Please help! There are so many great places to stay that I am at a loss as to where to go at this point. I have 2 weeks in Sept and want to spend as much time as possible hiking, birdwatching, animal watching and snorkeling.<BR><BR>I was thinking about staying a few days at Eagle's Reach in the Hunter Valley, then a week at Silky Oaks (to go to Daintree, Mossman Gorge, Kuranda, Cape Trib, Pt. Douglas, etc), then a few days at Lizard.<BR><BR>Another option might be to stay at Thala Beach Lodge instead of Silky Oaks and Lizard, and perhaps take a day trip to Lizard on the sightseeing plane. Is Thala in the middle of the rainforest like Silky? I really want to fall asleep in a nice hotel to the sound of jungle noises and wake up at dawn to the sound of the birds!<BR><BR>Cost is a concern (or we'd be staying a week at Lizard!) but going all that way we do want to stay in nice places, especially after hiking around all day.<BR><BR>Thanks for your advice as always!<BR>Joni

We loved Silky Oaks and Lizard Island. The accomodations at Silky Oaks are in tree houses and you do feel like you're in the rainforest. We spent 4 nights at Silky Oaks and 3 nights on Lizard Island. I wish we had more time at Silky Oaks. Three nights at Lizard would have been enough if one of them wasn't 9/11.

joni,<BR><BR>silky oaks is definitely more &quot;in the rainforest&quot; but thala is VERY beautiful and i think will give you the same feel (lush tree coverage, birds etc..) regardless...thala is also a lot closer to palm cove/cairns if you are wanting to catch a plane from cairns to lizard (for either a day trip or a couple of day stay..). i know you won't be disappointed with silky, and i don't think you could possibly be disappointed with thala either. if you're looking to maximize your time though, i think a thala and lizard combo would be your best bet (you can always do what we did which was have dinner at silky oaks - we had &quot;the beaches meet &amp; greet&quot; transfer service based from cairns pick us up from palm cove and take us to silky. (They drove us up the coast, stopped at thala to check it out and have a few drinks, went through port douglas (stopped and watched the sun set at the pier) and then we went up to silky oaks for a most incredible dinner...we got to see it all and we paid a lot less...whatever you end up choosing you will hav a wonderful experience as the places your choosing from are absolutely the most beautiful places i have ever visited....<BR><BR>p.s. there is amazing hiking to be done at lizard!

Hi Joni, we are also planning a similar trip and are having the same problem deciding where to stay. We were thinking about Thala and Silky Oaks too but want to stay one week at one place and do day trips. Any idea if day trips to Daintree/Mossman/Kuranda are feasible from Thala? Thanks for any help!

If you are in the Daintree / Mossman Gorge / Cape Tibulation area and would be interested in an eco day tour, check out this website. http://www.nativeguidesafaritours.com.au/ They have hotel/ resort pick up.We took Hazel's day trip, it was great.