There might only be 110 kilometres between Cairns and Paronella Park, but they feel worlds apart.
From the minute you cross the threshold of Paronella Park, you step into Jose Paronella’s dream of building a castle and five hectares of gardens for his wife in the 1930s; a mystical wonderland where lush rainforest and a thundering waterfall shoulder the castle ruins.
Work up an appetite best sated by quintessential Queenslander pub, The Mena Creek Hotel, only 200m away.
Then, fuelled by their classic pub menu, which, by their own admission doesn’t scrimp on the chips, explore the Wet Tropics rainforest from new heights at Mamu Tropical Skywalk.
Mamu Tropical Skywalk transports you from the forest floor to the canopy over a series of elevated walkways, including a cantilevered platform jutting out over the iconic rainforest landscape.
Proving no two trips to the Wet Tropics are ever the same, from the safety of the elevated platform you’ll see one of the largest-remaining continuous stands of complex vine forest on basalt soils in the Wet Tropics – a totally different Daintree experience on this list.