Visiting Paronella Park at night was like walking through a dream. The ruins of the old Spanish castle situated in the rainforest of tropical Queensland Australia are now covered in moss, yet the magic and romance that once dominated this fortress is still apparent.
The waterfall was one of the first sites we came upon, just before the darkness of night.
Moss covered concrete picnic tables.
Our girls in front of one of the buildings being retrofitted. If you look closely you can see the metal support beams.
At night the colony of bats is clearly visible in the “Tunnel of Love. “
If the bats weren’t creepy enough, there were also eels.
The waterfall looks golden when it was lit up for the night tour.
The castle ruins are lit up at the end of the night tour.
I hope to return to Paronella Park some afternoon. It was a long day and we got there just as the sun was setting. I would love to see it in the daylight.
Tips for visiting Paronella Park:
- The night tour is included in the admission price, so I think the ideal time to arrive would be a few hours before dark, to have both the day and night experience.
- We hired a car for the day and drove the 120km from Cairns, which allowed us to visit several interesting waterfalls and other sites along the way.
- The park has overnight cabins, which we might try next time.
Love the golden waterfall shot 🙂 What on earth is a Spanish castle doing in Cairns?
It was built by Spanish immigrant, so maybe I should’ve called the Spanish-style Castle.
This does look like a deliciously scary place to wander at night! I would NOT be swimming anywhere near those eels! Rhonda, thanks for linking up with Weekend Travel Inspiration!
Love the bats!
Serious or sarcastic?
It looked great until I got to that picture of the eels! Now, I have something new to have nightmares about 🙂
Didn’t you see lots of eels when you were in New Zealand? We just saw several in the lake it westerns Springs.
great
Thanks.
Wonderful photos!! What an awesome place to check out!
I hope you get to visit here too, some day.
Bats and eels, oh my! I think I could only visit Paronella Park with an armed guard, and a shower cap!
If you stay out of the cave you probably won’t need a shower cap. I do have a White baseball cap that I wore in a cave in Belize, and the best list little droppings all over it. I guess the shower Would’ve been useful.
Just seeing if my comment went through 🙂