Just days into I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here and already the stars are revolting. You'd think they were in some jungle hell -- in fact it's a mere 25 miles from the exclusive Palazzo Versace hotel which they end up in when they're booted out of camp, and close to the sun-kissed shores of Australia's lively Gold Coast.

In fact, you can experience the world of I'm A Celebrity yourself -- in even remoter rainforest areas of Oz -- and enjoy the trip of a lifetime.

First off, it's a long way away, so budget at least a fortnight (three weeks plus is better) to enjoy even a portion of what the fun'n'sun state of Queensland has to offer.

The first time I went Down Under, more than a decade ago, I was expecting a round of applause and a medal when I got off my cheapo flight that had more stops than the Dart network.

Nowadays, it's still a journey but I travelled in style with Emirates -- from London Gatwick via Dubai -- whose ICE entertainment system boasts an array of movies, TV channels and games (play against other passengers if you want).

There are webcams under the plane (interesting when you're flying high over Iraq) and in the nose, and I even got to text the wife, over India, to let her know what she was missing. She didn't respond.

crocodiles

After touchdown, and with the bright lights of Brisbane and the backpacking Mecca of Cairns soon a distant memory, our little group of adventurers took to the road to Daintree in tropical north Queensland.

And it's different up here, very different. As you wait on the tiny car ferry to cross the Daintree River (it's a bit like going upriver in Apocalypse Now) you see your first road sign warning about crocodiles.

Being Irish, you tend to be fascinated about creatures that can kill you. Here the sea's box jellyfish are lethal. Blue-ringed octopus? Don't touch it, or else. Ditto for the stone fish, the Irukandji and the cone shell.

Even some of the bloody trees are poisonous, while don't even dare trying to cuddle the cassowary (no, never heard of it before, either). To me it looks like a cute emu, but, if threatened it can rip you to shreds. As one poor unfortunate found to his cost trying to kill one back in 1926.

The Costa del Sol it ain't. But the locals here don't bat an eyelid about the wildlife -- and the biggest danger here is sunburn or drinking too much Victoria Bitter. Dangerous? I'd be more wary taking a nighttime stroll in St Stephen's Green.

The Daintree Rainforest -- the most diverse and oldest on earth at around 140 million years -- is the only one in the world that stretches to the ocean, hitting beaches that are straight out of Treasure Island.

Not that you have to rough it up here, not a bit. We stopped off for a barbecue lunch at the Cape Tribulation Resort & Spa (capetribulationresort.com.au). Forget about the stresses of modern life -- your mobile won't work and there's no internet access. But it's full of creature comforts, with a spa, pool and restaurant -- a bit like dropping the K Club in the middle of the Amazon.

We stayed in a nearby sister property, Ferntree Rainforest Lodge. It's a friendly place, a brilliant base for the rainforest, and it has a range of accommodation to suit all budgets. And it's got the added lure of a real Outback-style pub a few minutes' walk down the road.

To get your bearings and an expert tour (and not wander into a croc-filled river) it's vital to take a trip with a local operator. We headed off in a 4WD with Mason's Tours (masonstours.com.au).

Tour guide Lawrence Mason has deep roots (sorry!) in the rainforest, and his family tree (okay, enough) stretches far back in the region. He brought us to a unique beach up in Cape Tribulation, where the trees grow out in the sea. I ask him why such a beautiful beach is so empty. He mentions crocs. "But don't step on the stingrays," he advises, hopefully joking, as we wade into the shimmering water.

Almost as good as the scenery at a nearby cold-water creek are the homemade cakes and cookies, while we also get to appreciate the magic and mystery of the Aboriginal culture as Mason's Tours hook up with the Walker family, who inform and entertain about the bush.

While we were there a local elder had died, and, according to tradition the local waterfall would roar, tear-like. And it did-- an incredible sight.

Back in Daintree, it was time for some I'm A Celebrity-style thrills and spills. As in the show, you can don a helmet and zipline high over the rainforest, and try not to scream -- and when you're zipped along a line that's up to 255ft long and 74ft high (sometimes upside down), that's some achievement.

The fun and friendly guides with Jungle Surging Canopy Tours (junglesurfing.com.au) might leave you dangling for a while, so I found it a great way to cure my fear of heights. You also get rainforest tips, can see green ants -- which contain the same amount of vitamin C as an orange -- and all you have to do is lick their butts.

tasty

It's not my style, so in Celebrity fashion, I grabbed an ant (but not a Dec) and swallowed it whole. Even the guides looked slightly disgusted, but I was hungry and it was tastier than it sounds.

Even higher up in the sky, we got to soar over the rainforest at its southern tip, near Cairns. Skyrail, the most extensive cable car operation of its kind in the world, brings passengers all the way from Cairns to picturesque Kuranda, 7.5km away, over the treetops (skyrail.com).

It's an award-winning operation, carbon neutral, and by taking a ride, you support its tree-planting and conservation work. There are cable car stations along the way and the expert guides are full of info on the rainforest, which you can observe and photograph from a host of platforms. And then, our one and only encounter with something more dangerous than Jordan's gob -- a rarely seen cassowary.

The guides look like all their Christmases have come at once, as these birds -- more precisely their droppings -- are vital to the future of the rainforest. My mind drifts back to the warning about killer claws. The cassowary wanders off, thankfully. Even as a committed townie, I was enchanted by the rainforest, as was Liverpudlian Ron Birkett. Back up near Cape Trib, his multi award-winning Daintree Discovery Centre has been featured on TV.

It's a great way to see the rainforest in comfort, boasting as it does a huge tower, offering great views, and is home to the weird strangler fig, a scary, gothic-looking tree that envelops a host tree, grows around it in a fight to the death, and nearly always kills it. (Visit daintree-rec.com.au)

Like I said, it's different up here. But when you watch TV celebs moaning about their lot, ignore them. It's not only a jungle, it's paradise.

- Mark Evans