Thala Beach Nature Reserve

Thala Beach Nature Reserve sits on a private 145 acre headland jutting into the Coral Sea, halfway between Cairns and Port Douglas. Six habitats are packed into the peninsula: eucalypt woodland along the ridge, lowland vine thicket, gallery rainforest on the valley floor, mangroves at the southern end of Oak Beach, coastal paperbarks and a working coconut plantation. When Rob and Oonagh Prettejohn bought the land in the early 1970s, only 45 acres of native forest remained and the rest was exhausted sugar cane. They planted thousands of indigenous trees, and the forest came back with the wildlife, close to 200 bird species, 120 butterflies and a healthy population of agile wallabies.

Bungalows and suites are set well apart on timber poles along the ridge, open to the breeze, some up in the canopy and some with the sea filling the view. Days are unhurried: guided nature and beach walks, the coconut odyssey tour, stargazing at the observatory, and dinner in the treetops at Ospreys.