My Park Mena Creek, Queensland, Australia
By Bushpushers on 13-Oct-03. Waypoint GCH24R

Yet again I see a poor Virtual bite the dust because the owner is not seen as "active". A shame it was archived without as much as a warning...

I don't mind logging archived virtuals - as long the task at GZ can still be done. I pulled up today and saw was blown away by the goings on. What a very unique spot. I took some snaps... and added one to satisfy the virtual.

Thanks for bringing me here. TFTC Bushpushers

Exellent park, full of history

TFTC The hunter1

This cache is abandoned. The owner has not logged in for over 12 months.

It is a fantastic park. I visited years ago and I'm there nearly every two years. TFTC
CADS11

We made a bit of a detour to take this photo today. My first visit here was in the mid '90's, young Digger dropped the lens cap off my camera off the bridge when he took his first photo in '02, my wife, SWMBO, can remember coming here back in the '70's before the fire, my step father came here for dances and movies back in the '60's and my Mum & Dad visited on their honeymoon in '59.This place is magnificent, but year after year it deteriorates futher.Efforts are being made to restore and preserve what is left but it may be to late, if you get the chance come and have a look before it's gone.Thanks for the memories Bushpushers.

What a magic place ! We would love to make similar one – so much we have got inspired !
Pic attached

TFTC

Fluppo

Found it on our big trip around Australia. Thanks for all your aussie caches guys. MaJa

What a great place to spend a few hours wandering around and to keep on finding a different vista at every turn. It is hard to realize that anybody could make their dreams come alive and spend so much time and effort to to make it happen. Loved the little bats. Thanks for the cache.

Really enjoyed our visit. Can only imagine what it would have been like to spend time here while growing up.

09.20 - Beautiful and sad history at the same is behind this magical place - read the story of José and Margarita Paronella, daughter Teresa, and son Joe yourself @ http://www.paronellapark.com.au/history.html.
Photo attached.

Found it. Photo taken and attached. TFTC. Bamster

Called in here on the road between "Peaceful Nyletta" and "Cane Fields Falls". I have been through the park a couple of times before so just took some photos.
Cheers,
Dan

What an incredible place! Thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the time spent looking around afterward. Would like to see it at night but it can't be this trip.
Photo to follow after we get home. Thanks for the cache.

Such a marvellous location.
TFTVC Eichelhäher.

Accountchange !


What a great mystic place.
I would never have found it without you.
Thank's for showing.

TFTC

What a great mystic place.
I would never have found it without you.
Thank's for showing.

TFTC

#731

What a nice park. We spend a lot of time for viewing.

TFTC Fium Orbo

During our Australia-trip we took a stop-over in Germantown. What an amazing place, really incredible (but we did not go in). Thanx for this cache!

We loved this park. It is so worth the money. If you are a local or are going to be in the area you can get a free year pass for the 1 time entry fee. We did the day tour and were just so impressed with the explanation and everything. The buildings are amazing pieces of history that cannot be explained. I would however recomend the night tour which is apparently the most stunning. You can camp on the grounds and the mango smoothies are delicious. The bentwing bats were soo cute.

We are so happy that someone else has marked this special place. We didnt know that their was a virtual cache here and so when we visited had every intention of setting up the same thing. How freaky...

We will upload photos when we get back from holidays and out of hotels.

Thanks for pointing out this fantastic tourist attraction.

Wow, this really is a strange/romantic place. We didn't went in, but I'm sure a visit is well worth it!

TFTC Anjella, Jinyan and Hulmi

PS: Photo will follow

First we had some doubts if we would visit this place. Seemed too touristic, but after the tour we were realy glad we had stopped over. Great spot.

Didn't read instructions properly. GZ seemed impossible. Then we figured the mission out...

This was a really amazing experience, truely great spot!

Team gracher

What a great piece of history we had a great tour. TFTH

[This entry was edited by Snoopy & Lucy on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 11:48:12 PM.]

What a beautiful and inspiring location. And as an added bonus we are logging it as our 1,000th find - yee ha!!

We did this cache on the 17th June, but have not logged it untill the 29th June as we forgot the camera the day we did this cache. I have emailed the owner twice in the meantime, telling all that we saw and the positions of such items, asking their permission to log this cache as a found it log. We have had no answer to this request so have decided to log it anyway. We know we were in the right place by reading the previous logs and are not logging this just to get numbers up, we did go there.

What an amazing place. T4TC.

A long drive off the main road to get here but an interesting trip all the same. TFTC.

This is a fantastic place to visit with a great deal of history. Thought I was unlucky! This place has deal many a blows... Great Cache, Ta : )

We did a lot of searching for this cache. Silly me....didn't realise it was a virtual cache until now. So we did find it in the end. Loved it.

First Visit in Australia I found this a very nice Place.The visit of this park was a unique experience. Thank you for this Cache. De Flowerpowers.

I was visited this nice place with Kangooo.

Regards
[red]Feuerwehrgeologe[/red]

My first Visit in Australia and i find this very nice Place.The visit of this park was a unique experience.

Thank you for this Cache
Kangooo

This was an easy find with great rewards. Raining today but that didn't dampen our spirits, this is a beautiful park with lots of history. We took the guided tour first to learn about the place and then wandered around and took it all in. Thanks for the adventure.

Found with bubblensqueak, have been here once before but found it just as intriguing the second time around. TFTC.

Hey visited this on a trip up north to see my parents. Although it was definitely not the first time i have seen it. I went to primary school at Mena Creek primary... right across the road, and we regularly went across to look at the castles and rainforest. I do not have the photos with me at the moment - but i will upload them soon when i put them onto the computer. The falls were roaring over and very brown so not quite as picturesque as they usually are. Photos will be up soon

What a lovely way to spend a day off. Our first visit since cyclone Larry has hit. The area has taken quite a beating but the best place of all is still here. TFTVC

Absolutely wonderful the things this guy did in the time he did it is amazing. We had such a great time.
TFTC


[This entry was edited by Stickybears on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 2:47:35 PM.]

Have been here a few times over the years. It is always nice to come back and see the place again.
Those eels are getting big.

TFTC

My first cache find on the way back south again. I have previously been to this location, before the visit of a certain Larrygan. And at that time, you could use the bridge.

And as I was on a short time frame, I couldnt spare the time to go in, so pics taken from the other side of the creek.

And as a side note, do people know that this site featured in an episode of "Who Dares Wins", hosted back in the 80's or 90's by Mike Whitney. The dare, to paddle a kayak over the precipice. And the dare was completed.

Found, or in this case, visited at 1400 hrs.

The fiftyth cache found on my trip out west and up north.

Cheers
Bundy

A lovely location and very interesting architecture. Our host for the day and who we are staying with, Angelo filled us in re the local history as he was born and lived at Mena Creek. Thanks Bushpushers

just adding a geo-coin entry

Went there today for lunch, it has topped off a great weekend.
It's one of Far Norths great photo spots. Have been showing friends around the Far North all week.

Such a marvellous location. Been here a few times still amazed by the beauty and the passion put into this spot.

We have been intending to drop in and visit this cache site for a long time. Finally made it here.

Can you beleive it? Like an idiot, this newbie actually went looking for a traditional cache!

I think the original coordinates must have been taken on the bridge which is now closed, as the GPS kept pointing to the impossible! It was only when I got home and rechecked the site that I realised it was a virtual Cache. Duh!

We got annual passes on our last visit, around $23 each so good value if you think you will visit again. We have yet to visit at night, but I think it would be great.

Nice place, often the owner Mark will be there to welcome you in person. Be sure to ask how to visit the hydro room, its a great little adventure getting there.

TFTC, and my first lesson about Virtual Caches - don't look for them!

Found, well always was found but finally got recent photo. Bit of bummer not being able to go out over bridge anymore but probably for best

It's such a great story too!

Been here a few times before. Always amazes me how much work one man put into building his dream here. Must have been unique in its time.

Couldnt stop as had work to do. With the recent rains some of the picnic tables were under water and the waterfall was raging.

We have been meaning to get down here for quite some time now - keen to support those who suffered cyclone damage. We were not disappointed - this park is a great place to spend a few hours and enjoy the story of its creation and characters.

We chose a hot and humid day to wander around and there are still a few pathways still blocked off due to cyclone damage. After our wander we enjoyed lunch and a cool drink under the fans on the rear deck. Very enjoyable.

The photo is of the lower refreshment house by the fountain and tennis courts.

Thanks for the cache, its good to see this local icon powering on!

Wow!! Love it so much - Thank you for organise the virtual other wise I will never know about this one.

We have visited this park before although last time we were there it was raining cats and dogs and most of lower level of the park was flooded. Pretty sure the suspended bridge wasnt there at the time. Of course burdair jnr thought we just had to try it out the fact that there were council workers doing up bolts on it certainly had us grown ups less then impressed with the idea but we did it and I can assure it is an experience. Thanks for the detour to this interesting bit of history.

...I used to really love coming here as a kid...heaps of things to do & places to explore. Unfortunately time was limited this trip so settled for a coffee on the new deck.
Some effects of Larry still evident, but after talking to management they got through with no real damage, only visual in terms of the vegetation stripped from what used to be a vast thick canopy.

Aaah Grasshopper you will learn... we are so tricky we downloaded all caches into GPS but did bring any paperwork. Didn't realise that this one was a Virtual cache sooo we found it, apparently not before the more big and brave and strong of the Randall Rambler Team decided it must be under the waterfall soooo off he went swimming into the freezy water to look behind the waterfall.. silly us. Great to know at 40+ no kids we can still do these silly things TFTH

we have visited here many times I love the story on how it came to be very romantic I noticed all the photo's have the cyclone damage so I thought I would post some older one to show how beautiful it was and is fast becoming again with regrowth.

I'd never heard of this peculiar place till I saw this cache listing a couple of months ago. Since then I've seen several items about it on TV. It seems to have become famous since it's windy visitor earlier in the year [:o]
The footbridge is certainly a lot of fun
The photo will have to wait a week or so till If gets back to his own computer in Brizzie.

Nice scenic drive, good to see regrowth.

TFTH

Larry has left its mark. But since the avenue of trees has been thinned, you can look along the avenue and see the waterfall which the park designer intended. We understand you couldn't do this before Larry.
An interesting place with an interesting story.

I didn't read the logs and did not realise that this was Paronella Park until I pulled up in the car park. We have been here before and highly recommend it; it is starting to recover after Cyclone Larry.

This one was a surprise. We are visiting from the Nevada desert and were taking a drive south of Cairns and this spot was our target. Was I surprised to see that it was also a cache. TFTC

The regeneration of foliage has begun.

Drop off BF TB

Forgot the camera, but being a local have travelled through here many times. I wish I had a camera to show you the devastation Cyclone Larry has caused to this splendid spot. Every tree has been shreaded and some buildings damaged. A once lovely spot that now has an ugly landscape, but Im sure it won't take long to regenerate.

This was our last day in cairns and we went on a bus tour that bought us here. The devestation of cyclone Larry is indescribable, so very sad. The owners were so glad that our bus tour brought us there, cause they really need the support at the moment. We were unable to see most of the park, for obvious reasons but we can imagine how beautiful the park once was and hopefully will be again.

Was just driving thru, didnt have camera. Lovely spot.
Its worth doing the guided tour to gain some info on the place.

How could one man build so much? He certainly was a motivated person.

Shame about his poor choice of concrete ingredients...concrete cancer. The floods and fires were bad luck too.

It was amazing to walk around here...even more so knowing that it wasn't natural rainforest.

The turtles were incredible - have never seen so many climbing over one another.

I offer some slightly different photos - the overgrown kitchen in the ballroom, an ancient microwave oven in the museum and the excitation brushgear in the old hydro generator.

Thanks Bushpushers

Dropped off Virtual TB to check out this beautiful and fascinating area...Check the photos for some ideas of this place.

Agsmky

What a spectacular spot.....had seen it on TV ages ago and was thankful this cache popped up at the same spot.

Intend going back for the night tour in this area even though the prices are somewhat steep Well worth the cost IMHO

Agsmky

I wanted to come here for the last 2 years. Finally got around to doing it. Its a fantastic spot and I hope to come back for the night tour soon.

What a great place! We unfortunately did not arrive here until quite late in our day, on the way to catch a flight out of Cairns. So we didn't have time for the full visit that this place deserves (like, a whole couple of days I suspect!), but we did snap a few photos and explore the gift shop.

Cheers from Canada!

What a great place! We unfortunately did not arrive here until quite late in our day, on the way to catch a flight out of Cairns. So we didn't have time for the full visit that this place deserves (like, a whole couple of days I suspect!), but we did snap a few photos and explore the gift shop.

Will post photos in a week or three, and upgrade this note to a "Found" log at that time.

Cheers from Canada!

Love this place. You can imagine how hard the work was in those days, for the love of a lady! What a great bloke this guy must have been. A must see for anybody.

Found the location today - and what an unusual place this is! Well worth a visit.

What a great place. Had no idea what to expect. So often it is a geocacher that takes us to a spot we may have missed. Can't thank you enough. I will submit photos on my return to my home in Hawaii after the 26th of October.

Aloha and thanks again,

Yellow Bug

Wow! Delightful drive to this one and what interesting history as we took the tour!!! Enjoyed every bit of this which included; great food, native dance, ingenious ideas, etc. Would not have visited this place without a cache to log. Thank you for listing this. LOVED IT!
**Pictures to be entered on the 26th of this month when we return home.
Aloha, gerty

Visited this place with the family while on holiday from New Zealand. Very pleased we did as we rated this 'lost city' as number 2 in the holiday highlights only beaten by the barrier reef. The kids enjoyed feeding the turtles and seeing the microbats in the tunnel while my wife and I were blown away by the architectural vision this guy must have had. Thanks for taking us to such a magical place. Zorgon

Another part of Australian history, thought the bloke was a bit peculiar until I got to the hydro scheme - he was way before his time - all geniuses are a bit mad aren't they?!

Found this one almost by accident on the last day of our holiday escaping from the SA winter. We called in to see this amazing place on our way back ftom Mission Beach, and lo and behold the GPS and IPAQ said there was something here.
It's certainly an amazing place - they didnt actually mention in the brochure that it burned down 20 years ago, but the micro-bats in the tunnel more than made up for the somewhat ruined nature of the place.
Many thanks.

Visited this place that has to be seen to be believed.The man was a genius and way ahead of his time.To have Hydro-electricity so long ago is incredible.
Our photo shows a view of the magificent Kauri gallery.The oter picture is one I pinched off the brochure as we did not get many good shots.

Found this one at 5.20pm on our way back to Cairns after a day touring the Tablelands with locals Anne and Mike.
An interesting area that we had visited on a previous trip to Cairns. Would have been a great place for kids to swim and play.
Thanks Bushpushers. Will send a photo when we return to SA.

Found it.
Visited many times in the past.
Falls were in full force after
recent rain. Shop was closing as
we arrived so just a short visit
this time.
Thanks for the memory
Cassowary