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Australia
The Australia and New Zealand tour I am interested in – November 2025 – is staying at the Sheraton port Douglas, not the silky oaks Lodge. Will I be missing anything? Any opinions on a classic versus small group tour when traveling to Australia?
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You would absolutely be missing something special. Silky Oaks is a magical place.
We just completed a classic tour-40 people plus the TD. You’re with these people for 3 weeks and I liked the size of the group. It was nice to get to know a lot of different people.
I am of the opposite opinion. I did not like Silky Oaks at all, and was relieved when we finally departed. While it does offer a unique experience with "tree house" type lodging, the surroundings were near 100% humidity (as you are literally in a rain forest), and I had to stomp out a cockroach crawling across my room floor at least twice. Others also recounted similar experiences with unwanted creatures in their rooms. Also, I found the rooms themselves to be strange, both in function and configuration. If given the choice, I would take the Sheraton all day long. Not only would it (presumably) normalize for the issues noted above, it is also closer to the town of Port Douglas if you should choose to go there during your free day. Overall, this was a great trip; I enjoyed it very much.
I had no creatures in my room at Silky Oaks Lodge, thank God. If I had had them, I would have been out of there -- staying in the clubhouse, if necessary. However, I would not advise NOT going on the tour, which is my favorite of 15 with Tauck. I was on a classic tour, and it was great.
Silky Oaks is special, you will really be missing an outstanding part of the tour. When I went on this tour in early 2023 the was a flood that causes us to spend a night at the Sheraton as we could not cross to Silky Oaks, I didn't think there was anything special about the Sheraton, when we were able to go to Silky Oaks the next day it was amazing.
I’m going to have to agree with the Silky Oaks fans. It was actually a highlight of the tour for us. It’s just such a beautiful and serene venue and we had no issues at all with the room. We enjoyed the treehouse and we loved being able to keep the door open (there was a screen to keep unwanted guests out) so we could listen to the interesting bird calls outside. Plus the service at Silky Oaks was outstanding. My husband went swimming in the billabong and that was a highlight for him. I would not have wanted to miss the stay there. Just my thoughts - of course, everyone is different! ☺️ We booked the classic tour but interestingly, we ended up with a smaller group - it was that experience that convinced us to go with the small group tours in the future - when available/possible. But, I wouldn’t rule out a tour if a small group isn’t available.
Agreed! It was so lovely to breakfast above the scenic Mossman River. I walked the hotel hiking paths and discovered beautiful flora and fauna. The billabong was a welcome site as it was hot out and ooh so refreshing to take a dip. I kept warbling "Waltzing Matilda". Food was delicious, staff incredible, and my room was inviting with a terrific open mini bar with top notch Australian wines & Cheeses, sweets and savories included in the price. I did the small group tour (20 ) folks ...PERFECT in my estimation.
We also throughly enjoyed Silky Oaks. Reading buonviaggio's comments reminded me that I took an early morning video (before sunrise) at Silky Oaks - the video itself is almost all black - but I wanted the sounds of the birds calling back and forth to each other. If you can find a date that works for you that includes Silky Oaks, I would highly recommend that you go that direction. That said, if you can't, I would still go - it is a wonderful trip.
Wonderful trip. We just returned from the classic tour with 37 of us plus the TD. Silky Oaks was the highlight to everyone on our tour. It was delightful. We were there in November.
Thanks so much for all your comments. We changed our tour to November 2024 so we could experience Silky Oaks. Looking forward to a wonderful trip!!
MichaelA1811 - That’s great! 🎉 Please do share your experience on the Forum when you return. You won’t be disappointed with Silky Oaks! 👍 Have a great trip!
MichaelA1811, be sure to sign up for the balloon ride while staying at Silky Oaks, you do that ahead of time with Tauck. It’s worth getting up for at 3 am! And the spa treatments are wonderful too.
We just booked Oct 6 2025
No silky oaks anytime in Oct
Choice would be Sept 15
This is during Jewish holidays and might be a little colder as just coming off winter in Australia
Conflicted
We took the Grand Australia and New Zealand tour starting in early September, early Spring. We had decent weather, avoided stinger season at the Reef (which, as I recall starts in November), and avoided high cruise season.