Up, up and away

The hills were calling. We’d arranged to take the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway to Kuranda then travel down to Cairns via the Kuranda Scenic Railway and be ferried back to our rental car by bus.

The Skyrail starts its journey from the Caravonica Terminal about 15 minutes’ north of Cairns, and it’s wise to book. There are 114 gondola cabins in use, each holding up to six people. The cable is suspended from 36 towers, the tallest being tower six which is 40.5 metres (133 feet) tall. The 7.5km cableway first climbs up to Red Peak in the heart of the rainforest.

It’s magic climbing steadily upwards first over eucalypt woodlands with an understorey of fernlike cycads and the occasional silver-leaved paperbark trees. This gives way to vine-clad rainforest then moist, well-developed rainforest. This is certainly the way to view the vegetation – from above. The gondolas cross over the winding road in two places on the journey uphill.

At Red Peak Station it’s necessary to change gondolas. It’s also a good opportunity to walk the guided boardwalk side trip, inspecting the 160 species of rainforest plants. Our guide pointed out many interesting plants and vines and introduced us to that celebrated bird, the cassowary.

We resumed our journey, this time over gentler more-sheltered slopes and richer soils. There were various fig species, palms, tree ferns, basket ferns and stands of native Banks banana, In places Boonjie figs strangle the trees and wattle trees with dull silvery foliage reflect earlier disturbance of the area. Towards the next stopping point, Barron Falls Station, vegetation shows evidence of earlier human occupation and there is regenerating rainforest and introduced tropical fruit trees including mangos.

The walkway at Barron Falls Station features three lookouts and there are magnificent views over the Barron River, the gorge and the falls, more bush and some interesting forest fungus.

The final leg of the cableway passes over an area that was maintained as a tall open eucalypt forest by Aborigines using fire. Now burning has ceased there is a heavy invasion of rainforest plants, parasitic mistletoe and strangling Boonjie figs. The cableway traverses the river with its freshwater crocodiles, tortoises and waterbirds before crossing over the railway track and descending into the Kuranda Terminal and the township of Kuranda.

Next – we check out the market and Birdworld before catching a train >>