SILKY OAKS LODGE, DAINTREE, QLD

ALREADY RENOWNED as one of Australia’s enduring luxury escapes, Silky Oaks Lodge (silkyoakslodge.com.au) is set to reopen in November with a new look and revitalised guest experience courtesy of Baillie Lodges: purveyors of experiential luxury in tune with nature across all of its wish-list-worthy properties (including Longitude 131° and Capella Lodge). And this one’s high on mine. Silky Oaks enjoys a prized position overlooking the Mossman River on the border of the Daintree Rainforest in Tropical North Queensland.

I’m already dreaming of holing up high in the canopy in a stylish treehouse retreat or sipping a botanical gin and tonic from the open-air bar in the reimagined riverbank area. But not before I’ve padded down to the Healing Waters Spa set among lush rainforest gardens for a treatment that promises to scrub me up into a whole new person: a mineral-rich bath, detoxifying marine wrap or green tea salt therapy perhaps? The whole time enveloped by the sights and sounds of the world’s most ancient rainforest. From the local native ingredients worked into the tropical menu to a range of experiences such as a guided tour through Mossman Gorge with renowned local operator Walkabout Adventures, central to a stay here is a meaningful engagement with this extraordinary natural theatre and its Traditional Owners, the Kuku Yalanji people.