The Galvanizers Association of Australia recently held its 58th Annual Conference in Cairns, renowned as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Other nearby tourist spots include the Din Din Barron Falls Lookout Track located in the Barron Gorge National Park in the Kuranda, Atherton Tablelands area.

We took time out from the conference to visit Barron Gorge and noted the excellent performance of both duplex-coated and standard hot dip galvanized steel in this tough environment. The path from the car park to the railway station is naturally winding and steep, so a series of elevated walkways with safety rails were built many years ago to make it fully wheelchair accessible. The handrails have been duplex coated for aesthetics, while the main structure is simply hot dip galvanized.

In the wet season, the whole area is often covered in mist from the spectacular falls and the daytime temperature averages 29°C. Despite these harsh conditions, both the galvanized and duplex-coated steel are performing very well. The abrasion resistant hot dip galvanized coating protects the underlying steel when the paint is inevitably damaged from wear and tear.

Hot dip galvanized steel is known to cope very well with the wet tropics and is largely unaffected. Even the epiphylls seen in these photos do not make any significant difference to the corrosion protection offered by galvanized steel.

Cairns and Kuranda also feature several galvanized shelters, and all are in excellent condition – as we would expect!