60 DISCOVER FIJI DISCOVER FIJI 61

the North

For the past Few weeks, I have been suffering from PLSD - Post-Laucala Stress Disorder. Symptoms include involuntary salivation, verbal diarrhoea and incessant daydreaming about sipping white rum on a yacht at sunset, eating chicken that tastes like lobster, having an 18-hole golf course to myself and being chauffeured by jet boat to a secluded beach where a masseuse and champagne lunch awaited my arrival.

Set in the translucent blue waters of northern Fiji, Laucala (pronounced Lathala) is a whole-of-island resort owned by Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, co-owner of the Red Bull energy drink company, net value US$5.3 billion.

After buying Laucala for $10 million from the heirs of American publishing baron Michael Forbes, Mateschitz spent a sum rumoured to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars transforming Forbes’ low-key Melanesian hideaway into a self-sustaining Disneyland

The indoors section of my bathroom measured 30 square metres and featured a bathtub hewn out of a boulder, a monsoonal shower head and a toilet that looked as if at any moment it was going to take off.

A Californian king-size bed framed the top level of a master bedroom that descended into a sunken living room with oversized sofas, custom-shaped rugs so thick and plush one could sleep on it; and a Laucala signature ‘jellyfish’ chandelier made of shells, corals and beads that came to life every time sea breeze breezes through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.

Then there’s the villa’s actual living room, with more couches, rugs, an espresso machine and three bar fridges overstocked with top-shelf liquor, wines, freshly squeezed and bottled watermelon juice and Red Bull, of course.

At different times in the day, staff snuck in and left small dishes of Russian caviar, New York cheesecake or Iberian ham for guests to discover.

for adults. Self-sustaining in that the property has its own greenhouses, hydroponic bays, an orchid nursery, a coconut plantation, bee hives, a boutique cattle farm, an abattoir, quail pens, subterranean coconut-crab enclosures, a piggery, a duck pond and more - a total of 240 acres of farmland that produces 80 percent of the produce needed to feed Laucala’s maximum 89 guests and 370 staff. That’s a staff-to-guest ratio four times that of the average 5-star hotel.

Like something out of a James Bond movie, Mateschitz’s private residence is set on the island’s highest hilltop, in a jungle clearing with a 360-degree view of reefs and sea. There’s a master home and two guest villas each with individual sun decks, infinity-edge pools, jacuzzis and al-fresco dining pavilions - a resort-within-a resort that is nothing less than presidential. When Mateschitz isn’t there, the rack rate is US$40,000 per night.

If it sounds a bit rich, there are 25 ‘regular’ villas starting at US$5,000 a night. Set on private beaches, over lagoons and on cliff tops, they are concurrently high tech - outfitted with everything from Bose sound systems to mobiles with a butler speed-dial - and down to earth, influenced by natural materials like rainwood, driftwood, coral, palm, pebbles. And they are the size of houses.

A Billionaire’s Private retreatLaucala

On my last night, they raided the bathroom, filled the tub with bubble bath, sprinkled orchid petals all over the place and left a magnum of Louis Roederer on ice alongside a silver tray with handmade chocolate truffles and a thank-you note from David Stepetic, the general manager.

“We aspire to be the best,” he says when I ask him if Laucala is the best resort in the world. After years of yawning at the self-congratulatory, adjective-laden press releases the travel industry has such a penchant for, Stepetic’s reply is a breath of fresh air.

Calling Laucala or anything else for that matter ‘the best in the world’ is meaningless.

Even as a seasoned travel writer, I don’t know what kind of private island resorts lay hidden in the deep blue but I can say without reservation that Laucala is not only the best property I have visited in my career but several times more impressive than the runner-up.

THE DEETS– Laucala (laucala.tv; +679 888 0077) offers house-size villas

with all meals, beverages (except for premium wines and champagne) and 2 x 90-minute spa treatments for US$5,040 a night for two peopl.e

– Private transfers from Fiji’s Nadi International Airport are US$1,200 per person return.

– Diving in a unique underwater world, rainforest tours, horseback riding, surfing, golfing on the 18-hole championship course, or meeting local artists.

Laucala is not only the best property I have visited in

my career but several times more impressive than the

runner-up.

- Ian LLoyd neubauer