Paronella Park

Located just inland from Innisfail is Paronella Park. Created by a young Spaniard, Jose Paronella who decided after making his fortune in North Queensland, that he would go and bring back the love of his life, and build her a castle.

The thing is - he built it all by hand, and brought in all the "new technology" of it's day.

Unfortunately, he used the wrong sand in his concrete - and now the whole place is decaying because of the mica in the sand causing it to explode. 

What an amazing place! This was the first place in Australia to have its own hydro electricity, a ballroom that could hold 400 people, a 2 metre glass mirror ball, tennis courts, a waterfall to drive the hydro system, a "tunnel of love", and even ice cream for all the visitors.

Three floods, two cyclones and many other natural disasters, and Paronella Park is now in ruins, but a new enthusiast bought the park 15 years ago, and they are starting to rebuild. Because it is heritage listed, there have been lots of red tape and hoops to jump through, but now they have been approved to spend over $1m and rebuild the ballroom to its former glory.

Everything is made by hand - even the 8,000 vertical supports for the railings. 47 steps in the staircase had to be installed first before they could start on any of the buildings. His hand prints are all throughout the structures because he plastered all the walls. 

Google it and read the story!! Simply Amazing!!

Looking Forward - Looking Back in Atherton

This week has been 'full on' - but it has seen God work His wonders.

Early in the week, I headed out to Atherton Cemetery to pressure clean my Nana and Pops (Dad's parents) graves. I met a stonemason there who went to school with - and sat beside Peter Beattie for 3 years - poor fellow, but he was a wealth of knowledge about the local community and history.

I have inserted some before and after shots, and then we found my Mum's mother's grave. Unfortunately, my Mum's father passed away at 41 - he was a war hero in World War 1, and died of his injuries. He is buried in Millaa Millaa cemetery, and seems very lonely.
We had intended spreading my Mum's ashes over the Malanda or Millaa Millaa Falls, but since seeing how their graves have come up after being cleaned, we decided to spread half her ashes with her Dad in Millaa Millaa , and the other half with her Mum at Atherton.

This week has been so exciting - family wise.

Last Sunday we attended Northpointe Community Church, where a great mate - Daniel Askey-Doran from Maroochy Baptist Church - which has been renamed Lifepointe Baptist Church. Not sure what that all means? Daniel heads up the Mens Ministry there, and what a great bunch of guys they are.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sharing a project with them. Painting the downstairs area for a single mum who has been trying to sell her house for almost 12 months.

On Tuesday, Judy was in the community showers and her a familiar voice. Turns out our friends Ken and Carmel Small were parked two caravans down from us - and had been there for 3 days! This couple were a large part of our lives when our children were born, as their kids were only months apart from ours. Ken and I worked together for several years, and it has been almost 30 years since we have seen them. How awesome is that??

Unfortunately, their son Steven passed away doing what he loved last year - playing rugby league. He was also coaching a couple of other junior grades, so he was loved and respected by his peers and his teams. We were able to have some valuable time with them and even prayed for them before they headed off next morning. Lo and behold, as they were hooking up the van, the L bolt on the jockey wheel broke, dropping the van A frame inches from his feet. I knew my Hi-Lift Jack would come in handy some time, so we were able to lift the van and back the Nissan back under the tow bar so they could get going.

Then earlier in the week, I found my long lost cousin. Ronda and her husband Peter live at Tolga, and they had recently purchased a secondhand Bushtracker and been out to Camooweal. We have had some amazing chats about our families and we will catch up with her mum and sister when we get to Cairns in a week. Ronda and Peter helped us put half of my Mum's ashes in beside her mother's grave - and later we went and put the other half in her father's grave at Millaa Millaa cemetery.  Great times!!

We had an awesome time in Atherton!! Over a month, and we met so many wonderful people and after spending time with Geoff and Mary Parry and their beautiful daughter Louise and her husband Gavin - who spoiled us and took us everywhere.  Gav, Geoff and I even had a "boys' day" 4 wheel driving with a batch of guys from across the Tablelands. Don't ask me how to get there again.

 We then headed down to Mossman. Three nights in Mossman, a day at the Mossman Gorge which is now run by our indigenous friends, was the first time we saw the beautiful Ulysses butterflies.

Then down to Cairns for a week's rest and recreation. We stayed at the Cairns Holiday Park in the middle of town. We had a wonderful day on the train up to Kuranda, and caught the Skyrail back down the mountain. Judy was totally worn out at the end of the day - as everywhere is uphill. The Butterfly House is absolutely awesome, and you learn so much about these beautiful creatures. My suggestion if ever you intend going there - buy a tour price, as the Skyrail ends up 20klms out of Cairns, so a tour bus will drop you at the station and pick you up and drop you back at your accommodation later.

We also went to the Cairns Night Zoo - wonderful experience. We met two young newlyweds from Colorado. He was a prison officer and she a medical company rep. It was also her 30th birthday, and she just couldn't wait to hold a koala.  Wonderful experience especially when they found that they had escaped from the drop bears on Hook Island without injury.

Unfortunately, two days after coming back from Kuranda, we found Judy had shingles. Ronda, my cousin in Tolga, recommended a doctor in Cairns and he was great. We had caught it within the 3 initial days, so he was able to give her some heavy drugs. While you can't cure shingles, you can reduce the effect, and those are very painful.

We had an wonderful time in Cairns as well - but all good things must come to an end - and we started headed back towards the Sunshine Coast for Christmas.

My Dad's mum and dad's graves in Atherton - BEFORE

Their graves after the pressure clean

My mother's father's grave in Millaa Millaa - a WW1 hero

A beautiful Ulyses butterfly in Kuranda

My cousin Ronda, my aunty Norma, and Ronda's sons

On the Kuranda train heading up past the Barren Falls

Enjoying a great day on the train - the day Judy got shingles!

Mareeba Airshow and Granite Gorge National park

Sunday the 19th August, was the Mareeba Warbirds Airshow. We headed out there and were surprised at the roll up. Mareeba was the staging ground for the American and Australian Army and Air Forces during the World War 2. Over 100,000 troops were located here and hundreds of aircraft, 1000's of tons of munitions, factories and equipment.

Mareeba is also the Northern Australia service base for MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) repairing and servicing all of their aircraft from Timor, NT and New Guinea. MAF have recently purchased 5 four year old Cessna Skyvans from a Western Australia company who went into liquidation. These will provide a larger, more reliable aircraft where their 30+ year old aircraft are causing some reliability and service issues.

We got to go for a walk through their paintshop, workshops and office areas, and to chat to a great team of Christians who are using their God given gifts to earn their incomes, but build the Kingdom through "loving their neighbours' across the Southern Hemisphere.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we drove through Herberton and Mt Hypipamee National Park, where we stumbled across a cassowary mum and her three chicks.

We have another 10 days here at Atherton, before we move across to Cairns and Cooktown. We have been attending Atherton Baptist Church over the past couple of Sundays, but this coming Sunday we will head across to Atherton Northpoint Church where an old mate - Daniel Askey-Doran (ex Maroochy Baptist CHurch) and his family attend. It's great to share "the love".

Below are a few photos of our past few days.

Geoff and Gav in the cockpit of the DC3

The Cathedral Fig Tree in Danbulla State Forest

A "Pitts Special burnout"

The Curtain Fig Tree in Danbulla State Forest 

A mother rock wallaby and her baby came to say hello at Granite Gorge

A Cassowary Mum and her three chicks - VERY RARE!!

Gillies Range and Lake Eacham

Saturday the 17th August, Louise and Gavin took us on a "mystery drive". From Atherton out to "The Chimneys" - and old homestead where only the chimneys are left, on to Lake Euramoo - a cavity created by some volcanic vents. This lake is not fed by anything but runoff - and has no creeks that empty into the surrounding areas.

Next we turned off to the Cathedral Fig - an enormous fig tree that you can actually walk 'into' - another fig not far from here is the Curtain Fig - just as old, just as enormous and home to dozens of birds nest ferns and hundreds of tiny finches and beautiful birds.

5 klms of 4 wheel driving and then on to Gillies Range Lookout. What a stunning view!! They had never been there before, and WOW - what a place to have lunch. (Photos below). Not until you actually get out of the car and walk across to the small plateau, do you realise the immensity of the Atherton Tablelands. The small area is all fenced off as the Cairns Parasailing Club jump off the ridge - down into the Gillies Valley. Looking north you can see Goldsborough - and looking east through the valley past Mt Bartle Freer - is Babinda.

All packed up after a barbie lunch, we headed back towards Lake Eacham.  This and Lake Barrine are two volcanic craters, and together the form the Crater Lakes National Park. Both lakes are formed by volcanic explosions, and neither lake has streams that run into or out of the lakes. They are both freshwater and have a constant depth of around 65m. We loaded the kayaks into the lake and Geoff and I paddled slowly out to the middle.

As we were looking across the lake, a voice called out - "Can you help us please?" Two young boys were struggling to swim back to shore, as their two mates had swum off and left them to fend for themselves. Great mates those two!!

Initially I had them both hanging onto the back of my kayak, but eventually Geoff caught up and we shared the load. Later on their Mum came and thanked us, but they were really starting to struggle, so if we had gone the other way around the lake, the ending might not have been as happy. The lake is approximately 1 klm across - and being fresh water, is not so buoyant.

It is sooooo awesome to come back to "my roots" - and see names such as Tolga, Malanda and Millaa Millaa where my family all grew up. If you get the chance, and your parents are still alive and healthy, sit down and record their stories - because once the pass on - your history - is "just that - HISTORY!!

The Cathedral Fig - near Yungaburra

The Chimneys - out in the Danbulla Forest Drive

The Gillies Range Lookout - looking towards Mt Bartle Freer and across to Babinda.
You can see the removable gates to allow the hang gliders to launch

Looking north to Goldsborough and Mt Pyramid

The first thing you see as you come up over the ridge!
The Gillies Highway is directly below the lookout.

Lake Eacham - looking across to where we found the boys drowning

Finally in Atherton

On Friday 9th August we arrived in Atherton. Booking into the Big4 Woodlands we found that they had mixed up our booking, but they found a spot for us and our "Return to the Tablelands" has begun.

We met Geoff and Mary Parry, and their daughter Louise in Innisfail, had lunch at the RSL, and Geoff and I "did the boy thing" (walking around the streets chatting to locals and other grey nomads) while the girls did the shopping thing. Innisfail is a beautiful "large country town" - and provides access to lots of places including Paronella Park and the Undara Lava Tubes. We will be back to spend some tourist time on the way back.  We parked the Kingdom out on the main road with Misty enjoying some "sleep in" while we all went shopping.

Innisfail is an 'art deco' city, with even the water tower getting in on the act. The Greeks and Italians all settled here back in the 1930's growing tobacco and sugar cane. The North Johnson River curves around through the end of the main street - and the South Johnson River meets it at the intersection. Three bridges criss cross over the South Johnson - linking the Bruce Highway to the city.

The Atherton Tablelands is where all of the Hannah's and Ellson's (my Mum's family) raised their families. Dad was one of 11 boys and 4 girls, and most of them lived at Malanda - 300m from the Malanda Falls. Mum spent time at Tolga, Yungaburra, Kairi (pronounced Kireye) and Danbulla - which is a 'region' and not town.

As you have heard, we have Mum's ashes with us, and once we make contact with a few remaining cousins and aunts, we will arrange a "dedication" to Mum by spreading her ashes over Malanda Falls. Being here on the Tablelands is a lot different to my initial images, as there is so much distance between towns, and to hear Mum's stories about her and Dad walking to dances and going to school 'miles away' just blows my mind. Gavin and Louise have been awesome tour guides, as they have lived here for 8 years.

Gavin is a "Special Ed leader" for the Tablelands region, and they graciously took us out to Lake Tinnaroo on Saturday and Sunday for some beautiful rest and lunch. We attended Atherton Baptist Church where we met some beautiful Kingdom people.

Mum enjoying returning to her homeland with a glass of bubbly and a strawberry.

What an amazing location - knitting, joking and toasting 'Living in the Kingdom'.

Looking across Lake Tinnaroo at sunset. There are ten separate camping sites around the lake.

Setting up the red claw traps - unfortunately they didn't receive our email!

FOUR NIGHTS IN TOWNSVILLE

We left Charters Towers and drove towards Townsville, noticing the landscape changing as we got nearer to Townsville.  The forest and countryside was becoming green, something we hadn't seen a lot of in the inland places.  We found Townsville huge, it takes a good 40 minutes to traverse the city, ring roads everywhere.  Parts of Townsville can be pretty ordinary and uninteresting, but there are nice parks and green areas, and an area on the beach called the Strand.  This has had a lot of work applied to it, to enhance its image and amenities.  Directly across the water is Magnetic Island.  We had the most delicious gelato ice-cream down there, I would have loved to go back for more, but we didn't.

Sunday morning saw us at North Reach Baptist Church, a very good church with good teaching.  I met a lady a bit older than me at morning tea and she invited us home for lunch.  After a lot of conversation, we realised that our mutual parents had been good friends.  Small world.......

Castle Hill is in the middle of Townsville and is surrounded by the town.  Many athletes train by running up there and we encountered many on our way up.  Of interest was an athlete cooling station, a horizontal pole emitting a fine water vapour, which I am sure would go down a treat after running up the mountain.  There would have been easily a hundred people going up and down.  We had bought a new camera that day, so it got a workout up there.

We left Townsville on Monday morning (5th August), heading north.

A view of Townsville Harbour/Port

Townsville from Castle Hill, one view of many

Another View

A monument on Castle Hill

From Castle Hill

THREE NIGHTS IN CHARTERS TOWERS

Charters Towers......  The only thing I could remember about it from Social Studies at primary school was that there are boarding schools there.  There was, so that vindicated my memory still works somewhat.  Funny the things you don't remember, like the fact that Charters Towers only exists because of the gold that was mined there from about the late 1800's.  Obviously that didn't resonate with me......

We arrived late in the day from the long trip from Moranbah.  The first day we went to Towers Hill, where gold was found and the goldrush started.  Towers Hill was also very important during WW2, there are many ruins of bunkers dotted all over the Hill, one of which we entered.  There was once a very tall chimney stack, but the Yanks insisted that it be blown up because it was too easy to see for the Japs!  The base is still there, Peter walked down to see it.  There was a very knowledgeable chap up there who told us a lot of facts.

Next day we went to Charters Towers Show, which was your typical country show.  Today we wished we hadn't, as we've run out of time to see more important things of interest.  Today I woke up very exhausted from the previous two busy days.  We had wanted to go to Undara Lava Tubes, but did not realise it was so far away.  That will have to wait for another day.

Tomorrow morning we take off to Townsville.  It will be nice to see the sea again.  We have a few things to do in Townsville as well as looking around.

Watch this space.............

Charters Towers Show Street Performers

Towers Hill view of Charters Towers

Towers Hill on top

View of Charters Towers from Towers Hill

From Towers Hill

Displays Towers Hill Lookout

Fireworks at the Show from my iPhone

Rotary Lookout Charters Towers

The story of the Venus Gold Battery

Inside Venus Gold Battery a mill for miners to take their ore for processing

Inside the Venus Gold Battery

At the end of the tour there was a projector sending pictures of the original mill owner.  The image was being projected onto two sheets of water squirting down.  You can see it in the middle of the photo.