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 🙂
Creepy and beautiful, all in one. I’d love to see some daylight photos if you ever go back. I find old places like this fascinating!
I hope I get to go back and get those daytime photos.
I have not visited or heard of Paronella Park, or been to Cairns, Australia. I wish I had. It looks amazing. I love old castles. I did walk through old cemeteries and castles in Savannah, Georgia when I lived there.
I never talked of Georgia as a place that would have old castles.
Thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures. Although bats and eels are scary.
The bats aren’t scary, as long as they stay in the cave. And the eels can’t hurt us.
love to see those photos…I really the waterfall photo with its golden hue :)…interesting place indeed, complete with bats and eels..
The lights didn’t make that waterfall look pretty spectacular night.
Looks like an interesting place to visit, night or day. Love the waterfall! Thanks for stopping by my post.
I imagine it would be really interesting in the daytime as well. I do hope I get back.
Thanks for sharing. That was a beautiful tour.
Thanks.
amazing photos
Thanks.
Paronella Park is beautiful. I love the waterfall pic. I could leave the eels and bats but would love to visit Australia someday. 🙂
Eels and bats are in New Zealand as well, So I guess they didn’t really freak me out. Although, I’ve never seen a bat in New Zealand
I would take so many photos there!
I did Diane. This is just a small sample of a larger collection. And if I go back in the daytime there will be even more.
Yes, indeed, wonderful place full of beauty! Excellent framing ! Nice castle at night, great shot!
Thanks for all the compliments.
we visited Paronella Park as well!! The owner was so kind to keep the lights on so I can take some pictures in the dark (normally the switch the lights after 5 minutes or so). Very interesting place!
You know firsthand how really amazing this place is. How lucky that they kept the lights are longer for you. I’ll bet your photos are fantastic, especially if you had the tripod.
Amazing images. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks.
Wow – neat pix!
Thanks.
I would love to visit Paronella Park; stunning photos – I think that waterfall is calling my name too
That waterfall is actually man-made, so I was surprised how beautiful an natural it appeared.
This actually looks quite cool. I’d love to go there.
Did your daughter get here when she was in Australia? It’s pretty far away from where she was, But if she went up to the Great Barrier Reef, she might’ve visited here.
Oh my what a lovely place to visit.
Meow!
LOL – I don’t would’ve been allowed 🙁
This place is new to me and I had a great tour through your pics.
Happy WW!
Thanks Indrani.
Have never been to Australia and never really heard about this park, but it does seem very interesting.
It’s quite a bit off the beaten track, About 120 km from Cairns, where most people go to visit the great Barrier reef.
Hari OM
Worth pointing out it is a 1930’s immigrant’s ‘castle’!!! Great fun though. 20 years since I was there. Cairns is one of my most favourite places in the whole world (I say that as intended!) – not so much the town itself, but all the places around…if I hadn’t gone to India, that would have been my next home… ah the twists and turns… YAM xx
Thanks Yam, and yes it is well worth pointing this out. I debated about running it for wordless Wednesday, or including more history, So I’m glad you did it for me. I agree, The area around Cairns is amazing. Unfortunately for us the weather wasn’t so good and we didn’t make it out to the great barrier reef.
The bats would have been okay, but the eels certainly seemed out of place. Kind of spooky.
The eels really didn’t seem out of place we were there, as it was a body of water. And there were turtles too, And probably Fish.
I’ve not been there before. Looks like a great place to explore too. In the daylight though. Looks kind of spooky in the dark.
Have a fabulous day. 🙂
I don’t know if it would’ve been spooky if we were off on our own, but with the tour guide it was fine.
Wow. This is such a quirky place! The eels are like so random too! Stunning photos as always =)
There were turtles too, I just didn’t include them in these photos here.
That’s cool it can be explored at night. Bet the place comes alive. And with more than eels and bats!
It really does come alive at night, but I would still like to see you today sometime.
So Beautiful. Great pics. Super in love with New Zealand.
LOL – These photos are in Australia.
What a great tour, the night shot of the castle is awesome!
They don’t leave it lit up all the time, Just at the end of the tour, for photos.
Beautiful, though a bit creepy, place. Your night photos turned out beautifully.
Thanks Kate. It was a bit creepy but the “cool” overshadowed it.
Wow. Really gorgeous; what a great adventure.
Thanks Terri, it didn’t feel like quite an adventure.
Hi Rhonda .. Paronella Park looks amazing .. bats and eels – I’d have loved it .. and I think a night or two in the Park would be amazing … I’d love to see it .. whenever I get to Cairns … cheers Hilary
When you say night or 2 do you mean evening or overnight? I don’t think I want to sleep there with all those bats. But, they seems to be self confined to the cave.
So glad to hear they are retrofitting. Looks like an incredible place!
I didn’t really remember the retrofitting until I saw and photos.
Interesting place & photos Rhonda, until I got to the eels LOL …shudders although I used to like jellied eels heheh!
Have an eellesstastic week 🙂
LOL – my girls said that the eels were soft touch.