Paronella park

Yes I know I'm behind on blog posts! We are fine and well in Malaysia at the moment, having stayed in Cairns, Sydney and Singapore. I will try to get up to date in the next few days...

But first - Paronella Park!

We pulled in to this car park, as I had seen the place on some brochure and wanted to see what it was about. From the carpark we could see the tip of castle ruins. The price was too expensive though, AU$28 each. We were trying to operate on a budget of about $30 per day, so this was well off.

Just as we were pulling out, a guy who we now know is the proprietor (Mark, I think) wandered up eating an icecream, tapped on the window and started chatting to us. We explained that it seemed interesting but was too expensive, moved on to the fact we were Kiwis etc. and this guy just kept rambling on. Finally he offers us a 'special deal' if we want to stay in a camper site as well as seeing the park.

We wanted hot showers (which it had) and so we were planning on spending $20 on a camper park anyway, and the deal was pretty good, though I can't remember exactly how much. This guy can just keep talking - Norty if you're reading, he'd keep you honest :P

So we park up and prepare ourselves for a night walk through the park. We know nothing other then the fact that it is Spanish style castles/buildings. Mark was the man taking us on our spotlight tour.

Now this is a really interesting place, but Mark talks it up so much that I could hardly stop from laughing out loud. This guy is SO passionate about this place. The executive summary (See full blurb here) is that a guy named Jose Paronella came over from Spain in 1913 and started out cutting sugarcane, then moved into developing sugarcane fields and selling them, making himself quite a handsome profit.

He then purchased a lovely section of land next to a beautiful waterfall and started building all the structures that are there today - A ballroom, fountains, staircases etc. The amount of effort is quite impressive no doubt. A series of misfortunate events meant that the park was closed and not repaired, and eventually abandoned. It fell out of memory until the early 90s when Mark and his partner bought the land, and started stripping back the rainforest that had grown around only to find all these interesting features!

Mark speaks with such devotion about every little feature, his passion and enthusiasm is what entertained me! His excitement about cutting thru the jungle that had enveloped the park, the heartbreak of the cyclones and floods that have damaged it. He kept reminding us all to tell our friends and families about this exciting place. Tell everyone!!



I laughed so hard when I saw this sign - The message is consistent - let everyone know about us! Films have been made here, did you know - Sniper Starring: Tom Berenger and Billy Zane! There were a few others that I hadn't heard of, and actually I only know the actors, not Sniper itself. This guy is practically foaming at the mouth with excitement for the park!

I hope this doesn't sound derogatory - Mark is a genuine honest good bloke, and is obviously full of heart. I just felt like I was watching a late night infomercial for Paronella parks while he talked - his is excitement is only matched by his ability to talk. Lots. Consistently. He is overflowing with genuine passion (Which, to be fair, sets him apart from the infomercials). But still, a really interesting place, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in novel architecture. Or crazy Aussies...

Mark if you read this, feel free to chip in in the comments section :)



The park is has all been planned around the waterfall, it was obviously an important part of the planning. The water fountain shown above is actually gravity powered from the waterfall itself! Most of the park lies below the waterfall, so Jose simply took a feed off the top of the waterfall, and piped it into this feature, next to the tennis court and refreshment building...



I haven't quite got my finger on what the parks purpose was, but I think it was not a commercial venture, I think Jose wanted a leisure park where he could host events and socialise - very noble! It has swimming areas, fishing holes, lovers caves and walks, a ballroom and movie rooms, as well as the tennis court and lots of open spaces for picnics or other outdoor entertaining.



And in addition to the fountain, Jose actually set up one of the first running hydro-electric stations in Australia. This powered all the lighting etc around the park. It is not going, but plans are underway to restore it, one of the few bits of the park to get fixed. Mark is trying to preserve the park, not restore it, as he pointed out plenty.

"Its definitely going to be finished by October. Well ... we might be a little late but definitely by the end of the year... and if not we'll get it going next year some time..."

We went down into the hydro room...



..And boy the stairs are steep to get there! We were both clutching the handrails like crazy. The structure has handled 60 odd years of mother nature and is still standing, so we figured that although it looked a bit hokey, and was probably built before stafety standards applied, we'd be OK.




Jose planted heaps of plants, including what is known as Kauri Avenue. These trees line the walkway, and the avenue actually looks down to the waterfall - very pretty.



The grand staircase goes up from the waterside to the ballroom..



and looking down from the grand staircase. the whole park is made of cast concrete (I assume with reinforcements) with lots of small rocks and shells in the mix. Add to that the weathering over the years and moss, and the place has an odd beauty. The lush rainforest helps too.



This is part of the ballroom, which has also suffered damage thru the years, but still looks magnificent. All of this park has been built primarily by Jose himself, though he must have got help with some of the grunt work as the scale is too large for one man. He probably called in lots of favors from mates...




We were promised that the park would be the most amazing thing we'd ever see in Australia, and although I'm not sure if that claim is really legitimate, it was well worth seeing - there is plenty more features that I haven't pictured, and the park is really very pretty. I would recommend anyone who has some time in north Queensland to have a look, and not just for the crazy tour guide :)