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Published: July 31st 2009
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The only Cassowary we got close to at Mission Beach
This one was made of plastic and concreted into the ground outside of reception, it was never going to run off! Day 94 - Mission Beach to Paronella Park
It was a reasonable question to ask me when the alarm went off at 6.30am, ‘Did we have to take the car in so early?’ Our appointment to have the oil changed and the brakes checked on the caravan is at 8am but at the time it seemed to make perfect sense as it meant we’d be on the road quite early to get the most out of our day.
We’re not even the first customer to arrive at the Cassowary Coast Tyre and Mechanical yard. Andrew and the team are already hard at work but come straight out to deal with us when we get there. The brakes on the caravan are checked and declared ok for another 5’000 km’s which is great and Andrew also makes some adjustments to our electric braking system so it’s more in line, timing wise, with the braking on the car. Then PIE is taken into the garage and lifted up high for a good all round check and oil change. Whilst we’re waiting, who should turn up in her new campervan but none other than Jackie our guide from the Calypso tour! She’s
got herself a great set of wheels which will suit her well for her forthcoming trip! We find a Mustang and a gorgeous Harley to admire while the boys work on the car so we’re not the least bit bored waiting. PIE gets the all clear and with a slight adjustment to the handbrake we’re good to go! Thanks to Andrew and the team for fitting us in and not charging us an arm and a leg!
Our destination today is Queensland's #1 ‘Must see’ attraction, Paronella Park and we head off the highway at Silkwood for the 50 km journey. Tom Tom is in complete disagreement with the tourist signs though, one says to turn left but Tom Tom says to turn right! We go with the tourist signs today and rightly so as it seems there’s a new road been added which Tom Tom doesn’t know about! It’s a lovely drive through rolling countryside and we pass a couple of rest areas featured in the Camps book along the way. When we arrive at Paronella there’s complete chaos in the car park, hmmmm, seems a bit busy so maybe I should have booked us in?! We’re greeted
with a friendly smile and cheery ‘Hi, how you’s going’ which always puts you at ease so we know everything will turn out ok! When you pay for your admission tickets you get a slot in the adjoining caravan park if there’s one free, unfortunately there isn’t but the overflow is out the front on the grass where we’re welcome to camp, we just won’t have power for the night. Not a problem for us, we were about due a ‘non power’ night anyway! We pay our way and then set the caravan up using the spirit level to check we weren’t sloping! If only you could have seen the angle we were camped on, there was no way we were going to be level but amazing the A frame seemed to be and therefore the fridge worked perfectly! With that sorted we ducked into the park to uncover its secrets.
Paronella Park was the creation of Jose Paronella, an immigrant from Catalonia who came to Australia in 1913. He worked hard for his wealth and from a young age had a vision as to how he would spend it, a Spanish castle with pleasure grounds. Having travelled the
Would they notice if it wasn
My dream car, other than PIE and the drag cars ... clearly! world twice he decided on the most beautiful land he had found in all his travels - Mena Creek, Northern Queensland. The history of Paronella Park is well documented (and worth a read) on the website so suffice to say that it’s a story for the romantics among us and for those who believe that dreams really do come true. The park originally opened to the public in 1939 and Jose with his family delighted in the 7 years the park was used to its full, entertaining potential before in 1946 much of the beloved creation was ripped apart by a huge flood and sadly Jose passed away in 1948 due to cancer. Joining in one of the guided tours is the ideal opportunity to hear the story and be shown the inner sanctum of the park without getting yourself lost! Paula is our guide and she enthuses about Jose and his vision and leads us through to the castle, the site of the ballroom and movie theatre, down the Grand Staircase, to the main waterfall beside the creek, to the Tunnel of Love with it’s colony of Bent Wing Bats and Teresa Falls, to the former site of the
tennis courts and the refreshment areas until we reach Kauri Avenue. She leaves us then to enjoy the rest of our day wandering and soaking up the atmosphere. We’re tempted to swim in creek so donning our swim wear we go down for a closer look at our possible entry points. The most obvious is next to the concrete base of the old diving board, it’s a little further around the corner from where we’ve seen some mighty large fish and eels but when we dangle our feet over the edge we get a whole new shoal of fishy friends and they’re pretty big! We talked about the difference between idyllic snorkelling on the GBR with unknown, huge shoals of brightly coloured fish versus swimming with these huge beasties! Unable to talk ourselves out of the euggghhhhh factor we forget the idea of swimming and go back to wandering instead! Just to put it in perspective, we would have been the only swimmers so we’re not really wimping out! We’re pretty much the last to leave the park at 6pm but we’ll be back for the night tour at 8.30pm so we need to grab ourselves some dinner in the
meantime. An excellently cooked BBQ by Mr Howells fills our tummies and we spend some time chatting to other travellers sharing our experiences and gaining valuable ideas from theirs!
There are bats flying around overhead, our opinion is that they’re so cute although it’s not shared by others and the sunset is gorgeous coming down over the fields and mountains behind us. Darkness falls and it’s time for the night tour with Luke, another very good tour guide. It follows a different route to the day tour to avoid the 47 steps of the Grand Staircase in the dark! We’re all handed a torch and head towards the illuminated Castle which now looks tremendously romantic in its night glow glory. In fact the whole park takes on another personality at night, the view of the waterfalls at the end of Kauri Avenue are splendid with the subtle lighting. Standing opposite the fountains looking past the ornate sink (which you would think was a drinking fountain itself!) and again on to the waterfalls with beautiful lighting and atmospheric music playing gently in the background ends the tour with style and grace. What a gorgeous place and we’re looking forward to
There's a reason he's looking at me and not the camera, I think it's called despair!
We'd used the self timer to take the photo and the camera was on the other side of the wall so I ran round at 100mph having pressed the button. Of course what I could have done was pressed the button from the opposite side and then walked calmly back across .... but I am me and that's not what I do! seeing it from another view tomorrow when Channel 7’s Sunrise team invade at 4 in the morning to present the weather broadcasts from here!
Good night from the excellent Paronella Park where dreams really do come true!
Dar and Sar
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Jan Kettle
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More happy memories
It's great that Paronella Park is still 'in one piece' as it is very fragile and always at risk from floods.