We had talked about going to Paronella Park, had been highly recommended but then decided against it, but after we had had our coffee and cookie in Tully we headed back to the caravan and another couple pulled up, we had a chat and they raved about Paronella Park, so we thought maybe we need to go it's not far from Innisfail where we were heading for the night so after an overnight in a rest area at Innisfail we headed out there. The deal is you pay for entry to the park and get a free site at the caravan park which is attached, we got there before 10 am which was lucky as its only a small park and not very many sites available, small of course, built for the small vans of the 60s, but we managed ok.
Paronella park was built by Jose Paronella a Spanish immigrant who came to Australia in 1913, he had a dream to build a castle like he saw in Europe and in the 1920s he bought the land with Mena creek and waterfall running through and started to build his dream, first he built a small house for his family and then he built a Grand Staircase so he could access the lower part of his land, he then built a castle complete with ballroom, the ballroom was used for dancing and a picture theatre and the castle was a tea rooms. He built another cafe/ tea rooms complete with a tennis court. There was no electricity in the area and he built the first Hydro Electric plant. He opened the park to the public in 1935, quite an amazing achievement.....
Unfortunately a flood in 1946 did a lot of damage to the tea rooms and when Jose died in 1948 his wife and son carried on but when his wife and son both died the property was sold in the 1970s and a fire to the roof of the ballroom and cyclone damage made the the park unviable and it remained in a sorry state until 1993 when the present owners bought it, saw Jose Dream and decided to continue his dream.......
We really enjoyed the whole experience of the park, the guides went to a lot trouble to re create how the park would have been in its hey day, we were free to wander any in the park after our tour and also we went on the night tour, we now have a pass that allows us to visit again with in the next two years.....
Photo of the castle as it was in 1935
The castle as it is now, the Ballroom was to the left
Nothing left of the ballroom, fire destroyed the roof and a cyclone the walls
The Grand staircase runs from the top of the waterfall to the pool at the bottom
Lower refreshment area, used to be tennis courts where the grass is
Changing rooms at the side of the tea rooms
Theresa Waterfall, natural spring, named after his daughter Theresa
Fish and turtle feeding in the creek
Lots of lovely paths to wander along, many tropical plants and overall he planted over 7000 trees on the property
We had a Devonshire tea after all the walking and climbing up and down the Grand staircase
We then went on the night time tour......
The grand Finale was the lighting up of the lower tea rooms, the guide lined us all up, torches off and taa dah...... Nothing, technical hitch she said, poor girl, whatever was supposed to happen didn't and there was the staff running around with portable floodlights to light it up, never mind, good excuse to visit again, we were so glad we went, was a great experience and it's amazing that someone has recognised Jose Dream and is making sure it's not lost
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