If Cairns can, then Fiordland can too

High above the rainforest in Queensland glides a gondola which has enhanced the rainforest and brought it to life for millions of tourists.

Five minutes from Cairns International Airport, and about an hour south of Port Douglas, the tourist attraction has been heaped with accolades since it opened six years ago.

Barry Thomas, of Skyline Enterprises in Queenstown, points to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway as an example of a gondola which promotes eco-tourism and has won major awards.

That gondola, built in 1995, starts from a base station at Caravonica Lakes, just 5m above sea level. It runs 7.5km up into the rainforest to the township of Kuranda, famous for its alpine train and a hub of tourism in the area.

Skyrail had been opened only a year when it won its first award and has since won a host of Australian Tourist Commission awards and Queensland tourism accolades.

Even though no roads were built when it went up and all materials were either flown in by helicopter or carried into the rainforest, Skyrail still had to get approval from 23 government agencies. It was seven years in the planning.

Now it is so successful that it is enhancing eco-tourism in the region. In conjunction with Australia's national science organisation, CSIRO, Skyrail has established TropEco, dedicated to the protection and management of tropical rainforests. One of its projects involves the cassowary, a large bird native to Queensland's rainforests.

In its scoping document released last month, Milford Skytrail's promoters emphasised the success of the Queensland gondola. "That project has demonstrated in its construction and operation that this form of tourism transport is capable of being developed with minimal adverse effects on the physical environment, operating in an area of World Heritage significance," Skytrail's report said.

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