). The lodge comprises 15 tree-house villas. The plantation-house-style restaurant offers crocodile, emu and kangaroo on the menu and the extra-sticky date pudding is a triumph. The multi-award-winning Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa has an extensive range of treatments, based on Aboriginal plant knowledge. ££
). With only 50 private tree houses, guests enjoy almost total seclusion. Recently P&O, which owns Silky Oaks, actually removed 10 tree houses to give people more space. Having dispensed with outside walls, the main resort complex is open to the rainforest. The Mossman River, which flows through the property, provides a soothing backdrop. At the Silky Oaks spa, guests can choose from an extensive menu of treatments, including a Desert Salt Scrub, a Mala Mapi mud wrap, an exfoliating facial with wattleseed and lemon myrtle or a Munka scalp masque using native mint and wild peach.In the restaurant, Laurent Pedemay, the executive chef, cooks unforgettable yet eclectic dishes, the menu features Thai curries, local seafood (including coral trout) and delicious local organic Mandalong lamb and exotic puddings, such as Daintree tea and miracle fruit meringue in lemongrass consomé. ££
info@kirketon.com.au
SALSA BAR & GRILL
26 Wharf Street, Port Douglas (00 61 7 4099 4922;
www.salsa-port-douglas.com.au; email:
greatdining@salsa-port-douglas.com.au). The town's best restaurant serves a wide range of imaginative dishes.
ON THE INLET
3 Inlet Street, Port Douglas (00 61 7 4099 5255) serves excellent seafood and is surprisingly good value. The open-sided patio is perfect for long, tropical evenings. Try the whole baked snapper or the local bugs, a type of crayfish.
DAINTREE NATIONAL PARK
Make sure you visit this incredible slab of biodiversity, which stretches from the Coral Sea deep into the Queensland hinterland, and houses some of the world's most remarkable animal and plant species. Unlike on a conventional museum tour, you will enjoy a very personal sense of discovery; it has taken Europeans more than 200 years to develop anything approaching respect for these vast, untamed wet-lands. Daintree National Park was added to the World Heritage List in 1988. For a full list of reputable guides, see our section on the best
Tour Operators.
AIRPORT
The nearest airport is in Cairns.
AIRLINES FROM THE UK
Qantas (020 8846 0466;
www.quantas.co.uk) flies daily from Heathrow to Cairns, via Singapore and Sydney or Brisbane. British Airways (0870 850 9850;
www.britishairways.com) flies daily from Heathrow to Cairns, via Singapore or Hong Kong and Sydney or Melbourne.
Daintree National Park is a two-hour drive north of Cairns Airport. Coral Coaches (00 61 7 4098 2600) has a twice-daily bus service from Cairns to Cape Tribulation, which will detour to Daintree on request.
Avoid the rains between December and March and go to Queensland in the Australian autumn: it will still be hot but less humid.
TONY'S TROPICAL TOURS
Port Douglas (00 61 7 4099 3230;
www.tropicaltours.com.au; email:
info@tropicaltours.com.au). Tony Healey is one of the most experienced Daintree guides. Cooper Creek Wilderness, a forest usually off limits to visitors, is a highpoint. Tours are conducted in modern off-road vehicles.
DAN IRBY'S MANGROVE ADVENTURES
Mossman (00 61 7 4090 7017; email:
www.mangroveadven.citysearch.com.au; email:
danirby@anstarnet.com.au). Mangrove tours on a specially designed punt; evening tours on the Daintree River are brilliant.
REEF & SAIL
Marina Mirage, Port Douglas (00 61 7 4099 6000; email:
info@mediterranean.com.au). Sail to the Great Barrier Reef on board the Tallarook, a classic 90ft timber yacht and former navy vessel that has been converted into a specialist dive boat. Day trips include snorkelling equipment and lunch.
MARINA MIRAGE
Port Douglas (00 61 7 4099 5254;
www.habadive.com.au; email:
enquiries@habadive.com.au). A long-established operator offering day tours and specialist diving courses. Fast, efficient dive boats and young, enthusiastic staff. Snorkelling day trips include lunch and equipment, introductory scuba dives available.
Always consult the
Foreign Office before travelling.