Paronella Park
Paronella Park – The Dream continues…….
On our last trip up north to Cairns, we decided we needed to visit the Winner of #1 Must do in QLD, Paronella Park and it does not disappoint.
There is something magical about the ruins of a castle, covered in vines. This is the perfect spot to explore, imagine and daydream.
Feed turtles, walk through gardens and get lost in the imagination of what it would have been like in its heydey.
Jose Paronella had a dream, a dream to build a castle.
And 120kms south of Cairns In 5 Hectares just behind Mena Creek falls, that is what he did.
He not only built a castle but tennis courts, bridges, picnic areas and over 7500 tropical plants and trees.
Back when it was an operational castle it also had a movie theatre which on the weekend would be transformed into an amazing space for live music, complete with a giant ball of mirrors.
For many years the Paronella’s invited the public to join them in their Spanish inspired castle complete with North Queensland’s first Hydro Electric pump, that powered the 13-acre site. The public enjoyed visiting the Castle from 1935 when it opened until 1946.
When tragedy struck.
Upstream from the park work was done and lots of trees and bushes were cleared, when the wet season came, all those logs and debris went down the river, and piled against the railway bridge destroying it. This became like a domino effect, sending the bridge, the trees, logs all down towards the castle.
The Paronella’s were upset to find the Hydro damaged, the refreshment almost destroyed, and the Theatre and foyer damaged. But they were not broken…. They began to rebuild.
The rebuilt Park stayed in the Paronella family until 1977. When they sold it.
In 1979 tragedy struck again with a fire that devastated the castle, followed by significant damage in 1986 by Cyclone Winifred, A flood in January 1994, Cyclone Larry in 2006, and Cyclone Yasi in 2011.
This has all contributed to the ghostly shell of the castle you see today. Something so magical to see.
When the current owners purchased the park in 1993 they too had a dream…. A dream to rebuild the legacy of the park and put it back on the map as a must see Tourist attraction.
They have restored the Hydroelectric system (Original 1930’s). They are preserving the castle, without rebuilding.
Paronella Park… the dream continues.
Make sure you check out some of our other favorite places we visited.
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The photos are almost hauntingly beautiful. I’ll have to check out this park when I’m next in Cairns!
Wow- what a beautiful and historic place. It reminds me a bit of Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater- the water that made it so beautiful also wreaked havoc on the house!
Wow when you talk of Cairns all you hear is GBR, Daintree, Cap Trib and Kuranda. I had never heard of this place. Putting it on my list if I ever go back, it does look straight out of a fairtytale, the slightly darker kinds though.
Love the haunted aspect with the moss covered benches and tables and the shell of the castle. What a great place for filming a movie
Looks like such a beautiful place. Definitely adding this one to the list.
I never knew that this place exist. I was in Cairns but I’ve never visited here. Time to make a second trip make there and this time include Paronella park.
We were the same the first two times we visited Cairns we never went, until by chance we saw the brochure in our hotel lobby.
It’s really cool to see that they have preserved such a unique/extravegent castle. Is the movie theater with the mirrors still around?
I have to admit that I did not know about Paronella Park before reading this. We did a road trip in QLD earlier this year, and I wish we’d had this knowledge! Thank you very much for the enlightenment – we will include it in our itinerary next time for sure 🙂
Your pictures make the place look really enchanting – and it’s so enriching that you give so many details on the castle’s history. This way it’s truly like visiting.
The amount of times I’ve traveled in this region and yet I’ve never even heard of this place, how exciting! I’ll just have to go back again now!
Paronella Park looks absolutely amazing! I didn’t even know about it before reading this post but now I want to visit badly. Thank you for sharing this awesome post!
Looks like such a beautiful place. Definitely adding this one to the list. Nice post