The coach pulled in at about 7.45am and, after picking up some more passengers, we drove South to Gordonvale. Our driver and guide was a lady called Jane and she introduced all the passengers to each other. There was an English couple, a young German lady and four Taiwanese couples. Jane decided that I was a real and therefore the token Aussie on the trip and throughout the day called on me to educate the others on Australian ways and customs. I protested that I was really a Pommie but she said that I had been in Australia long before she was born. Jane always got her way. Actually she was great fun and a very good guide. I think she must have been a primary school teacher in a previous life as she kept reminding us all to make sure that we had been to the loo as the drive had long periods without facilities. Any way back to the trip.
We turned right at Gordonvale and took the Gillies Highway west up onto the Tablelands. This was a real winding road which meant that the little coach we were in was the largest vehicle that could made the turns without sliding down the hill. Some of our Taiwanese friends were a little scared and some came close to being travel sick but the efficient Jane had distributed airline sick bags in case of such an emergency. The road has 263 tight corners in only 19km. Fortunately we reached our first destination without any dramas. This was The Giant Curtain Fig.
The Giant Curtain Fig is reputedly over 600 years old. This is a strangler fig which had a seed dropped high in the trunk of a huge rainforest tree. The fig sent down aerial roots for nourishment and finally ended killing it host and leaving a spectacular curtain of roots. There is a board-walk giving access to the fig and Jane also pointed out other interesting attractions such as spiders as big as your hand.
Jane at Work
Jane rounded us all up and we were off to our next stop. This was Lake Barrine see:
http://www.lakebarrine.com.au/
This lake is the crater of a volcano and is kept full by the high average rainfall for the area. It is run by a family who have been organising trips on the lake for many years. The English couple, the German lady and I went on the cruise around the lake which takes about 45 minutes while the Taiwanese went on a wildlife walk conducted by Jane. The cruise was very interesting and we saw several pythons in the rainforest, lots of wild ducks, turtles and eels in the water and lots of massive Kauri trees in the rainforest.
Looking for Eels and Turtles
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A massive Kauri Pine
Looking back to the Tea Rooms
We had morning tea with scones, real cream and strawberry jam before we continued our drive. I spoke to the German lady, Katrina, who is doing her Phd in Educational Psychology in Melbourne and had flown up for a three day sightseeing trip. The English couple were on the third stage of a round the world trip.
Our next stop was south to the Millaa Millaa Falls in the Waterfalls National Park. These are spectacular and have a popular swimming hole at their base. Jane advised us not to swim here as the fall are fed by creeks flowing through cow paddocks up on the Tablelands and the water has a high concentration of contaminants in it. This didn't put off a large number of tourists swimming there when we arrived.
We now had a long drive to our next stop at Paronella Park where we would have lunch followed by a conducted tour of the park. Before setting off "school marm" Jane checked that we had all used the loo. We drove east back down the Palmerston Highway towards the town of Innisfail but turned south to Paronella Park before we reached there.
Before our conducted tour of the park we had a hot lunch. It was Quiche or Lasagne with a Vegetarian option followed by a selection of little sweet cakes. It was surprisingly tasty and filling. The tour was great as we were told the history of the park as we went along.
In brief, a Spanish migrant, Jose Paronella, had made money out of buying and selling sugar farms around Innisfail. In 1930 he indulged himself in building his own, what the English call a, folly. Over five years he built by hand two fake castles out of concrete reinforced by railway lines. A lake stocked with fish. Numerous other concrete structures and a ballroom with the first Disco Ball Light seen in Australia. He also built the first hydroelectric power station in the area and the whole complex was self powered from the waterfall. In short he built the first Theme Park in Australia,
From 1935 until the late 1970s the family operated the park when it was sold. The new owner had to cope with fire destroying the ballroom followed by a cyclone and the park was left to be swallowed up by the rainforest.
Jose was a baker back in Spain and a successful farm broker in Queensland but he was no civil engineer. His choice of concrete mix was not waterproof and gradually the concrete structures have decayed, the reinforcing railway lines have rusted away and the main structures have a severe case of concrete cancer.
In 1993 the present owners rediscovered the park and have re-opened it to the public. At their own expense they are restoring the park. I still has the many thousand of trees and shrubs planted by Jose and his family. Jose's house is still liveable and is now a museum. I have taken some photos shown below but the Parks Website gives s fuller history and more photos.
http://www.paronellapark.com.au/index.html
After the tour we had an hour to explore the gardens. I found that Jose had even constructed changing room for visitors swimming in the falls pool out of reinforced concrete which are in surprisingly good condition.
Some of the Concrete Structures
The Hydro
This was probably the highlight of my entire Escape to Cairns.
Next it was back through Innisfail to our next stop. Jane explained on the way that Innifail was originally called Geraldton after the original settler Mr Fitzgerald. Unfortunately it was a major port in its day but sailors in the 1870's kept getting muddled up between Geraldton in West Australia and Geraldton in Queensland in spite of them being a whole continent apart. Geraldton Queensland lost out and was renamed Innisfail after Mr Fitzgerald's hometown in Scotland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innisfail,_Queensland
Our next stop was at Babinda Boulders near the little sugar town of Babinda. There is an Aboriginal Legend about the Boulders at:
http://www.cairnsattractions.com.au/a_babinda-boulders.php
We were dropped of along the gorge and walked past the boulders to the swimming hole. This one is spring fed and along the gorge the water is drinkable. Here some of our group had a swim and we had after noon tea and cakes before driving back to Cairns wheer we arrive at 6.30pm.
The day had just flown by and I certainly didn't feel that we had driven 360km
At the end Jane gave me a hug and told me that the hotel receptionist had told her to look out for me as Margaret had died just three weeks before. Jane told me that I was doing well.
I had a steak burger in the Good Food Cafe before going to bed after a long and interesting day.
End of Part 4
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