We said goodbye to Mission Beach today after an amazing day yesterday. Our first reef experience was memorable.

First stop today was Ma-mu Tropical Skywalk. The walk allows you to explore the rainforest from the forest floor right to the top of the canopy. What is interesting is that you get to see how the forest has changed thanks to Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi. It was also interesting to understand how the rainforest changed thanks to logging. The 10 metres long cantilever bridge also freaked out the boys as it moved around quite a bit. We think this walk is nicer than the one we did at Illawarra Fly.

Next stop Paronella Park. Let me say we are not easily impressed but our whole day here has been amazing.

We did some research on this place and decided to change our plans and stay here for tonight rather than remain at Mission Beach. The place was built by Jose Paronella who arrived from Spain in Australia in 1913. Jose a pastry chef bought land along Mena Creek, him and his family built the house and later the 'castle' as well as a host of other buildings. Apart from the house which was made of stone, everything else was made with concrete and old rail tracks. It opened officially in 1935. The place had a ballroom, café etc.

Paronella has a long history, Jose died, life got complicated with a number of deaths in the family and to add to this Cyclones and floods and the place has become somewhat of a ruin. The current owners are now doing their best to preserve the place and are doing this by making the place a must see tourist attraction.

We visited the park during the day and did the night tour. The night tour is complementary and only available to those staying at Paronella. What we thought was amazing was that the owner himself greeted us at the end of tour to thank us for staying at Paronella. The service here has been amazing and the value for money great. Can't recommend this place enough and if you are up this way we recommend staying here as the owner is really committed to supporting the local community.

Tomorrow we head for Cairns but beforehand we are visiting a few coastal communities and have a hot tip on where to find Cassowaries.