Day 188
Tuesday
4 July 2017 – Completed the book Twelve Red Herrings By .
The book of short stories was ok. There were a few stand-out stories and a
number that were quite lame. I could see he was drawing from his own personal
experiences in jail, government and writing to come up with his material.
Babinda – Paronella Park (Camps 8 QLD #15)
Oh my goodness it isn’t raining. We actually had a fairly
quiet night on the rain front and we woke to bluish skies, what a novelty. I
was happy to get up at 8.30am and head off for the coin operated showers, $2
for 4min of hot water. I put in $4 to ensure there was 8min to get my hair
washed and legs shaved.
When I returned to the van, Paul was up and getting
breakfast organised. I made the bed and then we were into pack away mode. With
the car on the trailer we were ready to hit the road yet again.
I set the GPS for
Paronella Park, but it was struggling to find a signal so I had to rely on my
phone. We had seen the turn off during our waterfall run yesterday, so we had a
fair idea of where we were heading to. As it turned out the GPS didn’t find a
signal during the 45 minutes that it took us to drive to our destination.
We joined the many in the muddy car park being directed to
park which meant taking the car off first, moving it to a muddy slope, a brown
spray being placed down the clean side of a white mini van. Paul then
manouvered the van into the space indicated and we went in to reception to find
out about staying the night. The park offers a night’s free van parking with
your entry to the park, at $45 each it is certainly welcome. Unfortunately they
had no powered sites within the park but let us know we were welcome to park
behind the Mena Creek Pub.
We went off to check out the sites. There were a few spots
already taken and the ones left were boggy in places, but we chose a site and
returned to reception to book in.
With our lovely orange bracelets, we returned to the car and
van and drove them towards the pub, however we decided not to park on the lawn
and instead pulled in to the school bus bay, a much better option; level,
gravel and not muddy. We set ourselves up before Paul went to find the
amenities block for a shower.
I organised lunch and we ate on his return.
We made our way to the park just before 1pm, using the swing
bridge crossing over the Mena Creek Falls to access the park. We joined the 1pm
tour group, following Yana around the park and being given a run down of what
Jose Paronella wanted to achieve when he built the park in the 1930’s. He built
4 ‘castles’ that were used for recreation and entertainment for anyone who
wanted to come and enjoy his park and swim under the waterfall.
Paronella also used the waterfall for hydro electricity and
the unit, after being refurbished in 2008, provides electricity to the park
today, allowing them to be self-sufficient.
The buildings themselves are in a fair state of disarray. A
number of floods and cyclones have done terrible damage to the place leaving
much of it in ruins. It is now covered in green moss and rainforest jungle. It
reminded me of Cambodia.
Paul wasn’t particularly impressed with the place, expecting
it to be a little more whole, I was more enchanted with the fantasy and romance
the place seemed to ooze.
 |
| A large eel swimming in the stream |
After finishing our 45min tour at Teresa Falls, we were
left to explore the park for ourselves, moving first through the large forest
of bamboo and Kauri Pine.
We then made our way back through the structures.
Some we could enter, others we could climb sections but for the most par it was
about admiring from a distance. We made our way to Mena Creek Falls and watched
the many large fish waiting for a feed and the water from the falls crashing to
the large pool of water below.
We continued our walk, dodging the tourists that were
crawling throughout the park. It was difficult to get the photos I wanted,
requiring a fair bit of patience and a little decorum as well as a quick hand
to snap the photo in a split second.
In its day this would have been a spectacular room but not
much remains today due to a kitchen fire that spread through the building and
further damage caused by Cyclone Larry, such a shame.
With our wandering complete, we made our way back to the van
to enjoy the afternoon. At 4.30pm we grabbed the basketball and used the school
courts to have a shoot about. It has been a while since we have used the ball
and was good to run around the court for a while. I know we will pay for it
tomorrow.
We decided to get the car onto the trailer and for the first
time I was the one to load it on the van, getting it on first go.
Paul secured it all while I got on with dinner. He then went
off for another shower and when he had returned we ate enjoying the quiet of
the early evening.
This didn’t last however, as we were booked in for the 8pm
night tour of the park, so at 7.40pm we trundled off back over the swing bridge
with the now illuminated waterfall below us and joined the crowd waiting for
the tour to begin. Thankfully we were split in two and we made our way around
the park checking out the various buildings that were now illuminated. There
were a few of us who were always hanging back with our tripods eager to take
the better photos with the crowd gone. It didn’t always happen but that’s ok.
We had time at the Mena Creek Falls, Terea Falls and then
the main castle before the tour ended. I agreed with another photographer that
it would be great if small group photography tours were held to satisfy the
photogs.
In the end we were all ushered to the café and given a gift,
a small piece of the castle. The owner, John spoke to the gathering and it was
easy to see how passionate he was, not only of the park, but also the staff he
has working for him.
At 9pm we made our ay back to the van, happy to have stayed
mainly dry for the evening. Once back it was into bed and reading until we both
felt tired enough to turn out the lights.
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