15 - Travelling south of Cairns 17/8 - 23/ 8/19

Entry 15           Travelling south of Cairns 17/8 – 23/8/2019

With-in a few minutes of departure time at Etty Bay we were subject to a final site inspection.

About 1 kilometre down the road we were subjected to another scrutiny, looking over.

Our planned destination for the night, about 35 kilometres down the road was Paronella Park.

In 1929, Spaniard Jose’ Paronella purchased 13 acres of rainforest covered land and built his dream castle over the following 6 years including a hydro-electric power plant. He opened his castle to the public in 1935 which included a ball room with live bands and a movie theatre. Jose’ passed away in 1948 leaving his family as custodians of his dream. Paronella Park was sold in 1972 when the family could no longer maintain the up keep. Paronella Park fell into disrepair after fire and cyclone damage. In 1993 Mark & Judy Evans purchased the park (current owners,) rediscovering Jose’ dream and have since been reviving Jose’s dream by reopening Paronella Park to the public. The buildings are in such a poor state, they are unrepairable and have been stabilized as well as can be. The dilapidated buildings seem to aide with the effects of a bye gone era falling into dis-repair in a rainforest setting.

We set camp in the Paronella caravan park with our site close to the main entrance. On arrival we participated in a guided tour of the park followed up with some exploring of our own. We then participated in a tour of the hydro-electric plant followed by further exploration for another couple of hours. We returned to our caravan for tea and to catch up with our electronic responsibilities which had been piling up over the last couple of weeks whilst without phone / internet reception. At 8 pm we returned for an evening tour with the bonus of a string quartet performance. It was an enjoyable experience, with a lot to fit in, making for a long busy, different type of day.

Hydro-Electrical generation plant in building to right of waterfalls

We were standing on the sandy patch for picture of waterfalls just prior

We took the below stairs down to the Hydro power room

The sandy patch again as seen from the Hydro power room

The waterfalls from the Hydro power room

Jose’ Paronella’s wife, Margarita was an avid gardener with some of her creations still visible.

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Theresa Falls by day

Theresa Falls at night

 

Waterfalls by day

Waterfalls at night

String performers

Kairi Tree Lane by day

Kairi Tree Lane at night with the full moon rising

About 60 kilometres down the road we stopped at Tully leaving our caravan in the RV park while we explored nearby locations.

Our first stop was at Tully Gorge National Park a location of the World Rafting Championships in May 2019 with 54 countries attending. Tully River flows through mountainous terrain covered by rainforest.

First, we assessed the camping area which looked very nice in a lush green setting, surrounded by rainforest. You could hear the flowing river waters in the background. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any walking tracks available to keep us occupied. It was primarily a location to chill or for people utilising the flowing waters of the Tully River.

We continued further into the gorge with the road following the course of the river with the occasional fleeting view of the river waters below. At one stage we heard the load screams of excitement somewhere below and we assumed it was people rafting along the river. We executed a U turn stopping at an opening we had spotted about a kilometre back. We waited for about 20 minutes and was rewarded with a view of rafts travelling along the river.

We looked at Alligator Nest a river swimming location near town which looked like a good picnic & cooling down location.

Tully Sugar Mill dominates the towns vista. It operates around the clock while the sugar cane harvest is in full swing, generally for about 6 months of the year. There is a constant background noise coming from the mill, heard from most areas of town. It directly employs 340 people during the crushing season and 290 people over the maintenance period. It is the only operational mill in Australia allowing mill tours during crushing season. We liked the idea to tour an operating sugar mill which we did. Something else different & enjoyable.

Mary with her safety gear viewing the train carriages full of sugar cane cuttings

The train carriages enter the tipping station

The tipping station rotates 360 deg's emptying a carriages contents with up to 10 tonne of cane

Sugar cane on its way from carriages to crushing section

Some of the crushing rollers

Near the final process spinning at high speed to form the sugar crystals as we know them

We were travelling south, exploring the nearby coastal regions between Cairns and Townsville a distance of about 350 kilometres. There were many locations we had heard or read about we would have liked to see and probably many more unknown to us. It would have been nice to have had an unlimited time frame but we had a bit of an itinerary with a self-set time line, planning to be at Charters Towers by 25^th August. You’ll never see it all and it is good to have something new to view when we’ll next be in this area. Next in our sights was the Tyto Wetlands about a 100-kilometre drive south at Ingham, where we set camp on the edge of the wetlands.

The Tyto wetlands encompassed several kilometres of walking tracks where we enjoyed the constant background noise of bird calls and viewing some birds too.

Willy Wagtail had just landed on the lily pad creating the start of a wave

Utilizing Ingham as a base for a couple of nights we drove to Wallaman Falls. Australia’s highest single-drop waterfall, plunging 268 metres. It was splendid viewing and we spent time walking some of the available walks, giving the track to the falls base a miss, due to its high level of difficulty.

Before we left we had to go back for another look at the falls and saw a rainbow. The sun must have been at the right angle

We by-passed the more publicized near-by Murray Falls and Jourama Falls as we had camped at both these locations during our last visit to this area in 2013.

There were the normal country road hazards with these two oblivious for the need to move.

Ingham was an interesting town with a good community events calendar. We enjoyed a mosaic wall about 100 metres in length, that took 7 months to build with around 3,000 locals participating in its construction.

20 kilometres down the road we spent another couple of nights at Forrest Beach getting our beach fix whilst close to the ocean.

Forrest Beach, locals having fun

We returned to Ingham for a night to listen to the Queensland Opera putting on a show titled, “Songs To Die For.” It was to be performed at the amphitheater in part of the Tyto wetlands which just happened to be located nearby the camp ground. Something else different to our normal lifestyle.

View from high up of Tyto Wetlands with our camp behind the trees on the left and Opera show to right of the building