The Silky Oaks Lodge in Mossman near Cairns offers a luxurious and secluded stay in Queensland’s wet rainforest.
Silky Oaks Lodge Amenities
The car drive from the Cairns airport to the Silky Oaks Lodge takes a bit more than an hour. A 4×4 vehicle is not necessarily needed to get there as long as the streets are not flooded as apparently happens from time to time.
The Silky Oaks Lodge offers spacious riverside and hillside ‘bungalows’ with a veranda.
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The dining room offers a spectacular view of the Mossman River.
What to do in the Silky Oaks Lodge
We highly recommend the one-day tour offered by the lodge. It takes across the Daintree River to the northern rainforest up to Cape Tribulation. Our tour guide Norm Evans was very knowledgable since he spent most of his life in the bush and the outback.
E.g. we were not aware that rattan would grow in the rainforest…
Norm’s experience and brave action took us safely through a couple of adventurous situations.
The Croc Cruise on the Daintree River is part of the one-day tour and includes surprisingly numerous saltwater crocodile sightings. That’s the aggressive and big ones. Scary stuff, man!
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Around the lodge there are a few rainforest trails to explore and a swim in the croc-free Mossman River billabong is recommended.
On the second day at the lodge we took to a ‘self-guided’ tour across the Great Dividing Range away from the rainforest to Mareeba, Kuandra and the according Outback. It’s impressive how quickly the landscape can change in Australia’s east: From dense rainforest to dry bushes it only takes a few minute’s drive by car…
1 Comment
Mossman and the Daintree are FAAAABULOUS destinations – even without the luxury accomodation!! Mossman gorge was used for a Coca Cola commercial in the 70’s – ‘Coca cola is it!’ – but many Aussies probably couldn’t tell where it was filmed!!