Paronella Park is a unique place in the world. A place in which you can feel and imagine the passion of a man, Jose Paronella, whose dream was to build a castle in a virgin forest. And we can also feel this passion in the staff of Paronella Park. Our guide was such a good story teller that I immedialty felt in love with the place

As we went in the begining of the evening, we got the night tour, which was incredible. I also discovered these beautiful flowers (Cat’s Whiskers).

The waterfall was impressive by day…

And even more by night

And finally we got in the garden and discovered all the magic of the Castle…

We really enjoyed our stay in Paronella Park. The great thing about Paronella is that you don’t know what to expect from the park before visiting it. So you know what you have to do

After Tjapukai Aboriginal Park, we went to Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, in Cairns, is a world first in environmental tourism taking you on an amazing experience over Australia’s World Heritage listed Tropical Rainforest canopy and deep into the forest.

I discovered why cassowarries are so useful for the rainforest. The Cassowaries feed on the fruits of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus probably play an important role in the ecosystem. The cassowaries are now endagered in Queensland, we must prevent their extinction.

One of the beautiful views you can admire on board of Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

Welcome to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.

When we arrived, Hailey, Anjaan (+wife) and me, we were welcomed warmly by a hand-made fire. Stunning

Then we all got Aborignial paintings. These were great, and we kept them all day

During our stay at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, we learnt a lot about the Aboriginal culture (creation of the Earth, first human, etc.). First, we saw a holographic / acted show presenting their history and then we attended (and participated in)  their dance show. The Aboriginal music (digiridoos & percutions) is really entertaining and full of rythms!

After that, we had to try spear throwing - I did not do well - and the absolute come-back weapon: the boomerang (did you know: the aerodynamism of the boomerang was at the origin of airplanes wings design).

Green ants. Did you try the Green Ant tea? Delicious.

If you want to discover the Aboriginal culture alone, with friends, or with your family, Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park is the parc you need !

I am taking a 4-days (deserved?) vacation, courtesy of Tourism Queensland, along the coast from Cairns to Townsville and Magnetic Island before returning to Europe.
Pictures will be coming soon !

After the big announcement, we had a huge party, in which all the tourists and staff of Hamilton Island were invited! It was awesome! However, I had to go to sleep early because I had to be up early the next morning. Here is a follow-up of the Next-day.

Byebye Best Job…

Hello Qantas muffin

Who would imagine that this could be called “loosing”…

Don’t worry mates, I’m doing well!

The last day of the selection process has been very strange!

Cali seemed to have a lot of fun looking at her tweets.

The guys were really excited about getting their new waterproof cams (apparently :))

Clarke was… Relaxing!

I saw a green snake in the hotel before going to my final interview (bad omen ?).

And Ben S. was laughing and keeping it cool, as always!

And finally, once the Big annoucement had been made, I went to give my resumés to some people around us, closely followed by my TV crew friends from TF1 

My good friend Ben Southall from UK has just been nominated to the Island Caretaker job. Well done Ben!

That’s right unfortunately. We spent all day on rainy Daydream Island. But I realized that even rain could be nice!

Once the Vessel Boat dropped us on Daydream’s harbour, we were given some Daydream branded umbrellas to protect ourselves from the rain gods, and to enjoy our stay in this beautiful resort.

Fishes do not really care about the weather so we were able to feed them at the living reef lagoon. The hotel has a great artificial built-in structure allowing tourists to discover and to feed fishes they might not be able to see otherwise. We all went to feed the huge stingrays. We also admired the feeding of the sharks and of “Henry” the cod. Stingrays were really docile and impressive, but I preferred taking care of the beautiful star fish!

The weather did not allow us to have our sailing event as planned. But if it is rainy on Daydream Island, that’s no worries mate !

You can spend your whole day in the Rejuvenation Spa, in which we had an extraordinary moment! (Parents, there is a Kid Skipper club for your children while you are at the SPA!)

I experienced a 1 hour Botanical Regeneration (body exfoliation, steam table, scalp massage), but you can also try like 30 other ones (hot stones, facial, etc.)

We came back to Hamilton Island and were introduced to a Great Barrier Reef Ranger who told us about some keys facts of this gigantic amazing living ecosystem.

Then, we had a team activity in which creativity, organization, management and acting were required. In my team (with Myriam, Ben S., Yi, Greg) we decided to give each of us a sea animal role. I actually got the crab’s one, and had to explain to the audience what corals were. All I can say is that it is really hard imitating the crabs’ moves!