The Northern Territory does two things better than almost anywhere else on earth: tropical wetlands teeming with wildlife, and the kind of desert silenceFar North Queensland gets the rare distinction of having two World Heritage sites within arm’s reach of each other, the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, and this July trip was built around making the most of both, before finishing somewhere far quieter. that makes you lower your voice without meaning to. This June, in the heart of the dry season, we did both.

Port Douglas was our base for the first few days, staying at the Sheraton Grand Mirage with its lagoon pools right on Four Mile Beach. We spent a morning with a local Kuku Yalanji guide in the Mossman Gorge, learning about bush medicine and swimming in freshwater pools that stay cool even in the tropical heat, and an afternoon further into the Daintree on a wildlife cruise that turned up crocodiles, kingfishers and a python curled in the mangroves.

The reef itself was, predictably, the highlight of this leg, a full day out on a private charter, snorkelling two different sites with visibility that made the whole reef feel close enough to touch. We saw reef sharks, a turtle that seemed entirely unbothered by our presence, and coral in colours that photographs never quite capture.

From Port Douglas we flew north to Lizard Island, and the trip shifted into something far more remote. This is the Great Barrier Reef at its most exclusive, forty rooms on an island with virtually no one else on it, beach picnics delivered by boat to empty stretches of sand, and snorkelling straight off the beach in clear, calm water. A sunset cocktail at Cook’s Look, looking out over the reef system that gave the island its place in maritime history, capped off two of the most relaxed days of the entire trip.

Rainforest, reef and a private island, all within a week. Far North Queensland rarely needs the hard sell, but seeing the Daintree and the reef either side of a stay at Lizard Island is about as complete a version of the region as we’ve ever put together.