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+(9 1#_(2+ -# t dusk, with the wind easing and the sun sinking towards the dark-blue horizon of the Coral Sea, Chinaman’s Ridge, a granite outcrop on Lizard Island, is busy. Most evenings, guests at the island’s only resort stroll up between cocktails and dinner to enjoy the fiery Australian sunset. The walk is only 15 minutes up the hill from the main lodge, and at the end of it, you feel like you can see all the way to Asia. But then, this island is one of Australia’s most northerly, 149 miles north-east of Cairns and an hour’s flight over impossibly turquoise seas and white sandbanks. Forty years ago it was a spot to which keen fishermen, such as Hollywood star Lee Marvin, would come to hook black marlin. Today, it’s one of the country’s most glamorous spots from which to see them, using snorkels and masks. Thankfully, in spite of the resort’s starry guestlist, ostentatious glamour has not found its way here; it has retained its simple beach-chic style throughout its 40 airy villas, suites and lodge: all whites, sands and cool blues. It has taken some work to make the island that way. Two cyclones, in 2014 and 2015, hit it so hard that even the ultratravel 55