During the years from 1980 to 1989 I lived in North Queensland, first in Innisfail, then in Cairns and then in Malanda on the Tablelands.  During my time there with my first husband and our three sons we were fortunate to visit many beautiful scenic attractions and they left their print in my memory and to this day I have never forgotten them.

Many years ago I had remembered visiting a Park near a little bridge over a creek and the water flowed so briskly over a waterfall and  down below to a run down old castle which I recall had been in ruin for some time then.  We didn’t venture down to see it then but I will always remember that compelling feeling to go back one day.

Not long after that I moved to Brisbane and the years just rolled from one to the other, 18 of them since then and I never thought I would make that journey north again.  

So, when in February 2007 I turned 50 I thought – I’m a senior!! Grab the rest of your life by the tail and make the most of it. And so I grabbed the idea with all my positive emotions and decided I wanted to spend my birthday somewhere special.  Where else but North Queensland where I had lived for 11 years back in the 80s and where I was sure God must have put his hands to create the magical beauty that abounds there.

This time I took my second husband Chris and we flew up then hired a car,  and we saw everything I had remembered and more and it was all so fantastic, so many beautiful special places. I wanted to show Chris everything that had made the north so special for me and hopefully make it special for him too. I took my new husband Chris to see everything I could remember that was special to me but there was one place I really wanted to see more than anything else and I knew we had to make time to see it - Paronella Park.

It was the last day of our journey before we were to head back to Cairns to catch our flight home.  There was one place left and I wasn’t going to miss seeing it for anything. I kept telling Chris no matter what we have got to see this special place that left its picture embedded in my memory all these years.   It was to be a wondrous and fabulous finally to our trip, the perfect ending.

It had been a big day for us leaving Herberton visiting the sites along the way through to Millaa Millaa and down the down the Palmerston Highway with the rain on our heels all the way.  Then the memories all came to life as we approached that little bridge I had remembered across Mena Creek.  We drove into the car park with my excitement growing.  It was raining and one of the staff came out to the car and met us, how nice that was I thought.  Chris knew visiting here was special to me but he really didn’t know why.  Then the forest opened up and he saw it for himself. He stood quiet for a moment and then he turned and said I can see why you long for this place.  He was absolutely in awe and we hadn’t even gone for a walk yet!  

We walked through the Grand Hall, down the steep long staircase covered in green moist moss with flood levels marked so attentively on various levels. We walked through the gardens and across the Tennis Court past the spectacular water feature and along pathways and across little bridges to nowhere yet somewhere...somewhere special. We saw the huge eels come lapping at our feet as we fed them at the foot of the falls and the wondrous sight of the tall trees all so perfectly planted in a long row that almost said this is the path to love, peace and tranquillity, no one can hurt you here.  And then there was the water hole, so large and full of pure mountain water cascading over the falls. The fresh sweet smell of the pure water and the native flowers all blending together to make the whole place feel clean pure and at peace.  I stood and closed my eyes and I could hear the voices of the children that would have run chasing each other, laughing and playing games on the manicured grass lawns and amongst the trees, of the couples swapping idle chit chat while they romantically cooed each other. The laughter of friends all gathering  from far away  places.  I could hear the sounds of a harp playfully being strung by some young lover sitting near the flowing creek with his pretty love sitting on the rock chair listening with all her enthusiasm to her young beau.  I just didn’t want to open my eyes, I felt like I was in paradise, I could feel Paronella’s presence, it was everywhere, he had never left his special magical place. How could he, his heart was Paronella Park and on that day I felt his heart beating with every brush of a tree, every whisper of the wind and with every sound of the trickles from the falls.

I can feel the goosebumps even now while I write this. 

Paronella Park represents the passion, the determination and love of one man and the support of his family and friends to create a dream that only lived in the pages of his mind but a dream that he brought to life so everyone could feel how he felt. He was a true visionary and inspiring.

I will never forget my time at Paronella Park and one day I am going to return once more to visit my special place in my heart where I can be taken away in my dreams and back to a special time, an era that was so different to ours.  There is a heaven, because I have been there – its called Paronella Park.