Daintree Ecolodge closed for three months after flood
An award-winning business on the outskirts of Daintree Village will be closed for weeks as the clean up from the floods begins.
Cairns
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Boutique retreat Daintree Ecolodge won’t open its doors again until March 1 after copping a hammering in the floods that engulfed Daintree.
The up-market Ecolodge is on the southern side of Barratt’s Creek, which leads in to Daintree Village, and rooms range from $600 to $725 per night for its 15 guesthouses.
It was bought by tour operator Intrepid Travel for $5m from the Morris Group in August this year.
Manager Richmond Sear said the damage was indescribable.
“It’s insane, the damage that’s been done, the jetty is gone and all the trees, there was one really big tree and that is 3km away in a paddock,” Mr Sear said.
“Everyone talks about a one in 100-year flood, but this is way, way over what we expected.
“In the village, everyone is asking what support they can offer, people are willing to get in and help each other,” he said, adding that some of the resort’s 15 staff had lost their homes.
“We made thorough preparations and we had a few trees down with Cyclone Jasper but we never predicted the water height,” he said.
“It’s extremely eye-opening, it has changed the landscape quite significantly.”
He said staff and guests were evacuated on December 12, a day before the cyclone made landfall.
“We’ve decided we won’t be able to re-open until March 1, we need to ensure the property is safe,” Mr Sear said.
“There was quite minimal damage from the cyclone but the flood – it was up to the roof of the main lodge and over three of our guest rooms, there’s a lot of mud and debris and all our equipment is gone.
The Ecolodge lost power with Cyclone Jasper, used generators to keep food cold, but the floods wiped out everything, he said.
Upmarket retreat Silky Oaks Lodge on Finlayvale Rd at Mossman will be closed to January 4 but a spokeswoman said damage was minimal, although power and water were affected.
“Repairs to the Captain Cook Highway are causing delays to the region from the main
travel hub at Cairns and works are expected to continue for three to four weeks,” she said.
From December 13 to December 19, Daintree Village received 1921mm of rain and Daintree River peaked at 15m on December 18.
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Originally published as Daintree Ecolodge closed for three months after flood
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