Posting Comments - Help for you!!

Hi Everyone,
We have had a few readers having issues with posting a comment on our blog. I have done some problem solving to help you. This is from our blogger help page:

"If you attempt to access the blog via an iPhone or iPad and wish to add a comment, 
yes it will let you type in your comment and click publish, however the comment will not reach the author in order to be published".

"This is an iOS/Browser issue with iPhones & iPads".

"There is nothing that Blogger can change to fix this. You need to try another browser and note that  there are still scripting issues that are not supported by iOS that keep certain functionality from working".

"Please note: A desktop or laptop computer is the only device that allows comments".

Very frustrating I realise, as most people now use mobile devices! But that's technology - it has been designed to make us want to throw the damned things out the window, preferably from a 100 storey building for true satisfaction!

Anyway, hope this helps you understand the issue! For those using desktops/laptops you need to do the following:

• At the bottom of each post you will see 'No Comment' or 'Comments' 

• Click on this, type your comment along with who it's from 

• Then click the drop down box below which says 'Comment as'

• Choose 'Anonymous' then click publish.

We will receive notification via both email and our blog that there is a new comment awaiting moderation which we can then publish for you and post a reply to.

Please be patient in wanting to see your comment published, as we are not always within phone reception areas where we can use our internet. 

 Mark & Lil 

xox

Paronella Park

Hello to everyone again!

On Thursday 7^th November, we stayed at Paronella Park. This is another place we had on our list of must do’s and it was even more wonderful than I had imagined. It was built in the 1930’s by a Spaniard called Jose Paronella. His dream was to build a Spanish Castle and a place where people could come and relax. When he arrived in Qld in he worked extremely hard buying, improving and selling cane farms around the Innisfail area to make money. Cane cutting in those days was dreadfully backbreaking work and all done by hand. The canecutters battled heat, humidity, drenching rain, insects, snakes, rats and diseases, rashes from the plants and had very basic accommodation. Their main diet was corned beef and damper. Jose came across Mena Creek Falls, a gorgeous part of the rainforest up here, fell in love with the area and decided it would be a fabulous place to create his dream. He purchased the land adjoining a neighbouring cane farm for 120 pounds. There is a great deal more to his story but it would take me ages to tell you, so if you are interested go to www.paronellapark.com.au to learn so much more about Jose and how he made his dream of a castle in the rainforest come true. It is really well worth looking at, and if you ever come up this way, be sure to visit Paronella Park. You will be taken back in time and spellbound by the magical feeling of this truly beautiful creation that one man dreamt of and managed to create and achieve through his labour of love, despite incredible adversity, heat, the wet seasons, floods, and cyclones.

The cost was $80 which included 1 overnight stay in the caravan park on the grounds, a day tour, a night tour, unlimited time to walk around and explore, plus 3 hrs of Wi Fi internet access. It was worth every cent and a fantastic deal!

The tours are a wealth of information, and the tour guides are great people. We found the whole experience a lot of fun. The day tour gives you such an insight into the amazing dream and creation of Jose. We had to use umbrellas while walking around the denser trees due to the millions of fruit bats – you have to be careful and dodge them because apparently their poo is incredibly sticky! Mark thought our tour guide said share one umbrella between two – he obviously wasn’t listening, because everyone else had an umbrella each! So me being me with the camera, I kept walking off to take my photos, forgetting about the bats! I was lucky, no bat poo on me! The night tour was kind of spooky while walking around in the rainforest at night with a torch, strange and eerie noises coming at you, but most certainly a new experience for us! There is a great deal of beautiful emotional energy here, and I became a little teary a few times. The staff say they feel it also and people we did the tours with said the same thing. It left a huge impression on us that will stay with us for a very long time.

I hope you enjoy these photos!

Mark & Lil & Millie

xox

Our site at Paronella Park

View from the Suspension Bridge over Mena Creek Falls - 'The Castle' left and the 'Picnic Area' below

View from the 'Picnic Area' looking up to the Suspension Bridge and Mena Creek Falls. The rock in front of the balustrade used to have a diving platform on it. The building on tall pillars to the right houses the Hydro Electric Plant. The catastrophic 1946 floods came up above the cliff face, washing away the Top Gardens in front of the Paronella family's cottage and a tree crashed into the Hydro Electric Plant damaging the entire system.

Photos of the 1946 floods - How heartbreaking!

On our Night Tour

The Grand Staircase - 47 steps! Jose built this first so that building materials could be taken up or down. If you look very closely, you will see 2 of the steps have plaques depicting flood levels. There is a 3rd plaque behind the fern. 

View from the top of 'The Grand Staircase' It's a very steep descent! The planters were hand moulded by Jose and he made 500 of them!

'The Lower Refreshment Rooms' - to the right is the balcony where Jazz musicians played. Where I am standing is part of the dance area and tennis courts. The fern next to the balcony was looked at by a team from Gardening Australia and estimated to be 800 years old!!

Lit up for the Night Tour - music was playing which added to the feeling of stepping back in time and imagining the Jazz musicians playing, people dancing and eating and having a marvellous time!

Kauri Avenue - a spectacular sight to see and walk through. All the Kauri Pines here were planted by the Paronella family from seeds they were given and then grown into seedlings before being planted.

The front entrance to 'The Tunnel of Love' - Jose used a hand pick to remove the clay for building purposes. The back entrance is next to Teresa Creek Falls.

The rear entrance to the Tunnel. Our tour guide took people through. Mark went in - I chose not to. The guide said it was full of Microbats AND lots of spiders on the walls! No lights in there!! NO WAY MAN!!!

'The Ballroom' - this is joined to 'The Castle'. This was used for dances, weddings and film nights. Jose had a huge mirrored ball made in America that hung from the ceiling. The Ballroom was damaged by the 1946 floods, a fire also swept through and more recently, Cyclone Yasi in 2011. 

Yep, apparently this big boy lives here on the property!! YIKES!! The staff see him all the time!!

More of the Atherton Tablelands

Hi Everyone, here are some more pictures from the Atherton Tablelands.


Free camping at Winfield Park a few kms out of Malanda on the Johnstone River. We stayed here for 7 days and explored the area.



Mark caught a lot of Black Bream, also know as a Sooty Grunter, but sadly they were mainly little ones!




Hypipamimee Crater (pronounced: Hy-pip-a-mim-ee) It's a very long way to the bottom! Mark is just a little tiny bit scared!

 



Millstream Falls. You can't walk to the bottom of these, but the track to get here was very long and steep. Not a nice easy walk back up!

Milla Milla Lookout. The views up here are just so breathtaking! The two big mountains are Mt Bellenden Ker (left) & Mt Bartle Frere (right). These two mountains are visible from most of the Tablelands. All the scenery and mountain ranges are spectacular and you never tire of the view! The coast is behind these mountain ranges; just a little to the left of Bellenden Ker is Cairns, and further up is Port Douglas. We drove up along there on our way to the Lions Den and came back down through the Tablelands.

Close up of Mt Bartle Frere, Qld's highest mountain. You can see a bit of Mt Bellenden Ker just behind it to the left. Babinda is nestled in the valley between these two mountains.

 

 

 

 

Whoa! The Giant Kauri Tree Trunk! The photo below shows one trunk cut into four pieces!







Milla Milla Falls. A popular swimming spot.

Zillie Falls. You can't walk to the bottom of these and it was difficult to see much.

 

Below is the strange looking tree on the track down to Ellinja Falls.



Ellinja Falls





Crawfords Lookout as you come down the Palmerston Highway towards Innisfail. This was incredible and looks over the North Johnstone River. Below is a close up.

 

At Liverpool Creek in the hinterland, 20 kms from Innisfail

I have posted these pictures while we are staying at Paronella Park, and will post pictures of it as soon as I get the chance. We are going back up into the Tablelands past Ravenshoe to stay at Archer Creek and there is no reception there.

 

 

Cheers!

Mark & Lil & Millie





The Crater Lakes

Hi Everyone, I thought I would do a small post about the Crater Lakes that I think you will all like. Not to mention the fact that the blog takes up a fair amount of time when I am uploading the photos, so I decided do this quick one. 

Jacaranda Tree in Yungaburra - these beautiful trees are plentiful in the Tablelands

Amazing Crater Lakes! We went for a short drive into the Crater Lakes National Park to visit Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine. These stunning crater lakes are hidden in the World Heritage Rainforest and were created by underground lakes being disrupted by volcanic activity which occurred several times. Each time the volcanoes erupted, the water heated up, the craters became bigger and once the final eruptions had settled, craters were left behind that filled once again with underground water. The water in each lake is a pristine blue and quite clear. 

Lake Eacham is very popular for swimming and has a 3 km circuit perimeter with a walkway all the way around interspersed with BBQ's, picnic tables, and a Saw-shell Turtle Lookout, which we were lucky enough to see! I just love these cute creatures! These turtles have the unique ability to breathe through their bottoms! There are stairs leading into the water plus a swimming dock you can dive off. It's a very popular recreation spot for locals and visitors.

Lake Barrine has a 5 km circuit perimeter which entails walking along part dirt and part boardwalk. We were stunned at the incredible height and extremely wide girth of the Rainforest Giants, the Twin Kauri Pines. Their 45 metre height meant I couldn't manage to step far back enough to capture them in full. They are believed to be over 1000 years old. There is also a delightful Teahouse overlooking the lake serving scrumptious goodies. 

The gardens are stunning and full of colour. I had a lovely time walking around admiring it and taking lots of photos! There are so many times I keep thinking about you Lorraine, and just how much you would love all the gardens we see!! You and I would spend hours just soaking it all up! 

For $20 per adult you can take a river boat cruise around the lake and hopefully be lucky enough to see the amazing wildlife up close. Not that we would particularly want to see some of them up close! Poor Mark got such a fright; he was walking along the path, looking out to the lake, when he looked down and a huge black snake was lying across the path! Ugh!

Each lake has an abundance of wildlife, including the Saw-shelled Turtles, Eastern Water Dragons, Amethystine Pythons and pretty birdlife. It's nice just to stand and listen to the birds chirping and flitting about in the trees, it sounds like listening to a CD of relaxation music. 

We really enjoyed the beauty of these Lakes and spent quite a bit of time at each one, especially Lake Barrine as I kind of managed to wander off by myself while admiring the gardens, and Mark had no idea where I'd gotten to. That's me though, give me a garden and I  lose myself in nature!!

Gorgeous gardens leading down to Lake Barrine & The Teahouse

The Lake Barrine Teahouse  looks out over the lake

Giant Kauri Pines - an 80 metre walk from the Teahouse

Lake Eacham

There are many more of these Crater Lakes dispersed around the area, however they are much smaller than these two. Hope you enjoyed this little post of the Crater Lakes!

Love Mark, Lil

&

Millie

xox

 Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature

  ~  Kelly Sheaffer ~