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.
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Hydro-Electrical generation plant in building to right of waterfalls |
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We were standing on the sandy patch for picture of waterfalls just prior |
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We took the below stairs down to the Hydro power room |
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The sandy patch again as seen from the Hydro power room |
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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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This transforms to the next picture |
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This transforms from the previous picture |
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Theresa Falls by day |
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Theresa Falls at night |
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Waterfalls by day |
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Waterfalls at night |
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String performers |
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Kairi Tree Lane by day |
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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.
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Mary with her safety gear viewing the train carriages full of sugar cane cuttings |
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The train carriages enter the tipping station |
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The tipping station rotates 360 deg's emptying a carriages contents with up to 10 tonne of cane |
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Sugar cane on its way from carriages to crushing section |
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Some of the crushing rollers |
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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 25th 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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View from high up of Tyto Wetlands with our camp behind the trees on the left and Opera show to right of the building |
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