![]() Local artist Brian “Binna” Swindley runs hands-on painting workshops from Janbal Gallery in Mossman, helping visitors bring Irukandji jellyfish, cassowary footprints, and turtles to life in ochre. Guided nature walks are included in most stays, and the Osprey's Restaurant serves Asian-influenced dishes with Queensland barramundi, scallops, or meat. ![]() There are views of the rainforest canopy from balconies, and huge sea eagles and glittering puffs of parakeets fly by. Thala Beach Nature Reserve clings to the cliffs where the rainforest meets the reef its calling cards are stirring views and elemental beach strolls. Rooms are enveloped by a tangle of ancient cedars, mahoganies, and triffid-size plants, and the Treehouse Retreats come with large hammocks on the balconies and stone tubs for moonlit soaks. The lodge overlooks the fast-flowing Mossman River and lets its natural surroundings do most of the talking. These trees, these rivers, and these seas will outlive us all.Ī tour boat in the Daintree River Adam Gibson Where to stayįresh from an overhaul by Australian nature-lodge pioneers James and Hayley Baillie, eco-focused resort Silky Oaks Lodge is now one of the finest places to stay in Queensland. A reminder that we are only ever passing through these places. Spending time with these traditional custodians is a reminder of just how much landscapes can command awe and demand reverence. Witnessing the respect that the Kuku Yalanji have for this Country is beyond humbling. ![]() The Daintree is a land of implausibility Mother Nature at her most outlandish. But the crocodile hangs there, still beneath the surface. Two eyes emerge, then vanish, like falling crescent moons. As the sun drops farther, casting oil-slick shadows across the water, I discern the shape of something reptilian gliding slowly by, propelled by an enormous armoured tail. Hundreds of them fill the lavender skies, making their way to their roost site for the night, where they'll cling to the trees like Christmas baubles. As darkness falls and the rain arrives, puffs of snowy white egrets billow into the air. On a sunset trip down the Daintree River, I see buttercup wattled plovers picking their way along the banks, and kingfishers the colour of molten amber dive-bombing neatly for their supper. Local sashimi at Silky Oaks Lodge Adam Gibson He moves through the Daintree's elephant ear-size palms with reverence, wonder, and a little fear, pausing often to raise a single finger to the air, taking guidance himself from the sound of birdsong and the scratches, scrabbles, and muffled calls emanating from the undergrowth. “A reincarnation of someone, come here to protect us,” he says, and murmurs to the wagtail in the soft inflections of Kuku Yalanji, the Indigenous community he is descended from, which has continuously inhabited this rainforest for 50,000 years. The bird responds by opening its beak and releasing the liquid trill of a morning song. A calm, magnetic man with a shock of white hair tucked under a baseball cap, Tom is my guide through north Queensland's Daintree rainforest. A willy wagtail is perched on the branch of an old red cedar. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.“If a bird stops what he's doing and looks at us like this, watches us, it might be an ancestor,” whispers Tom Creek. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. ![]() This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. ![]() We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice. ![]()
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