We stayed at this lodge SAT 3-30-12 til MON 4-2-12. Every aspect of this lodge is magical! We were in Villa #8 (of total 15), overlooking the nature path that leads up to a secret magical Aboriginal place. We got in to the lodge at 5:00pm via a plane ride from SYD to Cairns and then ground xport that allowed us lunch and a shopping stroll in charming Port Douglas (where Steve Irwin succumbed while diving).
The villa was stilted on a hill side over the mountain stream that one could drink from, so one had the soothing sound of water flowing while relaxing on a wonderful screened porch, hearing birds call through the forest.
Check-in was seamless and quick. The staff are all trained to run this as a small business so everyone can do any job needed.
The windows all had glass louvers and screening to allow one to let the cool rainforest air flow thru the entire place. Mosquito burner was placed at the front door to keep any out and the 4-poster bed had delightful netting to keep any others out and it provided a romantic setting.
The fridge was stocked as needed and they even had free Wi-Fi and cellular service to connect, if one desired to. TV was available though we declined to have one placed in our room, as this setting one does not want it. The gracious woman who took us to...We stayed at this lodge SAT 3-30-12 til MON 4-2-12. Every aspect of this lodge is magical! We were in Villa #8 (of total 15), overlooking the nature path that leads up to a secret magical Aboriginal place. We got in to the lodge at 5:00pm via a plane ride from SYD to Cairns and then ground xport that allowed us lunch and a shopping stroll in charming Port Douglas (where Steve Irwin succumbed while diving).
The villa was stilted on a hill side over the mountain stream that one could drink from, so one had the soothing sound of water flowing while relaxing on a wonderful screened porch, hearing birds call through the forest.
Check-in was seamless and quick. The staff are all trained to run this as a small business so everyone can do any job needed.
The windows all had glass louvers and screening to allow one to let the cool rainforest air flow thru the entire place. Mosquito burner was placed at the front door to keep any out and the 4-poster bed had delightful netting to keep any others out and it provided a romantic setting.
The fridge was stocked as needed and they even had free Wi-Fi and cellular service to connect, if one desired to. TV was available though we declined to have one placed in our room, as this setting one does not want it. The gracious woman who took us to our villa and filled us in would not even accept a tip as everyone there is so passionate about this place, they love their job! The spa manager came to our room and confirmed she set up a croc tour for us the next day, as everyone helped in everyway possible seamlessly and graciously and warmly.
The restaurant was at the base of the hill and served lovely dinners. Breakfast was what we tried, and one dinner. We breakfasted al fresco under warm Sun filtering on us, as the stream emptied to a gentle calming pool below us.
We were able to squeeze in many wonderful events during our quick stay:
1) An Aborginal woman who was raised on the Lodge's location (Linda) on a last moment's notice request by us to the staff took her Sunday morning to take us on a guided nature walk up the mountain path to a pool in the stream used by her ancestors. She taught not only about the Nature along the way of this oldest Rainforest on Earth, including her spotting a snake and a dragon lizard and other animals, she taught us about Aboriginal culture in general and in particular for her tribe, including where she pointed out places from her youth along the trail. She also explained to us secrets of the large pool of water we hiked up to, that had rituals specific to Women's healing and other Life events for women. I was allowed to see this place, but as a male had to stay on the observation deck above it, that I completely respected and learned later was very important to do so. Linda brought us back to the restaurant and gave us cold Jimbu tea and described about numerous Aboriginal tools and other artifacts they had available to touch. The duration of 1.5 hours was the most fulfilling experience of our entire trip to AUS! She wouldn't accept a tip and only when I requested she put the money toward a local school or charity or something that was not for herself would she take it. I expressed I wanted her to give it on my behalf so she would accept it, she wanted to get my name to ensure her charity of choice had my name then I simply said, to provide on behalf of my Spirit by her remembering my eyes when she gave it and she of course understood this without my explaining it any further.
2) We walked from the lodge into the village of Daintree, a small quaint town about a 40 minute walk each way along a quiet rural two lane road, past cows, sheep and fields with a view of the mountains.
3) The lodge set up for us a 1.0 hour crocodile boat tour, about a fifteen minute drive away on the Daintree river, run by a husband/wife team Bruce Belcher for 17 years, where Bruce took us and about six others out on a shaded pontoon boat and introduced us to croc's he has known for over a decade and described the life cycle of the flora, the fauna and these majestic fearsome creatures that we saw only feet away. The lodge drove to the tour and back seamlessly. On the return, the Lodge's General Manager "Mick" drove us back and told us more stories of the magical natural pool in the stream we saw on the Nature walk, where he revealed that a male (a "Yank" he believed it was as we American's are referred to by some) disregarded respecting the Elders/ancestors and swam in the pool reserved for females and the next day needed medical attention in his pelvic region; no women ever had any problems, in fact it is claimed to have numerous restorative and magical properties for women, so this furthered the lore.
Mick is a warm wonderful man that had many great stories of his life and the lodge, we felt so welcomed as if we were meant to be there!
4) We went to dinner/happy hour after our return to the lodge and saw Mick and the owner Terry and his wife who have owned the lodge going on multiple decades. Terry is warm engaging, brilliant man like Mick. Terry is also a former Aussie Footballer or Rugby Pro and has a rugged strength that such Pro Atheles do. He was not a typical 'jock' in any way however, he is a soft-spoken brilliant intellectual that allowed us all to converse about many things. He instantly made us feel welcome as he was truly interested in the wonderful story that brought us to this lodge and he geniunely wanted to know that. He also conveyed his history that allowed us to truly get to know him well. He ensured all his guests at this pre-dinner gathering were introduced, so we were than able to befriend and dine with other guests making our stay fantastic.
We had the BBQ dinner on the second night of our stay when we met Terry. We originally made a reservation on the first night upon check-in, but we decided we were tired and about an hour before our reservation time, I wandered down to the restaurant to cancel it (as they have no room phones to interupt the sounds of the rainforest), and the staff was easily courteous and laid-back to allow this cancel with no issues at all.
On the first night, a piece of bamboo crashed in the forest and awoke me. Upon opening my eyes, i realized it was so black that I was unable to see anything!! I even tried to sleep with my eyes open to tease my mind a bit, an experience I have never experienced!!
We used Sun Palm Ground transport that worked well enough to get us to and from the lodge. Due to some slight confusion from the ground transport people, when it was approaching hour later than what i thought was my expected departure pick-up time (that was before the lodge reception opened for the morning), I proceeded down to the restaurant to find out how to hire a taxi. [ I would have asked the general mgr but we knew from chatting with him the night before at happy hour he with the owners were already transporting some VIP guests to the airport ]. The restaurant staff immediately located the head maintenance guy Ian who without hesitation, pulled around a car to load us to drive us the 45 minute drive to Port Douglas. As he backed out, Sun Palm pulled up and with the same gracious warmth, ensured we got on the van OK!
We learned upon our arrival that the restaurant had just re-opened after a tree was blown over by a freak 100km wind storm and hit the roof. There was no evidence to us of such an event. Mick conveyed to us at the Happy Hour that when he approached Linda to become an employee to help Juan with the nature walks, she came in and saw the large crocodile wood carving of a full life size 5 meter croc over the bar. Linda immediately said to Mick she knew why the wind storm did this localized damage, the croc was lonely! So Linda offered and Mick accepted that Linda's daughter, an amazingly talented Aboriginal artist who is currently at University but counting the days until she can also return using her degree skills to help run the lodge, to paint a mural of a large snake on the wall to give the croc some companionship to share the wonderful experience of this lodge like we did with everyone we encountered there!More
- Free parking
- Pool