Walker's Winter Trip in Queensland: To Paronella Park

Today was a very easy morning. We had only to travel about 10 kms. So we did not rush about this morning. Some of the fellow overnight campers were moving on and we all said our good byes. Although one lot have arrived at Paronella Park along with the Lismore couple, Col and Dianne, too.

After packing up we drove to the Mena Creek Post Office Store and checked it out and bought a couple of items. We spoke with the owner and he was full of information.

Then we arrived at Paronella Park. (This link should be read) It was hard to find a parking spot and I was very pleased to have booked a camp site. The owner, Mark, welcomes everyone and ensures you go in the correct direction to book in. We did speak to Mark later in the day. He is a very enthusiastic person.

Anyway, we maneuvered the Kimberley Karavan into its fairly tight camp site and set it all up with power and water.

Following setup, we walked about 100 metres to the Deck Cafe and had lunch there and out first commercial cappuccino for the day, although Prue made one before we left our overnight camp spot.

There are guided tours through Paronella Park. Our guide was Chloe and she is very well versed in all the possible detail about the park. There are tours leaving the Cafe area about every half hour and take about 3/4 hour. They are really worth doing.

For me it hard to explain how I felt about the Park except to say it is majestic, amazing, relaxing, innovative and so necessary to visit.

The Park is home to over 7000 trees and plants which give it the special feel. AS for the reaming buildings, it is easy to imagine the grandeur of its prime time. Sadly, past neglect, cyclones and a fire have caused so much damage. The current owners are doing their very best to ensure that as much as possible is preserved. This place is funded only by the funds that are generated by paying guests.

One very sad thing is that the place is listed under the Heritage Act but there are no funds from the government to assist. The Heritage Act prevents a lot of restoration which is detrimental to its preservation.

A problem that has caused some problems is that the original owner/developer, Jose Paronella, used a lot of old rail line as reinforcement in the walls. As time progressed, the rail lines have rusted and caused a lot of the concrete to crack. Also, the sand that the cement powder was mixed with had mica(fools gold) in it and it also attracts moisture which eventually causes the cement to break up.

Jose Paronella, was a 'workaholic' spending most of his time building this amazing place. He managed to build the original home in just about 3 months after starting and it still stands to day. The cement render on the walls was spread by his hands and the finger lines are still visible almost 80 years later. Very hard to replicate that.

He was the first individual to produce electricity in this area by the use of a turbine and generator which runs from the water from the water fall near the house. It did stop for many years but is now fully restored and runs the whole park and surplus is sold to Ergon Energy as renewable energy.