Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Reviews (Cairns, Australia)

SkyRail Rainforest Cableway

Toronto, Ontario

September 20, 2002

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Best of IgoUgo Ride a gondola up to the Atherton Tablelands, giving you views down into the canopy of tropical rainforest. The ride is 45 minutes to the top (7.5 km), 1 1/2 hours round trip. You'll reach a height of 1788 feet at the highest station of Red Peak. ...Read more

From journal Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Kuranda (Skyrail Rainforest Cableway)

by billmoy

Chicago, Illinois

July 17, 2002

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Best of IgoUgo Kuranda is the name of the small village perched at the top of the Barron Gorge National Park, but the name is generally associated with the entire experience of commuting to and from the Kuranda area via one of three means of transportation: the ...Read more Kuranda is the name of the small village perched at the top of the Barron Gorge National Park, but the name is generally associated with the entire experience of commuting to and from the Kuranda area via one of three means of transportation: the thrilling Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, the historic Kuranda Scenic Railway (operating since 1891), and the scenic Kuranda Range Road. Tour companies have packages where you can ride the train up and the Skyrail down, but this is more expensive than a complete roundtrip on either the train or Skyrail. We chose to ride the Skyrail each way to enjoy what is promoted as the "world's most beautiful rainforest experience".

The award-winning Skyrail Rainforest Cableway (open daily from 8AM to 5PM), which opened in 1995, begins at the Caravonica Terminal near Smithfield, a town about 9 miles northwest of Cairns. You can buy your ticket ahead of time, but we had no problem in purchasing at the terminal. Along the 4.7-mile route of the cableway, there are 36 towers supporting the 114 gondola cabins that glide continuously throughout the day. These towers were placed with the utilization of helicopters to minimize the disturbance of the rainforest. Each pod-like gondola can seat six persons, has glass windows that slide open slightly, and is well maintained for a smooth ride over the treetops.

Red Peak Station is the highest point on the cableway at 1788 feet. The boardwalk here is located along the forest floor in the middle of the thick rainforest. Rangers can give brief guided tours at this first intermediate stop, or you can enjoy the lush scenery and informative signs at your own pace.

Next up is the Barron Falls Station, which has nice lookouts of the picturesque Barron River, Gorge and Falls. There is a Rainforest Interpretative Centre, with colorful and educational displays and computers that are popular with the kids.

After the Skyrail crosses over the Barron River, you land at the Kuranda Terminal. The Kuranda Railway Station is not far from this last Skyrail terminal. There is a free shuttle between the Kuranda Terminal and the village, but the distance covered is so short that walking is an easier option. Once you are in the village of Kuranda, there are a multitude of excursions. This list includes a bird aviary, butterfly sanctuary, and rainforest nature park. The various markets sell all sorts of local handcrafted goods. There are even bizarre souvenirs like coin pouches made from kangaroo scrotum or cane toad carcasses (I am not kidding!). Shops selling slightly simpler souvenirs are connected to the top (Kuranda) and bottom (Caravonica) terminals of Skyrail.

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From journal Bill in Australia - CAIRNS and QUEENSLAND

Kuranda Skyrail

by kiminhalifax

Moncton, New Brunswick

October 27, 2001

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The Kuranda Skyrail is another gondola ride – this time over the rainforest – broken into 3 land segments: 1) guided rainforest ranger walk discussing rainforest trees & plants 2) lookoff for a waterfall & the old power generating ...Read more

From journal Australia - We Were Robbed!!!!

Rainforest Skyrail to Kuranda

by Montse

Foxboro, Massachusetts

August 26, 2001

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Best of IgoUgo Imgaine riding a cable car over the canopy of a rainforest for over 4.5 miles. This is the Skyrail Experience that takes you over Barron Gorge National Park which is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. If you are in Cairns, this is a ...Read more

From journal 12 Days in Oz - Cairns

Kuranda Skyrail: A Rainbow, Lots of Fog, & The End

by stomps

Houston, Texas

October 19, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Kuranda to Barron Falls.There were a fair number of other people on the various lookout platforms, but everyone was friendly, moved if you wanted a picture, and even offered to take pictures of you in ...Read more This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Kuranda to Barron Falls.

There were a fair number of other people on the various lookout platforms, but everyone was friendly, moved if you wanted a picture, and even offered to take pictures of you in front of the waterfall. We ran into one person from Melbourne, who proceeded to mock the terrible Queensland weather and its advertising as the "smart state," hoping to get a rise out of James. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, because he agreed with her (and who couldn’t agree about the unseasonably rainy weather being a bit…unwanted on a holiday?!).

As we were walking back, it started pouring rain again, and we broke into a run, pounding on the wooden planks of the boardwalk in an attempt to not get too soaked. The line wasn't very long at all for going back to Caravonica, since the majority of people seemed to be stopping on their way to Kuranda.

As our gondola glided back across the rainforest, the Barron river valley was on our left side. It was drizzling, but the sun was still out. James was busy trying to pick out the hydroelectric station when we saw a beautiful rainbow, stretching from the valley just over the tops of the trees. It was a spectacular last image to remember of the rainforest (and the pictures we got certainly don't do it justice), since we soon reached the clouds of Red Peak, we could barely see five feet in front of us. We spent most of the rest of the ride watching gondolas magically appear from and disappear into the fog.

Even though the weather was pretty terrible at some points, it pulled together enough that it was still worth the $54 ticket. The rainforest was absolutely spectacular, and the Skyrail is a unique idea that allows you to experience the rainforest while shielding you from the elements. It's a completely different feeling to walking through a rainforest, where everything towers around you, engulfing you in smells, sounds, and the feeling of wet air. In the Skyrail, you understand how tall and powerful each individual part of the rainforest is, but it is the huge expanse of the forest that leaves you in awe, with its huge array of flora, fauna, and natural wonders it has to offer you at any angle you choose to look at it from. Close

From journal Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Kuranda Skyrail: Kuranda to Barron Falls

by stomps

Houston, Texas

October 19, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: The Barron River and Kuranda.We wandered for thirty minutes or so through the various markets and down the main street, which was absolutely packed with the throngs of tourists that we didn’t see in ...Read more This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: The Barron River and Kuranda.

We wandered for thirty minutes or so through the various markets and down the main street, which was absolutely packed with the throngs of tourists that we didn’t see in the markets. It started pouring rain just before we crossed the street, heading for another three advertised markets, and this was enough to deter us. We looked quite a while for a bite to eat (having left our picnic lunch in the car), and finally managed to find some reasonably priced ($2 or so) sausage rolls to tide us over before walking back to the skyrail.

The ride from Kuranda to Barron Falls was much clearer than the way there, and we could even see blue sky and clouds reflected in the Barron River! We got off at Barron Falls and soon found ourselves walking along a small wooden boardwalk through the trees. As the sound of the falls grew steadily louder, we came upon some interesting historical relics - some very scary-looking ways of getting across gorges and up and down cliffs. One of them was literally a slanted ladder that you were supposed to lie down on, at a 45 degree angle, and then slowly be lowered down the cliff. I like trying new things, but seeing as there were absolutely no safety mechanisms on these, I'd probably pass! There were here from the original building of the large hydroelectric station downriver, of which Barron Falls is the source of power.

There were three different lookouts to the falls, each with a different arrangement of trees blocking various parts of the falls. As I mentioned before, you could very much tell that it was the middle of the dry season, because it looked like many small mountain waterfalls I'd seen in the Blue Mountains & the Rocky Mountains, rather than the thundering sheet of water seen between December and March. We still stood there transfixed by the beauty of the clear water rolling down the rugged granite cliffs, surrounded in the brilliant green of the rainforest.

At the main lookout point, there was a huge sign describing the hydroelectric plant and exactly how it works. Being an engineer, James spent the majority of our time there reading the sign, and then asking me to take a picture so he can finish reading it later. I kept myself occupied by trying to take pictures of the falls from every angle possible. I did read some of the sign, but I didn’t find the inner workings of the power plant quite as interesting as James did.

This entry is continued in Kuranda Skyrail: A Rainbow, Lots of Fog, and The End. Close

From journal Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Kuranda Skyrail: The Barron River and Kuranda

by stomps

Houston, Texas

October 19, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Over Red Peak and to the Rainforest.Since we were there in the middle of the dry season, Barron Falls wasn’t at its most spectacular; James was disappointed that we didn’t get to see clouds of vapor ...Read more This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Over Red Peak and to the Rainforest.

Since we were there in the middle of the dry season, Barron Falls wasn’t at its most spectacular; James was disappointed that we didn’t get to see clouds of vapor rising from them as the water rushed down the cliffs into the valley below. Instead, we saw a steady stream making its way down the granite walls, which was impressive all the same.

We didn’t get off at Barron Falls station, hoping that if we stopped there on the way back, the weather might be slightly better. You don’t have to get out and wait in line at this station, since the line goes straight through, rather than connecting with another. Soon, we were over the wide expanses of the Barron River, which looked like the epitome of a tropical river. It was murky and deep brown—like the color of many bodies of water in Texas—and just looked like crocs could be lurking anywhere, waiting for an unsuspecting tourist. Fortunately, I think the river was too high, and therefore too cold, for crocs at this point. Another thing we noticed on crossing the river was a small boat slowly creeping along; we later found that this was a tour boat that, every 45 minutes, takes tourists along the river for an up-close look at the rainforest.

Just on the other side of the river was Kuranda. As a present to us, the sky was actually relatively clear (with even a hint of blue!) as we disembarked. After deciding against the 1.5km+ walk to the other side of Barron Falls, we made the short trek towards the famed Kuranda markets. However, we found that it wasn’t going to be that simple to find the “Kuranda markets”, because the entire town seemed to consist of them! The funny thing was that all of the markets seemed to only be half-open, with many empty stalls and very few people wandering through. The only shopping we ended up doing in Kuranda was at a gift store, rather than the markets. Here, I managed to find a shirt covered in sea turtles for me, plus two that fit my parents to a T. I was much more impressed with this one shop than I was with all of the markets in Kuranda.

This entry is continued in Kuranda Skyrail: Kuranda to Barron Falls. Close

From journal Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Kuranda Skyrail: Over Red Peak and to the Rainforest

by stomps

Houston, Texas

October 19, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Start to Red Peak.You have the choice of either lining up for the next set of gondolas or poking around the nearly 200m boardwalk through the rainforest at Red Peak. There are guided tours offered ...Read more This entry is a continuation of Kuranda Skyrail: Start to Red Peak.

You have the choice of either lining up for the next set of gondolas or poking around the nearly 200m boardwalk through the rainforest at Red Peak. There are guided tours offered every twenty minutes or so here as well; even if you don’t take a tour, there are information signs lining the area so you can see the most important flora (and maybe even some fauna) that the area has to offer. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain and we didn’t have an umbrella (we refused to pay upwards of $30 for the ones in the Skyrail store), and even if we had used one of the free-to-borrow ones available at the station, it would have been a bit of a damp, dreary experience, so we passed. On the way down from the main platform, around the stairs, and back up, we saw a couple interesting displays. One was a rather lifelike plastic cassowary with chicks surrounding it—so real that James’ mother thought it was a real one when we showed her the picture! I don’t remember what the other display was, but I remember that it had a very large spider stuck to it that many people thought was real until someone touched it and it moved!

Once we reboarded and the electronic doors snapped shut, we found ourselves over an amazing tract of rainforest. This was definitely the most awe-inspiring part of the trip. Everywhere we looked, there were huge trees creating a lush canopy of leaves for all sorts of wildlife to nest in. As the Red Peak station drifted further and further away, we were left with a completely untouched landscape to stare at. At one point, we saw three or four sulfur-crested cockatoos in a tree that nearly reached the bottom of our gondola; at another, we saw a huge staghorn fern in the top of a tree. Unfortunately, in both cases, we couldn’t get the camera out quickly enough to get a shot, and the gondola windows were mostly obscured by the still-falling rain.

We soon spotted a break in the brilliant green landscape to the left of the gondola (when facing forwards). This break was the Barron River valley and the Barron Gorge, where the main river in the Atherton Tablelands and the source of water for Lake Tinaroo runs. As we creeped closer, Barron Falls came into view.

This entry is continued in Kuranda Skyrail: The Barron River and Kuranda. Close

From journal Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Kuranda Skyrail: Start to Red Peak

by stomps

Houston, Texas

October 19, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo After our first day in Cairns, when we went snorkeling/scuba diving, James and I had a lot of options but no definitive plans. After looking through various brochures and my Lonely Planet Australia, we decided to head to the Atherton Tablelands by ...Read more After our first day in Cairns, when we went snorkeling/scuba diving, James and I had a lot of options but no definitive plans. After looking through various brochures and my Lonely Planet Australia, we decided to head to the Atherton Tablelands by going north, around Kuranda, and then making a large loop around to the Crater Lakes area. However, our plans changed when we noticed a sign for the Kuranda Skyrail only a few miles north of Cairns on the Captain Cook Highway.

There’s not many places in the world where you can ride a gondola over a huge stretch of rainforest, so after asking how much time the ride would take (1 ½ hours if you made no stops at all), we bought a $54 ticket each and hopped in line. Since the weather was still a bit grim—we could see clouds shrouding Red Peak, the highest point in the ride—there weren’t many people, and after a couple of minutes, we were in a gondola ascending high above Cairns.

Luckily, we had a few minutes to enjoy the scenery before we were sucked into the sinking clouds. It was quite a view. Just below us were the Caravonica Lakes, and just to our left (when facing away from the mountain) was the cable-ski park, where we could barely make out a couple of people wakeboarding. Looking further away from us, we could see the spread of Cairns, its harbour, and the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, on a good day, you can see Green Island and the Barrier Reef; while the weather had cleared significantly since the day before, there was still plenty of cloud around, so we didn’t quite see that far. We did, however, see Palm Cove and Double Island, which looked beautiful poking its green shoulders out of the shining blue sea around it.

Soon, this beautiful landscape began to fade away as we reached the clouds and the heavier rain within. After a few more minutes, we were at the top of Red Peak and in the middle of the thick rainforest. Here, you have to get out of the car and get into another one, which is on a completely separate gondola line from the first. If you stayed in your car here, you would end up experiencing something like a ski-lift in Colorado during the summer—just a nice ride up and down the side of a mountain.

This entry is continued in Kuranda Skyrail: Over Red Peak and to the Rainforest. Close

From journal Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Kuranda Scenic Train & Skyrail

by Cindyeee

Kailua Kona, Hawaii

March 12, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo This is a great day trip. Getting to and from this rainforest town, surrounded by a 40,000 year old mountain range, is the best part. You can go back and forth by train or Skyrail but do both - take the train up and Skyrail back. This can be ...Read more

From journal Awesome Australia

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