if I was to sum this place up I'd have to say it is one man's dream in 1929 a
pastry chef from Barcelona built a castle in the rain forests and jungles
of North Queensland today his dream continues what is this place is one of
the hardest questions you can ask because to every person it's something
different a living museum Pleasure Gardens a historic site basically
beautiful but the story listed to the next level when we purchased this park
the bank manager said you crazy if there's one lesson I've learned in life
is don't listen to the dream takers if you were to walk through paronella park
you would look at it and say I've never seen anything like this welcome to
paronella park the tunnel of love these are our fish and boy do they like the
food this is mina falls at paronella park the
ballroom we even have a suspension bridge
josè paronella his life was basically full of interesting things in his mind
he was born in Barcelona in the countryside he heard stories about
grandeur he's heard stories about castles and he headed off in 1914 in
fact from Barcelona arrived in North Queensland and what did he do he decided
he was going to create something special in 1929 he purchases the land and he
proceeds to build an amazing pleasure garden so this was in the very early
days of settlement of North Queensland and what he was able to do was literally
take these buildings and create an experience for people this park was
built for people to pay to come in to have a meal to eat an ice-cream to watch
the movies to have their wedding reception so he saw it as taking out and
creating it into a business opportunity
here we are at Jose's Grand Ballroom that was built back in the 1930s this is
where the weddings the dances the movies so anyone that got married in a local
church this is where they had their reception this is the low refreshment
area the refreshment room that catered to Jose's guests back in the 1930s and
40s and 50s and it was without a doubt the key to daytime activity and a
central piece for Jose's dream and this is the fountain Jose has powered these
fountains through gravity feed lines so he's taken the water high up at the top
of the waterfall let the water come down the pipes and create the pressure that
allows these fountains to operate these are the calorie trees for Kerry Avenue
Jose thought of everything he's planted seven a half thousand trees in this park
and hundreds of these Queensland calories today are about 85 years old
they are about 40 meters tall they can live for a thousand years what is put
here is is the physical art piece and he's blended it with nature he's also
used nature that waterfall gave him a beautiful Vista for his park for his
dream but it also gave him something else that was not available back then I
grow a
now that waterfall feeds this system the water comes off the top of the waterfall
it falls into here which in turn runs through and turns the generator on the
other side we want to be self-sustaining we have a master plan its conservation
but keeping the whole concept of Jose's dream
the things that makes paronella park a must-see is its uniqueness and I think
it's the whole blend of one person's dream having been successfully
implemented and now bringing something back to life we have from time to time
fraud josé's spirit is here he wanted to show
them that something out of the ordinary can be built and turned into a success
and I think that gets to the heart and soul of Jose paronella paronella park
the dream continues