Stork's 4wd & Camping Adventures: Cape York

It rained last night, quite alot. I was up about 7am this morning and got the kettle on. Boris got up about 7.40am and needed his morning walk, so off we went. Craig joined us about 7.45am and on his way back from the loos, a fellow cornered him in front of the car for a chat - poor Craig hasn't even had his coffee yet and probably hasn't actually woken up properly either. Eventually we had cereal for breakfast, then packed up and were on the road by 9.40am. We're only travelling 50 or so klms today to Paronella Park, just south of Innisfail. We booked into Paronella Park yesterday while travelling out of Cairns and I'm very excited about seeing it finally.
We arrived about 12pm, after having a tour around Innisfail, Flying Fish Point and Ella Bay on our way here. Next time we're up this way we might stay at Flying Fish Point or Ella Bay - just gorgeous spots. We checked into Paronella Park and got our information pack and instructions. Drove up to the camping area which is attached to the park and had trouble finding our numbered site. Eventually asked a couple of campers with caravans what their site numbers were and realised we had to squeeze in between them both - to their surprise also, because neither of them realised there was another campsite between them. Never mind, Craig reversed in and we setup. Both neighbours are lovely and Craig introduced us to them. It was time to do some washing, after feeding the boy lunch. Craig past the time sitting on the grass chatting to our neighbours, until I informed him about 2.30pm he needed to have a nanna nap because he was getting grumpy - so that's what Boris & Craig did. Finally some peace & quite to tag & sort some of our photos on the computer.

Paronella Park - The Castle

Washing done, we dropped Boris off to the dog sitter (Paronella Park offer a dog sitting service for free, while you see the park) and we did the 3.30pm tour. Very informative guide we had for our tour with a great sense of humour, after the tour we wandered around the park - the man who built Paronella Park (Jose) built his dream and he has an amazing story but sadly no dairies were kept so his story isn't in writing, except for the info the park has on him. This park is amazing, it has been hydro powered since the 1930s, gardens are more natural regrowth now as apposed to the manicured European gardens that Jose created. It would have been wonderful to see the park in it's former glory. You should remember also, that the park has been hammered by 2 cyclones in recent years (Larry & Yasi), so they are still cleaning up from those. To find out more their website is www.paronellapark.com.au

Paronella Park - Lower Refreshment Rooms

Paronella Park - Mena Creek Falls

Paronella Park - Kauri Avenue

Paronella Park

Got back to camp about 5.45pm and started dinner early, because we are booked in for the 8.30pm night tour. Some of the buildings and waterfalls are lite up at night for the tour and look beautiful. The buildings take on a whole new appearance in the dark under lights. It was a really good tour and we had the same guide from our day tour. Got back to camp about 10pm and headed to bed.