NORTH QLD ADVENTURE - DAY 14 – MAMU TROPICAL SKYWALK & AN OVER NIGHT STAY AT PARONELLA PARK.

 We’ve enjoyed our stay at Mission Beach, it really is a very beautiful part of our country but our time here has come to an end and it is time to move on. 

 Tonight, we are book in at Paronella Park.  We have been here before but that was seven years ago. 

 We didn’t have to rush this morning as Paronella Park is only 60kms away, and we are unable to book into the van park there before 11am.

 In the end we pulled out of the van park just after 9am so we had a very leisurely trip to Paronella arriving there just before 10am. 

A visit to Paronella Park is definitely value for money.  Admission was $48 each and $44 if you are a senior, (we paid $40, seven years ago) and that cost includes a free overnight stay in their Caravan Park, a guided evening tour around the park, and a half hour day tour around the park also.  You could then send the rest of the day there wandering around to your hearts content, and then to top it all off, you get a free admission ticket to the park for the next two years, so can come back numerous times if you like. 

 The owners Mark and Judy were wonderful hosts, just like they did seven years ago, they still greeted everyone as they arrived which really does make you feel very welcome.   Even from the car park Mark was aware of our booking and handed us a little tag directing us to our site in the caravan park and we were informed that it would be ready for us within half an hour.  We were given the option of parking up in the carpark and heading up to do our Covid paperwork, and receive our arm bands and collect maps etc so as to be ready to explore once we had parked our van in the caravan park and were settled in.

 Interestingly enough we were given the same site that we stayed in 7 years ago when we were last here.  Each van site is quite secluded, close to all amenities.  The amenities were great, the showers were spacious, very clean, when we arrived but with a bit of rain, they soon became a little messy with everyone trapsing in with their wet feet.  This time there were no fresh flowers in the amenities like there were the last time we visited.

 The staff at Paronella couldn’t have been more friendly.  They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and answer any of our questions.  We also wanted to book some tickets to the Mamu Tropical skywalk whilst we were there.  (We were told early by friends if you purchase tickets to Paronella Park you can get a good discount of tickets to the skywalk.  Normally a ticket to the Skywalk is $22, but by buying them at Paronella, we got our tickets for $16 each.  

Whilst we were doing our Covid paperwork, the staff booked us to do the night tour at 8pm so that we had time to have dinner first, and they also booked a table at the Mena Creek Hotel for us to have dinner at 6pm that evening also.

 When we purchased the tickets for the skywalk, they suggested that we could do that this afternoon, therefore leaving the van behind, then doing the night tour of Paronella this evening and the day tour first thing in the morning… This made good sense to us, as we really didn’t want to tow the van half way to the Atherton Tablelands just to turn around and drive back to Cairns…

 One we had set up the van, we had a quick bite to eat and then around 12.30pm headed off to visit the Mamu skywalk…  We had a good half hour drive to get there and the drive was quite scenic as we drove through country farmland roads which were lush green from all the rain that constantly falls in this area…

South Johnson Sugar Mill - Innisfail.

On the way, we also drove past a tea plantation, and we stopped to check this out and photograph the rows and rows of tea hedges.  It looked very pretty.

We arrived just after 1pm.  The lady at the ticketing office there was very helpful, showing us how to load a app on our phones that would supply the information as we did the walk.  We were also given a flora and fauna guide booklet to use when doing the walk that would identify the numbered trees and plants along the way.

The Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walkway is located within the Wooroonooran National Park and is a spectacular walk through the canopy of World Heritage rainforest. With a 350-metre-long elevated walkway through the canopy, a cantilever, a 37-metre observation tower and more than 1200 metres of walking tracks, this attraction is a must do if you are in this area.

The cantilever provides tantalising views over the North Johnstone river gorge. The 37-metre observation tower emerges high above the canopy, offering sweeping views over a pristine rainforest-clad mountainous landscape, homeland of the Mamu Aboriginal people.

The Skywalk was built in natural clearings in the rainforest caused by cyclone Larry in March 2006 and constructed from durable unpainted galvanised steel and recycled plastic. It is located close to other National Park walking tracks and picnic areas. 

About 500metres into the walk you come across a 40 m long elevated cantilever walkway which rises gently as the ground below drops away steeply, providing you with your first chance to experience the rainforest canopy. The viewing platform at the end of the 10 m long cantilever offers magnificent views of the river gorge below. 

At the 750m mark, you come across a second rest shelter, where you can walk out onto the Skywalk and from here it meanders for 350 m through the rainforest canopy. Along the way you get to view rainforest plants and animals at close quarters and gain tantalising glimpses of the river valley far below. Two small shelters positioned at regular intervals along the Skywalk provide shade. From these shelters you have the option to leave the skywalk and return to the ground-level Forest Walk. A third ground-level rest shelter is located at the base of the Skywalk leaving from the second canopy-level shelter.

 

The walk ends around 1.2kms from the entrance to the park when you arrive at the 37m high Observation Tower.  The top of the tower is reached by going up 5-6 flights of stairs, and I was so proud of myself that I made it to the top.  It was so worth it and the top level offered spectacular, uninterrupted vistas of world heritage rainforest and landscapes.

Then you return the way you came.  We spent a good three hours at the skywalk, marvelling at the amazing plants and their adaptability in this thick jungle of plants.  We saw amazing ferns, twisted and intertwined vines in their desperate search for sunlight. 

This is the fourth skywalk we have done in our travels around Australia and this one was unlike any other walk we have done.   This walk was along the mountain ridge where the land fell away up to 15 metres below the walking platform, and this was perhaps the longest of the skywalks we have done.

It was almost 4.30pm by the time we got back to Paronella Park.  Our feet were sore and we were looking forward to a short bit of down time with a good cup of tea before we needed to have showers and get ready to go for dinner.  As our booking was for 6pm, we needed to be gone by 5.45pm.

We had time to have a half hour lay down, then it was shower time and then off to the pub for dinner…  The Hotel was quite busy, in fact it was almost full, and we found our table and ordered our meal.  We had decided to only order one meal and share it as our experience with pubs is that they serve extremely large meals.

We ended up ordering a Chicken Parmigiana with a garlic prawn topper, served with mash and vegetables.  It was a good thing we only ordered the one meal, because the meal was HUGE.  The waiting time was minimal.  We were told there would be a bit of a hold up, but we had our meal within 20 minutes of sitting down, so we thought that was pretty good service and the meal was delicious

We were back at the van by 7pm, plenty of time to put our sandshoes back on again for the night tour around Paronella.  We walked down to the park around 7.30pm as we wanted to do the paper work for our two-year pass to the park.

Once all that was done, we had about 10 minutes to wait until the start of our tour.  We had to meet in the Cafe section of the park.   We arrived and got chatting to some other lovely campers, and our guide arrived and checked us all in, and also gave each of us a torch for the tour. 

Our first stop on the tour was the grand ball room, where we got to see the beautiful disco ball.  This is new since we were last here.

Back before the fire, when Paronella Park was the place to be for wedding receptions and parties, a highlight of the ballroom was a magical mirror ball, made of thousands of individual mirrors. As the ball turned, the lights danced around the floor and walls. Children would stare at awe at the shimmering sight, and race around the ballroom, chasing the lights, whilst adults slow danced under the reflected beauty, long into the night. Sadly, during the fire, the mirror ball went missing, and was never recovered. 

A new addition to the park this year has been the new mirrored ball which was a generous and thoughtful gift by Russ Hill, Director of Truck Repair Group, who being a regular visitor to the park, donated a beautiful, glittering shining mirror ball to Paronella Park.

The kindness was carried on by Duncan Plumb and the team from Innisfail Glass and Aluminium, who refurbished the mirror ball and donated all the time and materials to do so. 

The mirror ball now shines again in the tropical rainforest of North Queensland. Specks of light are thrown all throughout the plants and trees surrounding Paronella Park, making for a sight that will stay with you in your heart. 

From here we wandered down the grand staircase to the bottom level to view the Waterfall which was spectacularly lit up and was a sight to behold.  We were all given time to be able to take photos of this before making our way to our last destination for the evening…

The Darkness falls Night Tour ended in front of the Rest Rooms and Refreshment Castle where we were in for a treat with a full light and music show… Music played from the castle whilst a fully choreographed light show radiated around the forest.  Quite a spectacular way to end the evening.  

Apparently, in past years, there has been a fully string family orchestra playing like which the light show has lit up the castle, but due to COVID at the moment, this has not been allowed.  Now that would have ben a sight to behold.

Mark, the owner, came and spoke to us all at the end of our tour and we were all presented with a little gift as a keepsake of our visit to the park. 

Before making our way back up to the main deck, we were given time to take photos of this particular castle and we could have also wandered back to the main waterfall to take more photos if you wanted to but both of us were exhausted so opted to head back to our van anyway.

It really has been an extremely full on day today, but it has also been quite a magical day also…  Tomorrow we will finish the Paronella experience by doing the day tour before we take off to heard to Cairns.