Silky Oaks Lodge

Silky Oaks stands on the bank of the Mossman River where it comes out of the Daintree, a rainforest that has been growing continuously for well over a hundred million years. Forty treehouses are raised on poles among the canopy, each with a wide balcony and a hammock, and several with plunge pools. The river runs clear and cold below, with swimming holes you can reach on foot.

The Treehouse Restaurant is open-sided, so meals happen to a soundtrack of birds and, at dusk, flying foxes. Rates typically include breakfast, with dinner packages available. Healing Waters Spa works with Australian clays, plant essences and Sodashi skincare, and has treatment rooms suspended over the water.

Guided walks go into Mossman Gorge with Kuku Yalanji interpretation, and the lodge runs river snorkelling, birdwatching and night walks. Port Douglas and the outer Great Barrier Reef are about half an hour away, which makes this one of the few places you can combine reef and rainforest properly.