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Range News
March
2002
An exciting addition to Queensland's ecotourism projects is planned for the Blackall Range. The"Skywalks of the Obi Obi Gorge" project, now in conception stage, has been a vision for some years of George and Aldy Johnston, owners of Treetops Cabins on the Lake. It was officially launched at the general meeting on the Blackall Range Business and Tourism Association (BRBTA) on Tuesday, March 26 at Tranquil Park Maleny.
The Skywalks of the Obi Obi Gorge is heralded as a world class eco-tourism attraction. It is being designed to attract tourists from all over the world to this beautiful and fairly inaccessible part of South East Queensland's rainforests. It is planned to have the project in place by 2005.
The Skywalks of the Obi Obi Gorge Project Committee is working under their local tourism association, the BRBTA and in conjunction with Tourism Sunshine Coast, Tourism Queensland, the local Caloundra City and Maroochydore Shire Councils National Parks, State Forests and the Caloundra Maroochy Supply Board as well as the Great Walks of South East Queensland Committee. The project will comprise two skywalk bridges connected to a range of short hour-long walks and longer walks of up to four days. The skywalks will take place across two cantilevered bridges. One of these bridges will have a span of 55 metres from the present Lake Baroon spillway to a major lookout crafted in the form This walk will join to the first skywalk with a 250 metre long bridge.
In future it is hoped walkers would be able to start their trail at Gardeners /falls in the upper OBi Obi, traverse around Lake Baroon across these spectacular skywalks and down the Obi Obi Gorge linking up with the existing Kondallilla National Park trail and on to Conondale. At present some 250,000 people visit Lake Baroon each year. This number is expected to rise substantially with the implementation of this project which will bring considerable economic benefits to the community as well as assist with environmental education to all visitors. An information centre and other facilities are planned to inform the public; and best environmental engineering and maintenance practice will be a key feature of this project.
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