Apr 17, 2005 - Day 285 in Paronella, Australia

In the morning we drove the Smart Car to Paronella Park, an hour and a half outside of Cairns. This park was once the estate of an Spanish expat who decided to build an Italian villa in the middle of the rainforest in the 1930’s. From his travels he had been inspired from a variety of styles at the time. He was an eccentric guy with absolutely stellar taste. The villa was so romantic and the gardens were something out of a fairtale. In his day he even generated the first electricity in the area using a home made hydro-plant from the waterfall on his property. On the property we also walked through a bamboo garden which was a dirt path lined with super tall bamboo stalks. Very cool! In the afternoon we boarded our dive boat – the TAKA. The boat has 30 other people on it, many of them couples traveling around the world. It was nice to meet some new people who have some similar stories to tell. We shared some beers and good talks with Clive and Vicky, a British couple who are also traveling the world for a year. They are headed to NYC in October and we are excited to show them around in style.