Kalbarri Airwalk tops list of scenic walkways and lookouts
High and mighty ways to experience some of Australia’s most scenic locations.
High and mighty ways to experience some of Australia’s most scenic locations.
1 Kalbarri Skywalk, Coral Coast, WA
The two spectacular A-shaped decks of the Kalbarri Skywalk soar out over the Murchison River Gorge in Western Australia. Where the rust-red sandstone meets rust-red metal the result is the state’s newest wilderness attraction, complete with astonishing vistas. The $24m construction allows visitors on the steel-mesh decks to look straight down into the gorge 100m below. Artwork by the local Indigenous Nanda people enhances the walkways leading to the twin platforms, which project 17m and 25m respectively over the escarpment. This National Park skywalk is wheelchair-accessible; australiascoralcoast.com.
Stay: Kalbarri River Retreats; riverretreats.com.au
2 Illawarra Fly Treetop Adventures, Knights Hill, NSW
At 700m above sea level, this treetop walk is a horizontal and vertical thriller, with its views stretching from Royal National Park to Lake Illawarra and the Pacific Ocean. The 1.5km walkway traverses a dense eucalypt forest canopy, and includes cable spans and bridges suspended between tree platforms up to 30m high. It leads on to a spiral staircase climb, the Knights Tower, which rises 45m above the forest floor and has further astonishing vistas. Within the same complex, the Illawarra Fly Zipline, said to be the highest zipline in Australia, includes a 106m “super zip” span. Variations on these adventures include conducting the treetop amble at sunrise and flying down the ziplines after dark; illawarrafly.com.
Stay: Barranca, Kangaroo Valley; barranca.com.au
3 Tahune Airwalk, Huon Valley, Tasmania
The brilliant Tahune Airwalk looks like a bungy-jump tower minus the customary screaming leapers. Its 620m-long steel walkway stands 50m above the ground and features a cantilever section that pitches far out over the Huon River. Surveying the grandeur of thousands of giant Huon pines, you can see to the confluence of the Huon and Picton rivers and beyond towards the peaks of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The attraction is 70km southwest of Hobart, about a 90-minute drive. There are 100 steps to climb to the viewing peak; disabled access is offered; tahuneadventures.com.au.
Stay: MACq 01 Hotel, Hobart; macq01.com.au
4 O’Reilly’s Treetop Walk, Lamington National Park, QLD
When O’Reilly’s Treetop Walk, on the edge of Lamington National Park, opened in 1988 it was the first of its kind in the world. Visitors are still striding and swaying on its 180m web of nine suspension bridges, and the original wonder it provoked remains undiminished. Climb to its walkways and you’re literally at lorikeet’s-eye level, threading a way through an ancient Gondwana rainforest. Two even higher delights involve a viewing platform in a huge fig tree and climbing the 18m cat’s-cradle of Mick’s Tower for more vistas across the McPherson Range; oreillys.com.au.
Stay: O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat; oreillys.com.au
5 Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne, Victoria
The Eureka Skydeck’s numbers are as breathtaking as its views. At 285m above sea level, this is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere. The lifts, the fastest this side of the equator, zip you to the 88th floor Skydeck in 38 seconds, which beats plodding up about 3600 stairs. From the terrace there’s a wrap-round view extending for up to 75km. The top floors are sheathed in 24-carat gold-plated glass and they can flex up to 600mm in high winds. A glass cube called The Edge Experience projects from the deck and enables you to look directly down to the tiny streets below. It might be an acrophobe’s despair but The Edge is also a romantic’s delight, having become one of Melbourne’s favourite marriage proposal spots; eurekaskydeck.com.au.
Stay: Coppersmith Hotel; coppersmithhotel.com.au
6 Dorrigo Skywalk, Dorrigo National Park, NSW
This structure perches over a lush inland rainforest valley. From its 21m-high viewing platform, you’re hit by wide-angle visions firstly of the Bellinger Valley and then of the ridges and gorges that lead down towards the distant Pacific Ocean. Closer at hand, you look from the 70m high boardwalk across World Heritage-listed wilderness and Rosewood Creek rainforest as well as the peaks of McGraths Hump, also known as Old Man Dreaming. It’s a world of huge blackbutt, tallowwood and sassafras trees, and in springtime the flowering waratah. With keen eyes you might spot bowerbirds, topknot pigeons or goshawks. The Skywalk, part of Dorrigo Rainforest Centre, offers easy disability access; nationalparks.nsw.gov.au.
Stay: Lookout Mountain Retreat; lookoutmountainretreat.com.au
7 Otway Fly Treetop Walk, Ferguson, Victoria
A highlight of the treetop experience at Otway Fly Treetop Adventures is its 600m steel walkway with spectacular cantilevered end-sections. It’s the only elevated forest walkway in Victoria. The breathtaking views it delivers of the Otway Range wilderness become even more dramatic when you climb the 47m high Spiral Tower. Follow these exertions with the Otway Fly Zipline, the first of its kind in the state; it zooms you in a safety harness from platform to platform 30m above the forest floor. A courtesy shuttle assists mobility-impaired visitors around the site, three hours drive from Melbourne or 90 minutes from Geelong; otwayfly.com.au.
Stay: Cape Otway Lightstation, lightstation.com
8 Valley of the Giants and Castle Rock, Denmark, WA
Ancient giants of timber and granite rule the earth around Denmark, 400km south of Perth. West of the town in the Valley of the Giants is the Tree Top Walk, which perches 40 vertiginous metres above an ancient tingle tree forest. Stretching through a section of the huge Walpole Wilderness, the walkway’s intricate construction is almost as impressive as the massive trees that surround it. Meanwhile, to the northeast of Denmark looms Porongurup National Park’s formidable Castle Rock and its Granite Skywalk. The rock has two lookouts, and reaching the upper platform involves a steep scramble via boulders and ladder, a clamber described as “not for the faint-hearted”. The reward is jaw dropping; a view to the horizon over vast jarrah and marri forests; valleyofthegiants.com.au
Stay: Parry Beach Breaks, Denmark; parrybeachbreaks.com.au
9 Daintree Discovery Aerial Walkway, Daintree, QLD
The Daintree is part of the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world, so treading a 125m long aerial walkway through and over its jungle canopy is a special experience. From 11m above the ground, you look out over McLean’s Creek and then down into dense foliage where you might spot native wildlife including, if you’re lucky, a cassowary. The walkway was built without disturbing the forest’s root system, and provides access also for wheelchairs and prams. Meanwhile, the nearby 23m Canopy Tower has five viewing platforms that give ever-higher perspectives across the treetops; discoverthedaintree.com.
Stay: Cape Trib Beach House; capetribbeach.com.au
10 Telstra Tower, Canberra, ACT
It started life as the Telecom Tower, then was rebadged as Telstra Tower, with neither name mattering much to Canberrans who have always called it Black Mountain Tower. Rising 195m above a moderate hill, the needle’s observation decks provide 360-degree views over the capital and its alpine surrounds. You may zoom in from here on the national edifices your taxes have built, such as parliament houses, memorials and libraries. The views at night are stunning. The tower, which resembles a hi-tech satay stick, is home to the ACT’s highest-altitude post box and the Telstra Heritage Exhibition (of recent but already archaic telco technology) as well as vital telecommunications facilities, including a rumoured secret surveillance centre. When local heroes such as the Raiders or Brumbies are playing, the tower lights up in the team colours; telstratower.com.au.
Stay: East Hotel; easthotel.com.au
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