The week before I arrived in Fiji for the getaway of dreams, I had a moment of brutal clarity.
We were on the way to hockey practice, fighting cross-town traffic, hitting every red light. The six-year-old was grizzling in the back seat, sleety rain was splashing the windscreen, everyone was hungry and it was painfully clear we were not going to make it on time. Bloody again.
My nine-year-old turned to me as we waited our turn at a clogged roundabout and said, "You don't know what it's like to have the mum who is always late!" It was a bullet to the heart.
I would say I am a fairly typical mum who usually feels like she is fighting a cold and about to screw something up. Objectively, I know I am very lucky to have my life but at the same time I am exhausted and wrung-out and fed-up.
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They call the vibe at Kokomo "barefoot luxury".
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So imagine my reaction when I was offered four nights - alone - at Kokomo, a "private island resort", to swim, kayak, eat, drink and gaze at the horizon thinking of nothing more substantive than whether I wanted salad or something meaty for lunch? SQUEE.
Just the thought of getting on a plane and being left alone for three hours to read my book made me cry. For real, in the departure lounge at Auckland International, I cried.
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What drink do you fancy?
By the time I arrived by chopper at Kokomo (not actually named for that Beach Boys song, which ran through my mind on a loop throughout my visit), I felt a lot better. Luxury has a way of smoothing out your jangly edges, I have found, in my limited experience.
Kokomo is Australian billionaire Lang Walker's personal passion project, a place where your every need is anticipated and nothing is too much trouble, ever. When he bought it, he intended to build villas for everyone in his family and use the island as a gathering place for birthdays and other special occasions.
Then he saw the business opportunity, and he built more villas, three restaurants, a gym, a spa, and a dine-in kitchen for executive chef Anthony Healy, who also has beehives and a verdant terraced garden. He hired Australian artist Chris Kenyon to paint the colour-saturated canvases that decorate each villa.
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You'll have access to one of the world's best reefs.
He bought boats to take guests to neighbouring islands, and two seaplanes and a helicopter. He became a little obsessed, and now anyone with the means can enjoy his keen appreciation for "barefoot luxury".
On arrival I settled into my beachfront two-bedroom luxury villa with pool (US$2500/NZ$3785 a night), and by settling in I mean I kicked off my shoes, drank the mini bottle of Veuve Cliquot that had been left out for me, and wandered from room to room beaming, because I had stumbled into someone else's Instagram-friendly dream life. #Blessed #WhoEvenAmI?
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Kokomo Private Island started out as Australian billionaire Lang Walker's personal passion project.
Then I headed to Yaukuve Spa Sanctuary for my jetlag recovery massage, where for 90 minutes I was smothered in oils shot through with ginger, lemongrass, peppermint and rosemary and handled like a precious vase.
I wasn't jetlagged of course, having flown from Auckland in less than three hours and with no time difference, but why quibble? I had another massage two days later, just cos I could. I tried to think like a wealthy person and just accept all the luxury and service as if it was my due.
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Yoga at sunset.
The island can accommodate 140 guests, but while I was there we numbered just 10. Every time I stepped out of my villa, someone in a golf buggy appeared and offered to drive me where I was going. Bula bula!
Managers Martin and Lynn lived in Dubai before coming to Kokomo, where they have an apartment at the top of the island, tucked below the helicopter pad. They talk a lot about the "Kokomo magic", everyone does, and if you needed evidence of what life on a secluded tropical island can do for body and soul, fed on homegrown vegetables and fresh caught seafood, this tanned and cheerful couple offer a compelling case in its favour.
The next day, after a hearty eggs bene breakfast, I headed off to snorkel along the Astrolabe Reef, one of the world's best, with Hannah, an Australian from the Outback who is the manager of water activities at Kokomo. It really is like jumping into a tropical fish tank and I felt almost as if I shouldn't be there, it was so pristine and lovely. A stray fin flick from clumsy me and there could be damage.
Hannah hoped we would see some reef sharks and we did spot a shy sea turtle who dove out of sight as soon as it clocked us. An hour passed quickly.
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Snorkelling the impossibly clear waters of Fiji.
We were back on the boat and warming up with cups of hot chocolate and home-baked chocolate chip cookies when the call came. Manta rays had been spotted near the resort after many months' absence. We sped off to find them and before I had a chance to think about it, we had jumped in and were swimming amongst them.
Reef manta rays are huge - their wingspan is three to five metres across, and there were 13 of them doing parabolic moves in the water. They were feeding, zooming up from the depths with their mouths open wide enough to swallow a toddler, appearing hollow, ghostly.
They swooped close, as if they would fly right into us, but at what seemed like the last possible moment they would fix one giant eye on each tiny too-close human and swerve away.
Afterwards we marvelled at their beauty and I missed my family keenly, because I would have loved to share the experience with them.
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Staying on Kokomo Island, Fiji, is like staying on your own private island. Which it is, just not yours.
That night I ate dinner at Walker d'Plank, one of three eateries on the island, and the one closest to the pier. The appeal is that they cook up whatever you fancy, but the night I was there I got the same chicken pot stickers, tempura prawns, barbecued lobster tail and stir-fried veges as an Aussie journalist. Not that I am complaining. It would be criminal to waste lobster tail.
The following day I decided to be Greta Garbo. After visiting the gym at the top of the island, with what may be the best view of any gym anywhere, I holed up in my villa with my book, my plunge pool, my movie channels and my deep bath. I left just once, to get a woodfired pizza and a watermelon juice from the communal pool restaurant.
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Kokomo Private Island Resort, Fiji. It is all too easy to get used to this.
Apparently this is fairly common, with some guests spending days alone enjoying their temporary homes, which come with inclusive meals and nanny service.
My last full day at the resort had a very different vibe, not just because I spent it on a remote island trekking to a waterfall, but because I spent it with a man who calls himself Bill Gates.
Bill Gates works at Kokomo and knows everything worth knowing about local medicinal plants. Well, I say that, but I can't verify it because he is not a man who takes himself seriously. He had me and the two other journalists on our day trip in a constant state of mirth.
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The view from a villa onto the secluded beach.
We clutched our hats and held on to the boat's sides like a trio of nanas as we bounced across the water towards a very different sort of Fiji - an tiny island village with a one-stop shop-and-bank, beaming children and loads of waggy dogs.
There we chewed on kava root from a plastic supermarket bag and immediately our tongues went numb, a weird but not unpleasant sensation.
Then Bill Gates led us through verdant grassy slopes and up to the waterfall, where we swam in shockingly ice-cold water he claimed cured old local gents of their aches. He also pointed out a nearby island where various international series of the Survivor franchise are filmed.
After the (admittedly delightful) cocooning luxury of Kokomo it was a joy to see signs of real life. Not that I wasn't very pleased to get back to "my" island for lunch, a movie and a cocktail. Because after days of being taken care of, you start to expect it.
SEBASTIAN PENA LAMBARRI/UNSPLASH
Manta rays are massive but not frightening. These are not the ones I saw in Fiji.
MORE INFORMATION See kokomoislandfiji.com for latest rates and special offers.
GETTING THERE Kokomo Private Island is a 45-minute flight by twin-otter seaplane or helicopter from Nadi International Airport or only 25-minutes South of Suva. Direct flights operate to Fiji from from New Zealand.
The writer was a guest of Kokomo Private Island.
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