Silkwood and Paronella Park

The journey from Townsville to Cairns was going to be rather long so we decided to break the journey staying at a scout campsite at a place called Silkwood. We rang the caretaker and were advised we could easily access the camp with the caravan as she said “we’ve had semi trailers in here”. There is quite a difference in ground clearance between a semi trailer and our low slung caravan. The road in started off fine but before long we were crawling on a narrow gravel track with potholes driving through a field of sugar cane and then alongside a river. We ended up in a clearing in the middle of a tropical rainforest which was a magic spot. Margaret (the caretaker) is a real character. She was of an ‘undeterminable’ age and she has lived there in her 10 foot caravan for 7 years. The scout building has a main hall, bunkroom, leaders room and showers and toilet. There is no power so she uses a generator. She has a pet chicken called “dook dook” and I think he’s a silky bantam (looks like he’s always wearing pyjamas), and if you go near him he starts ‘talking’ – quite cute really.  

That afternoon we visited popular Mission Beach, where we picked up two coconuts, and the town of Tully. Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts!
 

The following morning we headed off to Paronella Park, about 45 minutes drive. Jose Paronella came out from Spain at the beginning of the last century and worked on sugar cane farms until he had enough money to buy his own farm. He bought and sold sugar cane farms and made a lot of money. He discovered a parcel of land with a waterfall on it and bought it. He built a cottage on it for himself and his family. As a child he had always wanted to own a castle so went about building himself one. People travelling past came in to look at the castle and before long he was charging visitors to view. His wife made home made ice cream and sold it and with the money they developed the site further with swimming pool, tea gardens, movie theatre, and tropical rain forest walks. After the death of Jose and eventually his son, the park became neglected and was sold. The new owners have tried to reconstruct the old park but unfortunately Jose used local sand in the concrete to build his castle and other buildings and due to impurities in the sand, the buildings have started to fall down due to concrete cancer where the concrete deteriorates from the inside out. It was still a very interesting place to visit and we found some turtles near the river bank. Photo of waterfall.
 

Remains of castle
 

Turtles
 

In the afternoon we travelled to Innisfail and had lunch on the waterfront. We travelled back to camp via Etty Bay
 

and Kurrimine Beach where we spotted a pair of Cassowaries. These birds are protected as numbers are declining. Photo-male in foreground and female behind..
 

Off to the Atherton Tablelands above Cairns tomorrow.