MMISSION BEACH TO PARONELLA PARK

MISSION BEACH TO PARONELLA PARK
After the busy day at the reef I felt rather tired so we decided to stay another day at Mission Beach for some R & R (haven?t had much of that lately!!) We stayed in the Dunk Island View Caravan Park and our site (19) was grassy and surrounded by trees so it was quite pleasant. This park is actually at Wongaling Beach between Mission and South Mission. You just walk across the road to the beach for a great view of Dunk Island and of course other islands as well. The sea is very blue so it?s a pretty scene. Lots of Victorians stay here for the winter and they all ride their bikes on the beach.
This whole area is the habitat of the cassowary which is becoming an endangered species as the dense rainforest is being diminished by greedy developers. The town planning schemes allow for a population of 18,000 at Mission Beach which has a current population of 4000. At present cassowaries occupy 100% of their available habitat. When the chicks are eighteen months old they are chased away by their parents to establish their own territory. As all the territories are currently ?occupied?, the chicks will not be able to establish their own areas unless there is a death and therefore they will likely die of starvation or predators such as dogs. So they are really an endangered species!! Luckily there seems to be a rather enthusiastic environmental group in the area so hopefully they will be able to fend off the sharks.
PARONELLA PARK
Paronella Park is south of Innisfail and north of Tully at Mena Creek on the Cane Cutters Way which used to be the old Bruce Highway. It is the work of one man, Jose Paronella who had a dream to build a castle. It was recently voted as No 1 out of the 150 ?must do? in Queensland.
Jose arrived in Innisfail from Spain in 1913 to make a new start. He worked hard for 11 years creating wealth by buying, improving and selling cane farms. He found a beautiful selection of virgin forest alongside Mena Creek Falls which ideal for his castle. He returned to Spain to discover his fianc? was married so he proposed to her sister and they returned to Paronella Park, built a cottage and Jose started building his castle. The whole castle, with turrets and balustrades and all the surrounding buildings, were designed by the enterprising Jose and built from cement using the sand from the creek. He first built a giant staircase to carry the materials up to the castle site ?an amazing feat.
He built the first hydro electric scheme in North Queensland to power the park. In 1935 it was opened to the paying public and became the entertainment area of the district with a picnic area by the waterfall with boating and swimming on the lake. There was a tennis court, a cafe and changing rooms for the swimmers. He built a theatre which also acted as a ballroom with live bands playing on the weekends. The park was always popular meeting place.
Over 7000 trees were planted including an avenue of kauri that now tower over the forest. There are paths winding through out the forest with bridges and waterfalls and even a lovers tunnel. Jose was continually adding more features and buildings.
In 1946 a flood destroyed the refreshment rooms and a lot of the trees but 6 months later the park was reopened for business.
Jose died in 1948 and the park was run by the family until 1972 when it was sold. A fire later destroyed the castle leaving only the turrets and the walls. Floods and a cyclone pounded the park and it fell into disrepair and became overgrown. In 1993 Mark and Judy Evans, the current owners, rediscovered the almost lost park and set about restoring it. In 2006 it was battered by Cyclone Larry. The concrete in the remaining buildings have concrete cancer as Jose used old railway lines for re-enforcing steel so there is huge restoration work to be done.
Today visitors are taken on guided tours by day and night to relive the story of the amazing achievement of this one man. Patrons can spend many hours wandering through the rain forests in the park and is now once again a popular and unusual tourist destination.