Paronella Park

For a change of pace, Team Turtle decided to visit Paronella Park just to the south west of Innisfail and about 40 klms from Cowley Beach.  The Deckie had heard, and read, a fair bit about it and thought that it would be an interesting spot.

As an added bonus, there was a free night's stay at the Park's Caravan Park included in the ticket price.  This was definitely needed as there was a night time tour of the park as well.

So, we were on the road again at a reasonable time and heading inland.  The Deckie/Navigator found the place without any difficulties, we booked in and started another type of adventure.

If you have already checked out the website you would have noticed that the park was basically built on the side of a mountain and using the creek and waterfall as a backdrop and using Jose Paronella's dream of old Spanish castles as inspiration.  To The Deckie, most of the buildings look like something out of the jungles of south-east Asia that have only just been rediscovered!

There were guided tours leaving every 30 minutes so we didn't have to wait long.  To get down to the bottom level (and the better views) we made our way down the Grand Staircase - it was the very first structure built and it was to bring the sand from the waterhole to the top level for it to be used as building material.  One's leg muscles would have been like rock with all of the climbing that had to be done and the workers would have been as fit as fiddles.

Looking Down The Grand Staircase

The bottom section was something else.  Jose Paronella built what were Refreshment Rooms just up from the waterfall and creek and the fountain that was at the front was gravity fed 24/7.

The Refreshment Rooms

The Fountain

The Captain At The Water's Edge

Jose also planted an avenue of Kauri Pine trees leading away from the Refreshment Rooms.  Apparently these trees can live for a thousand years and measure about 3 metres in diameter.  The ones in the park have a lot of growing to do!

The Avenue of Kauri Pines

An unsubstantiated rumour is that  the pattern on the trunks of the Kauri Pines were used as a template for the camouflage on Defence Forces Uniforms!


The nigh tour was just as interesting as the day time one except all of the floodlights were on - some were across the waterfall while others were in the fountain and Refreshment Rooms.

There were many wonderful features of Paronella Park and to think that Jose Paronella had all of these marvellous dreams to build these things and yet didn't draw any plans at all.

After a very good sleep - mainly due to the fact that we were worn out - and another quick walk around the area we left the Park to journey towards Atherton.  And the weather turned very cold, bleak and miserable.  Team Turtle is just not used to that!!

We stopped briefly at Millaa Millaa Falls and then (as it was morning tea time) we took advantage of a lovely little cafe nearby.  Best scones we have tasted in ages - beats Maccas any day!

Millaa Millaa Falls

We had another stop before we reached Atherton at a place called The Crater in the Mount Hypipamee National Park.  One of us was imagining a meteorite type crater but that was not to be.  The particular crater was the aftermath of some volcanic activity tens of thousands of years ago which left a very large hole in the ground and a submerged passage that has filled with water.

Looking Down Into The Crater

The return walk took us back along the edge of the headwaters of the Barron River.  The best sight along here was the large group of backpackers after they had been for a swim in the river - they couldn't talk as their teeth were chattering that much from the cold.  No sense, no feeling!

The Start Of The Barron River

We finally made it into Atherton where there were the necessary retail outlets still open to cater to our needs and then it was a little bit further out of town for our overnight stop.  Monday, and we finally made it to Lake Tinaroo the furtherest north we are planning to go.