Australia Day 2007. Cairns, Australia.

This morning is our last trip together and we are off for the Skyrail Experience. Our destination is Barron Gorge National Park, part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The 7.5km Skyrail is the largest cableway in the world and was completed in 1995 after a year of construction. The towers that support the cableway were all lifted into place by helicopter in order to avoid disturbance of the rainforest with the tallest tower rising to 133 feet. With 114 gondolas, Red Peak Station is the highest point on the cableway at 1788ft.

Here I am at Barron Falls, or Din Din as the local aboriginals call this area. The more I learn about Aboriginal Culture the more I understand about the role of man in nature. I am as impressed by traditional Aboriginal beliefs as I am with the belief systems of the North American Indian and that is saying something!!

This is an important site in Aboriginal culture due to the belief in the Rainbow Serpent who created the creeks and the rivers. The flood that occurs here at the falls during the wet season reminds us of the story of the destruction of Buda:dji whose death was caused by the wanton greed of others.

The rainforest of the wet tropics is the most diverse in Australia. Now protected the rainforests have seen their greatest destruction in the last 200 years of a 120 million year history when over half the remaining rainforest in Australia was destroyed.

Tropical rainforests exist in warm climates where at least 1300mm of rain falls each year. They consist of an incredible variety of plants which form distinct layers each with its own conditions of temperature, humidity and light. Rainforests are not only beautiful but also provide us with vital resources such as fresh air and water, soil stability, medicines and food. Indeed, Australia supports 7% of the worlds' species.

Barron Gorge is a beautiful area and the Hydro-Electrical Station is a 60 megawatt power station that was commissioned in September 1963.

Riding across the rainforest canopy is a surreal experience and the gondola takes us to our ultimate destination and the village of Kuranda.

After ice-creams with my son (Phil) and daughter-in-law (Bo)we set off to explore the village. The church of St Saviour is a masterpiece with a history dating from the late 1800's and the need to meet the spiritual needs of those settlers in isolated areas such as Kuranda.

Love is a gift from the Holy Spirit...The sentiment I got from St Saviour's.

Our last official meal as a group is a picnic in the town park before we head back down to Cairns. In the late afternoon we again take advantage of the pool, but only Wayne and I survive the tropical thunderstorm still swimming around.

Today in Cairns I bought that icon of Scotland...a bottle of Irn-Bru right here in Northern Queensland.

Tonight it is an unofficial dinner as most of the group are still in Cairns and we hit the Rattle N Hum for a last very emotional farewell.