Cairns to Paronella Park

We had to take the van to an Electrical place to get the air conditioner looked at as it was not providing any cold air, only stirring it around and in this country, an air conditioner that works is a must.  The Clarkes followed us into town with their car, picked us up at the Electrical place and we went touring the beaches north or Cairns.  It was a great day for the beaches, nobody on them as it was raining so hard you could hardly keep it off the windshield.  We looked around at all the lovely homes and properties around the area, saw a field full of kangaroos, could have been upwards of 100, what an awesome sight, too far away to get a good picture and we couldn't stop on the highway anyhow.  We found a nice coffee place on the beach, as I mentioned before, no one here seems to care if it is raining or not, everyone just goes about their business.  The rain stops and everything dries quickly.  We went to an RSL (that's like a Legion only nicer) for lunch.  By that time the van was ready to be picked up so Paul and Kylie dropped us off and we went back to the Caravan Park.  We decided we were going to leave the next day because it was supposed to continue raining and we wanted to head on South.

We got up early to get a good start, we headed to the showers and much to my surprise, there is a man in there shaving as bold as brass.  You can't trust the Europeans, they think everything is unisex.   We said our good-byes to the Clarkes and received a list of places to stop on the way.  It is really good when people have seen things that are interesting and share the information.

We stopped at an Information Bureau in Innisfail (no not Alberta) for some information about Paronella Park, one of the places we were told to stop at.  We kept seeing signs about Cassowaries along the way so I asked if we were likely to see one.  We were directed to Etta Bay and lo and behold, we saw a female, her name is Etty and she is big

They are very big birds, about the size of an Emu and they walk all around tropical rainforests, we were told they are like the reforestation officers, their digestive system is such that all the seeds remain intact, so when they drop them, they just re-grow

Dalton saw a Goanna so he had to take a picture

Next we stopped at Paronella Park - this park was started in the 1940s by a fellow from Spain, Jose Paronella, who came to Australia to make his fortune.  He came to the area as a laborer, in the sugar cane industry, made enough money to buy a piece of property.  He had some fabulous ideas of what he wanted to do, it was too bad he didn't have a construction or engineering background and the buildings he constructed did not last.  It was very interesting what he tried to do, he even had hydro electric power to generate all the electricity around the place.

By day

By night

This picture is taken from the picnic area, he built it so the townsfolk could come out and enjoy themselves at no expense.  He remembered what it was like to be poor

This waterfall was named after his daughter Teresa

This is called the grand staircase and if you can see the yellow plaque over half way up - that is where the water level was when the flood happened in 1962

This is a beautiful fountain situated in front of the house that they lived in

This is another set of fountains down below the castle

And this is the King of the Castle!!!

There is a campground on the property so we were able to stay there.  We toured it by day, it was really a beautiful, peaceful place and we toured it again at night.  A very different experience.  We all had flashlights and we had to carry umbrellas as it was bucketing down rain, you would have been drenched in about a minute.  It rained for about 30 of the 45 minute tour.  Unfortunately, our camera didn't like taking pictures in the dark so we only managed to get the one.