{"id":11592,"date":"2025-04-19T00:47:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T07:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petersontravels.com\/?p=11592"},"modified":"2025-04-19T22:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T05:38:24","slug":"daintree-rainforest-australia-silky-oaks-lodge-daintree-river-cruise-and-mossman-gorge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petersontravels.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/19\/daintree-rainforest-australia-silky-oaks-lodge-daintree-river-cruise-and-mossman-gorge\/","title":{"rendered":"Daintree Rainforest, Australia; Silky Oaks Lodge, Daintree River Cruise and Mossman Gorge"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Cairns we picked up yet another rental car and made our way north to our next accommodation, Silky Oaks Lodge<\/a><\/strong>, a sister property to luxury lodges The Louise and Southern Ocean Lodge.\u00a0 The lodge is right on the edge of the Daintree Rainforest, and sits directly adjacent to the beautiful Mossman River.\u00a0 The lodge itself is stunning.\u00a0 This is where they held happy hour each night.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A view from the dining room tables.\u00a0 While the dining area is outside, they have ceiling fans blowing, so it really wasn’t too bad, despite the humidity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We took a short hike into the rainforest adjacent to the property, and saw this really cool tree that looks like it’s wearing armor.\u00a0 This is the Shiny-Leaf Prickly- Ash.\u00a0 It’s one of the many “climbers” in the rainforest, using these protrusions to help them to crawl up other trees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is another example of multiple climbers on a tree.\u00a0 Every plant is trying to make it to the top of the canopy to get that cherished sunlight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our hike ended at Wave Rock, a spot with a lot of rocks and not a whole lot of water.\u00a0 It was still beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We were overwhelmed with mosquitoes at this point, and had to turn back.\u00a0 I had at least 5 of them on each leg, and Kim had it even worse!\u00a0 She still has issues with the bites 4 days later!\u00a0 Let’s be honest, the bug spray they offer at the lodge is crap.\u00a0 Deet is the only thing that works with these little bastards!\u00a0 One last photo before we ran back to the comfort of the lodge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I took this shot while heading into the lodge for dinner.\u00a0 As evidenced by the boardwalk, every tree is taken seriously.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had quite a bit of this Penfold’s Port after dinner.\u00a0 I’ve gotta say it’s quite good, even though it’s not really “Port”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next morning, after breakfast, we took a walk around the property with Roger, the lodge’s gardener, who pointed out a whole bunch of stuff, starting with this incredible spider, the Golden Orb!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This spiders web is the strongest of any web in the world, and scientists are currently trying to see if they can duplicate this tensile strength by studying the molecular structure of the web material.\u00a0 Here is the backside of this spider, which is equally impressive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Roger pointed out these “Beehive Ginger” plants, and even had us run our hands over it to collect it’s scent.\u00a0 The plants have the aroma of massage oils, really nice smelling!\u00a0 This could easily have been Aboriginal after-shave!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While touring Roger’s kitchen garden we saw this Sahul Sunbird, which is a regular here in the Daintree Rainforest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At one point we passed a dividing line where “everything is 40 years old or younger” to “everything is much older” just at the edge of the property.\u00a0 Before the lodge was first built, this area was an open patch of grass for raising livestock, so everything around the lodge has regrown since the land was purchased.\u00a0 While the fern in this photo doesn’t seem all that large, it’s quite old, at about 500 years, as it grows VERY slowly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next day we had a tour of the Daintree River to see if we could spot some Saltwater Crocodiles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our guide pointed one out immediately, but it took most people awhile to even see it as it was very small (maybe 8 inches long).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We then saw a couple that were a bit older, estimated at 3 years.\u00a0 They don’t grow very fast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We then saw a pretty damn large one!\u00a0 The larger ones even have nicknames.\u00a0 This one was called Benny and is in his 30’s, estimated at 12 feet long.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He put on a show for us as he didn’t seem happy we were intruding on his space.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a short video of Benny.<\/p>\n