SKYRAIL THRILL WALK
images of tourism experience
A STUNNING lookout and seethrough view 300m to the bottom of the Barron Gorge is a highlight of a new feature being built by Skyrail.
Images of the cableway’s latest investment due to open early next year have been revealed.
THE Barron River Gorge early next year is expected to follow the Grand Canyon Skywalk and the Glacier Skywalk in the Canadian Rockies when Skyrail opens an elevated glassfloored viewing platform 300 metres above the snaking river below.
Dubbed The Edge Lookout, the platform will replace two of the three existing viewing platforms at the Skyrail visitor centre.
The walkway is expected to provide unimpeded views from the waterfall face, down along the gorge, and represents a “significant investment” by Skyrail, managing director Craig Pocock told the Cairns Post.
“By making a significant investment of this nature, it’s a show of confidence in the region and the future of tourism,” he said.
Sections of the lookout will include a transparent floor giving visitors, with the nerve, a chance to see the Barron River 300m below.
“Not everyone wants to walk around a glass lookout, so it has a section in it giving people the opportunity to experience a vertigo rush as a bit of a nerve tester,” Mr Pocock said.
Construction on the project is already under way and has created 37 full-time equivalent jobs during the construction phase and once open will provide more permanent positions.
“This is incredibly exciting for Skyrail and for the region. Not only does it give our product a new element but it also provides another compelling reason for people to visit Tropical North Queensland,” Mr Pocock said.
The lookout will complement the existing Skyrail Rainforest Cableway which
traverses the eastern-facing side of the Kuranda Range and will be accessible from the Barron Falls Skyway station.
“The proposed design of the new lookout will allow our guests to experience amazing viewing perspectives of both the Barron Falls and gorge that have not been possible to date,” he said.
Employing innovative construction techniques, walkway sections are being manufactured offsite and then moved into place and secured to footings using small-scale cranes.
“It’s a very environmentally friendly construction method,” Mr Pocock said.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland chair and director Wendy Morris said the new in-
stallation would cement the Cairns region as a top-notch tourist destination.
“I am super excited – this is just the sort of thing we need,” she said.
Ms Morris said Cairns would now join famous glassbridge destinations such as in Hunan Province in China.
“We need that combination of the natural wildness and we need to be able to supply the supporting infrastructure so people can see it,” she said.
Skyrail will continue to operate one lookout during the construction period.