Coordinates: 16°50′53″S 145°41′41″E / 16.84806°S 145.69472°E
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is a 7.5 kilometre scenic cableway running above the Barron Gorge National Park in the Wet Tropics of Queensland’s World Heritage Area north of Cairns which has won more than 25 awards.
It was the only Australian finalist in the 2014 International Tourism for Tomorrow Award. In 2012, it was the first tourism attraction in the world to receive Platinum EarthCheck Accreditation. It won the 2000 British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow International Environment Award, the 1996 EIBTM European Greening of Business Tourism Most Environmentally Conscious Visitor Attraction Award and the 2008 and 2009 Qantas National Award for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism. In 2000, it was inducted into the Queensland Qantas Award’s Hall of Fame for Best Tourism Attraction and in 2010 for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism. It was the longest gondola cableway in the world when it was completed in 1995.
The cableway, which travels over the McAlister Range between Smithfield and Kuranda, includes six-person gondola cabins that travel metres above the treetops. A one-way trip takes about 1.5 hours and a return trip is about 2.5 hours. Two rainforest stations, Red Peak Station and Barron Falls Station, allow exploration of the forest floor on boardwalks, interaction with the environment and education of the World Heritage area. A Rainforest Interpretation Centre, developed in conjunction with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is located at the Barron Falls Station. In 2012, Skyrail, in conjunction with Djabugay Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (DNTAC) developed walking tours with aboriginal guides on a rainforest trail on traditional Djabugay lands, departing from the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Barron Falls Station.