In 1913, Spaniard Jose Paronella arrived in Australia with the dream of building a castle. In 1935 he opened the park to the public, showing movies on Saturday night and hosting dances and parties. More than 7000 trees were planted by Jose and a hydro electric generating plant was commissioned in 1933 to supply power to the whole park, the earliest in North Queensland. . After Jose’s passing, family members took over the property but a series of fires, floods and cyclones kept setting back the work. Finally in 1993, the property was sold out of the family to its current owners, Mark and Judy Evans who formulated a plan to put the Park back on the map. Today they conduct day and night tours and the money raised is put into the renovations.
We decided to camp here for the night. It is free to camp if you pay the entry fee. This meant that we were able join the night tour where you see the whole property lit up (which is magical and well worth it), and then take a wonder around the property in the morning when the sun came up, including a visit the cafe. The hot chocolate is a very sweet and decadent milk chocolate sprinkled with what tasted to me like Cadbury milk choc flakes on top. Of course, since we are in Australia, white and pink marshmallows are always included. Given the Spanish heritage of the place, perhaps a thick Spanish hot chocolate would have been more fun!
Paronella Park, 1671 Japoonvale Rd, Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia
