Paronella Park

Jose Paronella was a spanish engineer and worker from Catalonia in Spain, who came to Aus to build a life for himself and his sweetheart in Spain, Matilda. After 11 years of hard work in the sugar industry, he returned to Catalonia to find that Matilda had married someone else, so he married her sister Margarita and returned to Aus where he managed to buy 13 acres beside Mena Creek Falls.
He was a visionary man and hard worker who dreamed of building a castle. With help from Margarita he built 2 castles, a cottage,tennis courts, a ballroom and much more. They planted 7,000 trees, including an avenue of giant Kauri trees, which tower above a path like giant church spires.
He diverted some of the flow from the falls and set up Queenslands first Hydro Electric Plant in 1933, using the power to light up the park and provide movies for guests in the ballroom. Being absolutely intrigued with this story (particularly the power bit), we decided to book in to the limited sites available for 1 night ($64 for night including tours of the property).
We were pleasantly surprised to find that even though the sites are old the amenities are new and of good quality. The day tour was brilliant and the staff's enthusiasm for their task impressive, the night tour was very impressive, however the Electrician in me cried for a massive lighting display.
The generator has just recently been refurbished (was not able to be restored, too far gone), it now powers the site and supplies back to the grid. The people owning/running the park now, obviously are going to have issues on whether to preserve the place as is or to rebuild to original or to modernise it to todays standards. I believe that compromises need to be arrived at incorporating all 3 options, I will maintain an interest in this place in the future too see what happens.
We both really enjoyed our time here and what I have passed on to you is only a small part of what we saw and did at this beautiful place. We have not planned our next adventure, so spent a bit of time over drinks throwing around ideas before bed.