My Favorite Australian Retreats - A Tale of Two Rain Forests
The rain forests in Australia are some of the oldest on planet earth. While the Amazon is the most well known rain forest, it’s only about 55 million years old. That sounds impressively old until you learn that the Daintree rain forest is at least 180 million years old!
When planning our honeymoon, we wanted to make sure to have equal parts adventure + relaxation. Lucky for us, no matter where you go in Australia, you’ll find both. We stumbled upon two retreats that were a lot like a glamping adventure.
The Balinese Spa Retreat
The Dandenong Ranges
We began our honeymoon in Melbourne, staying at a hip little Airbnb right near the water. I’m sure there are plenty of swanky hotels in the area, but we didn’t plan on being in the room much, so an Airbnb suited our needs just fine.
After a few days in Melbourne walking along the beach, stopping for some of the most amazing and memorable coffee of our lives, and getting lost in the city, we headed out to the Dandenong Ranges. It was a relatively short drive (about an hour) with the last 20 miniutes or so being through winding forest roads. We arrived at the Balinese Spa Retreat at around noon, approximately 3 hours too early for check in. At a large resort there would be the off chance of getting a room early, but the Balinese Spa Retreat is a one couple at a time retreat. Meaning, there is exactly one bungalow and for the duration of your stay you entirely alone together.
To say this place is opulent is an understatement. Upon our (early af arrival) the property owner stowed our luggage and essentially asked us if we wanted to get started with our experience. Of course, we said yes. We could not wait to see what it might be like to have an entire hotel property to ourselves.
The Package
In addition to your single night’s stay, you get welcome drinks upon arrival in the restaurant on the property. Since we arrived at noon they also fed us lunch, which was honestly some of the best Dim Sum I have ever experienced. After lunch, they walked us to the spa, where we had more sparkling wine, and were shown to our own, private mineral water pool. We spent the next 2 hours completely nude, sipping sparkling wine, swimming in a pool that felt like warm silk on our skin, and enjoying a private steam room where we covered one another in warm detoxifying clay before our one hour couple’s massage.
Afterword, we were shown to our bungalow, which included not one, but two private lagoons.
The bungalow itself is very well decorated, comfortable, and open. Since you are guaranteed not to run into another human (unless you want to) during your stay, you can walk around in whatever state of dress you like and marvel at the serene jungle scenery, sip sparkling wine, and immerse yourselves in romance.
Silky Oaks Lodge
Daintree Rain Forest
Situated among the tree tops at the edge of the Daintree River, the Silky Oaks Lodge provides a one of a kind experience.
After our incredibly romantic 24 hours at the Balinese Spa Retreat, we boarded a plane and headed north to Cairns (pronounced “cans”). About an hour and half drive north along the coast from Cairns, the Silky Oaks Lodge is the perfect relax + adventure stay. They have daily yoga classes, a guided tour through the rain forest, a beautiful mineral pool, a restaurant overlooking the river (where, if you’re lucky, you’ll see a giant white iguana pass through), and Daintree River snorkeling tours. We partook in all but the River Snorkeling tour, as there were torrential downpours for the majority of our stay. The “cyclone” stirred up the otherwise crystal clear river water, leaving it too murky to see anything of note.
The room was absolutely beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and the view could never be matched.
If you make it to the Daintree Rain Forest, do not pass up an opportunity to zipline through the tree tops! It was a once in a lifetime view of the forest that you could never get another way. We also made the decision to extend our stay at the Silky Oaks Lodge for one more day after the cyclone cleared up so we could snorkel through the Great Barrier Reef. The hotel was gracious enough to make all the arrangements on our behalf, including transportation!
