Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Peaceful cabins in tranquil surroundings, beautiful beach |
| Disadvantages: |
Remote, stinger season |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
I travelled to Cape Tribulation with a company who let me choose the duration of my stay and my accommodation. I stayed 2 nights and overnighted in the Cape Trib Beach House. Cape Tribulation is several hours north of Cairns and the route is not especially easy - it requires a ferry crossing and several km of unpaved roads so I would recommend going with a company who drive you up there and bring you back, leaving you with free time in between. Cape Trib has several accommodation options and the Beach House is one of the more upmarket ones, private rooms as well as dorms. The rack rates reflect this, but are still reasonable (from $69 per room per night) and an error on the part of the company I booked with meant I got a very good deal, paying $199 (£87) for a 3 day package that included:
- return coach transfers from Cairns
- entry to a wildlife park
- a river cruise and a cable ferry trip
- a stop as Mossman Gorge for a swim / walk
- a trip to the Daintree Ice Cream factory
- 2 nights accommodation in a private room
*** The Rooms ***
All accommodation in the Beach House is in cabins which include a mix of private and dorm rooms, with some of the privates en suite and some having bathrooms shared with 2 other rooms. I was in a shared bathroom cabin, which consisted of 3 rooms, a small but well equipped kitchen and a shower room. The place was spotless on my arrival and remained so during my stay. The room I was allocated was a family one but bizarrely included only the beds (a double and bunk beds) and bedside tables. There was no storage to speak of, and no place to hang clothes or towels. Travelling alone I was able to use the bunk beds for this, but I imagine it would be a pain for a family of 3 or 4 travelling together. The other rooms in the cabin were similarly laid out but were smaller, double rooms rather than family ones. The beds were made up with pretty, colourful bedding adding a Caribbean feel to the room, and they included quilts - a rarity in a country such as
Australia. Best of all, the cabin I was in had air conditioning that was individually controlled - and fancy enough to be by degree not a generic 'low / medium / high' set up. Of course I didn't know what temperature was a good one to sleep at (15oC? 20oC? 25oC?) but a process of trial and error got me there.
The shower room was spacious with a large shower area, toilet, sink and shelving. The only thing I did not like was the floor which was tiled and slippery when wet. The kitchen included pots and pans, crockery and cutlery, a giant fridge, a toaster and hob, and there were tables inside and out for eating at. These communal areas would never be used by more than 6 adults and 2 children at any one time, and when I was there I shared with just one, Swedish couple about my age. If you don't want to share, ensuite cabins are available from $99 per night. If you're on a tighter budget, a bed in a 5 person dorm would be $25, but these are separate from the washing facilities, like at a campsite, so you would have to walk through the rain forest to have a shower or brush your teeth. There is a communal kitchen available for the dorm rooms, but again this is a short walk away from them.
*** Dining ***
Accommodation is on a room-only basis, but many people end up eating in the restaurant as there is no other choice locally and the nearest grocery shop is a trek away, making cooking problematic. The breakfast menu included a small buffet (cold or hot) and daily specials such as mushrooms on toast. The food was better than in hostel cafés but not wonderful. Lunch and dinner menus changed daily and included starters / snacks such as garlic bread, main courses such as burgers and pasta and puddings - usually a range of cakes. Prices were reasonable but would soon add up if you were staying for any length of time. I had juice and cereal with me which proved helpful, and I would recommend taking such provisions if you were to stay here. Attached to the restaurant was a bar which closed early - before 10pm one night - but was otherwise good with a reasonable range.
*** Facilities ***
The hotel, though well maintained, would not receive many stars in an official rating due to lack of standard features - for example there was no in-room information, just a leaflet you get on check in with a mini map on it. I would have liked, for example, to know the restaurant and bar's opening hours. There is no room service but then there are no telephones in the rooms to call. There are also no TVs in rooms...or anywhere in fact. Imagine - a hotel with no television of any kind. Of course there's probably no signal for TVs up there (mobile phones loose connection several kms south of the Beach House), but they could have put on a video or something.
You don't go to Cape Trib for an energetic holiday - you go to chill out and relax - and the set up at the Beach House reflects this. Beside the bar is a swimming pool, surrounded by loungers, which is only a minute's walk from the pristine beach. So days become about lazing on the beach, popping back to the pool for a swim (you can't dip in the sea during Stinger season), to the internet in one corner of the restaurant to check emails (it's slow, expensive and doesn't let you upload photos. Don't bother), to the pool table beside the PCs for a quick game and then back to the beach. If you're feeling especially energetic you could join in morning yoga on the beach, go for a horse ride, indulge in jungle surfing, go on a cruise to the reef or hike into the village or up the coast. You could do your laundry on site for the lowest price I ever came across ($3 total for wash and dry as the dyers were free) or play a board game from the bar - battle of the sexes, Pictionary or Scrabble which I won when I finally managed to convince my partner that 'fob' was a real word - just as well given what we were betting. For writing home the reception sells postcards alongside essentials such as chocolate and insect repellent, though the remoteness of the location has let them to inflate their prices considerably.
*** Service ***
Service varied depending on which staff member you dealt with. I checked in within seconds but checking out took longer. The woman who served breakfast was charming but the staff who came on for lunch and dinner were less so. Staff in general were few and far between, but in general seemed polite but not likely to go out of their way for you. We had long discussions about the kind of people who would choose to live in this location which is beautiful and peaceful, but would drive me crazy within a month, but could only conclude that it took a certain type of person to create a life here.
*** Location ***
Marketed as the only accommodation directly on the beach in Cape Trib, the Beach House is about 4.5 km north of the 'village' - where the sole shop and the rest of the accommodation such as Ferntrees and PKs are located. This makes it difficult to pop out for a meal somewhere else unless you have a car, but not impossible as an enterprising local has set up a makeshift bus service that you ring up and order like a taxi, and that will take you anywhere in the area for a few dollars.
*** Verdict ***
Cape Tribulation is the only place on Earth where 2 world heritage listed sites meet - the reef and the rainforest - and the picture they always use to illustrate this could well have been taken from the beach house as the rainforest truly does come down to the waters edge here. It is a beautiful place, and well worth a visit. And, I would recommend the Beach House as somewhere to stay as since Cape Trib is so calm and relaxed anyway you may as well indulge in this by staying in a resort that itself if calm. The cabins are sweet and well maintained if a little under equipped, and the surroundings verge of rustic in the best possible way. You can get back to nature here and therefore it adds a unique experience to any Australia trip.Go with a book or two, or a partner, and enjoy the surroundings, but plan to stay only a few days to prevent rain forest fatigue. I left saying if I never saw any more rainforest in my life that would be ok, but now I'm no longer there I miss it. I guess the (rain forest) grass is always greener on the other side (of the world).
Travel to Cape Trib from Cairns or Port Douglas either as part of a roundtrip or en route to somewhere such as Cape York.
http://www.capetribbeach.com.au/
Display pictures
View from the Beach House |
