Paronella Park

We moseyed slowly down from the Atherton Tablelands, stopping at the dairy centre exhibition at Malanda and several waterfalls and lookouts. Our destination was Paronella Park, 17km south of Innisfail (and only 104km south of Cairns).

Jose Paronella came to Australia from Spain in 1913 to make his fortune and 11 years later, through buying and selling cane farms, had pretty well succeeded. He went back to Spain to marry his fiancee, Matilda, only to find that she had married another. Maybe the fact that she hadn't heard from him in all that time had something to do with it. Undeterred, he married her younger sister Margarita instead and, after a whirlwind honeymoon visiting the major sights of Europe, returned with her to far north Queensland.

Jose had always dreamed of having a castle, he acquired 13 acres of virgin rainforest and built his dream. The development included a ballroom that doubled as a movie theatre, tennis courts, refreshment rooms, more than 7000 trees planted in grand avenues and one of Queensland's first hydro-electric plants to power it all. Jose passed away in 1948 and Margarita in 1967, their children and grandchildren continued running the property until it was sold in 1977. A fire swept through the castle in 1979, the new owners battled on until Cyclone Winifred caused the park's closure in 1986.

The current owners acquired the property in 1993 and have been gradually restoring the grounds and derelict buildings. There was a hiccup in 2006 when Cyclone Larry roared through, but the grounds at least are now looking splendid. The buildings are still in ruins, but look very romantic.

Almost by accident we found that included with the park entry fee was one free night staying in the attached caravan park. Given we intended to visit the park anyway, we figured this was a deal too good to pass up. We arrived at lunch time, so spent the afternoon doing the tour of the grounds, then wandering around taking photos. Staying in the park also meant it was very convenient to walk back in the evening and do the twilight tour, where we got to see the ruins lit up and the wildlife that lives in the beautiful grounds come out for their night's foraging.

Paronella Park was a labour of love for Jose and Margarita, and the current owners are carrying on the tradition. Although the admission was fairly pricey, having a night's caravan park fee included made it very reasonable, and we enjoyed experiencing a piece of almost forgotten Australian history.