SILKY OAKS, DAINTREE RETREAT: LIFE+LEISURE
Following its $20 million overhaul under new owners James and Hayley Baillie, this stunning retreat is set to wow a new generation, writes Nina Karnikowski
The tangle of rainforest - thick with palms and cyads, soaring figs and twisting vines - diffuses the afternoon light, so it’s easy on the eyes; the roar of the boulder-studded river below providing a calming soundtrack.
A breeze movs through the trees, offering sweet relief from the tropical afternoon heat, intensifying the pop and crackle of appreciative insects.
The view and sounds of the Mossman River and surrounding rainforest are so arresting that it takes a minute or two to notice the man-made beauty framing it - the dramatic seven-metre rosewood-panelled roof, reaching high above the open-sided central pavilion of the freshly revamped Silky Oaks Lodge.
But this, it seems, was precisely the intention behind the upgrade of Silky Oaks, which reopened in December 2021 following a $20 million rebuild by the team at Baillie Lodges.
They sought to open up the man-made space to draw in more of the rainforest, helping guests connect more deeply to country, and, hopefully, to themselves.
Leaning over the balustrade of the central lodge - which houses reception, the Treehouse Restaurant and an expansive bar and lounge area - I can’t imagine taking any other approach. Spread out before me is 32 hectares of jungle. It’s a spectacular adjoiner to the world’s oldest living rainforest, the 180-million-year-old world-heritage-listed Daintree National Park, which fans out over 1200 square kilometres.
How to compete with these jade-coloured waters, tumbling over ancient granite boulders? Why shift the lens from this blazing blue Ulysses butterfly drifting through the trees? Who would even dare try to steal the attention from this shifting, pulsing piece of living planetary history
Rewind to 1985, when the lodge originally opened with six chalets, and perhaps raising the roof by four metres to let in more wilderness (as Baillie Lodges has done) seemed beyond the realms of tourism architecture of the time.
‘Silky’, as the delightful, efficient staff affectionately call the lodge, passed through various hands, including P&O for a decade from 1994. In 2019, Baillie Lodges added it to their portfolio of five lodges following an investment injection from US-based KSL Capital Partners.
After closing for refurbishment in 2020 and following a number of COVID-related delays, Silky Oaks Lodge finally reopened in December 2021, offering guests a textbook model of low-key, low-impact luxury that arrived at precisely the right moment.
Post-pandemic, the lodge caters perfectly for our longings to get closer to the natural world. Many guests who book in are also craving a deeper understanding of the culture of the First Nations people on whose land we stand.
The latter has become especially important in the Daintree since September 2021, when the rainforest was returned to its traditional Kuku Yalanji custodians in an historic hand-back ceremony.
Wandering through the communal spaces, nods to nature and the rainforest’s cultural heritage abound.
There are the stunning large-scale photographic works by Australian artist Catherine Nelson hanging in the lounge and restaurant, depicting Kuku Yalanji children playing in the Mossman River, while a collection of 45 ceramic discs - etched with rainforest flora and fauna and commissioned by artists from the nearby Kuku Yalanji Arts Centre - line the entry passage.
The colour scheme and furnishings, part of the interiors refresh led by Sydney-based interior design team Pike Withers, mimic the surrounding rainforest. River blues, forest greens and granite greys adorn pillows and chairs; quartzite tops on tables, sideboards and benches by Australian company Artedomus ground the communal spaces; while matte black exteriors on the 40 pre-existing treehouse suites make the greens of the rainforest pop.
Speaking of treehouses, my Treehouse Retreat room perches elegantly over the rainforest. For an elevated experience, there are two Billabong Suites, and the exclusive two-bedroom Daintree Pavilion, complete with dramatic vaulted ceilings, extensive decks and a tiered infinity pool.
Inside my treehouse, the aesthetic is breezy, clean-lined and contemporary, with crisp white walls and rainforest views through sliding glass doors, plus wooden shutters.
Bathrooms have been refurbished with stone tiles, quartzite benches, rain showers and freestanding alfresco stone bathtubs, while comfort levels have been raised with melt-into-me Baillie Beds and crocheted hammocks. I spend a lazy half hour swaying in mine, doing nothing more than staring into the treetops.
It’s soon time to wander to the Treehouse Restaurant for dinner, an experience that, over my three days staying at Silky Oaks Lodge, never falters. Executive chef Mark Godbeer’s light and expertly balanced three-course menus brim with fresh Australian native ingredients, everything from finger lime to Davidson plum, quandong to lilli pilli, and other local produce that aims to be as low-footprint and low-wastage as possible.
Many of the ingredients are grown in the property’s organic kitchen garden that sits on the site of the old tennis court, a visit to which turns out to be a highlight of my stay. Seeing everything from turmeric and purple yams, to betel leaves and edible ferns growing in over 30 raised garden beds on a little-used slice of land, does something good for the soul.
Doing good things for the soul is the focus of almost all activities at Silky Oaks Lodge.
My visit to the seven-room Healing Waters Spa (a name inspired by Indigenous beliefs about the replenishing forces of the Mossman River’s waters) sees tension scrubbed and massaged away with native botanicals including sandalwood and lemon myrtle.
A sunrise hike along one of the lodge’s riverside walking trails, followed by a dip in the crisp, crystalline waters, makes me fancy I can almost hear the wild, ancient conversation going on between the water, the granite and the forest.
After a good 24 hours of this, it’s (eventually) time to venture outside the boundaries of the lodge. After all, there’s also the extraordinary world-heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef to explore, including a sunset sailing and snorkelling trip out on the reef aboard a luxury catamaran.
Nor can you miss a visit to Mossman Gorge, a 10-minute drive away, and where I take an unforgettable afternoon Dreamtime Walk with local Kuku Yalanji man Cameron Buchanan.
After being welcomed to country with a traditional Melaleuca smoking ceremony, I follow Buchanan’s dreadlocked head down the rainforest paths.
He points out everything from the barbed tendrils of the Wait-a-While Palm, which his ancestors used to cut meat, and hook fish - to the sarsaparilla leaves the Kuku Yalanji use as soap. “This is our grocery store, pharmacy and hardware - everything is here, you just need to know where to go shopping,” he says with a grin.
As we walk, Buchanan talks about the Indigenous concept of reciprocity. Always give back to the land as you take, he says. Never take too much, give the land a chance to regenerate, and make sure there’s enough for future generations – a lesson for our troubled planetary times if ever there was one.
“You have to look after Mother Nature,” he says, “or she won’t look after you.”
It’s a phrase that echoes in my mind as I ease into the outdoor tub on my final night in the Daintree.
Gazing up at the night sky through silhouetted palm leaves, listening to the frogs tinkle and the night birds hoot, I vow that after being so well nourished by mother nature over these few days at Silky, I’ll do an even better job of looking after her in return as soon as I get back home.
The writer travelled as a guest of Baillie Lodges and Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
This story first appeared in print below, and online here
