AT first sight it could be a scene from a James Bond movie. Bubble-pack biomes blister at the bottom of a former clay tip. Cue action on an Armageddon epic.
But this is no celluloid fantasy. It is the truly amazing Eden Project. And the vehicles burrowing into the site are not transporting weapons of destruction — but ferrying life-enriching plants to their new home.
This futuristic phenomena officially opened on Saturday. A growing thing, it is destined to forever evolve and enchant.
Already the stark clay-white pit sides are becoming transformed by terraces of trees and shrubs; a man-made hole gardened to bloom into a carefully orchestrated bowl of vegetation.
There, at the end of the zig-zag path, are the biomes — greenhouses of epic proportions. Nothing truly prepares a first-time visitor for their awe-inspiring impact.
Hexagonal segments of hi-tech transparent foil stand between one world and another. On one side a chilly Cornish day, on the other the brow-mopping humidity of a tropical jungle and temperate warmth of the Mediterranean.
At the Eden Project they are familiar with superlatives. No description can realistically be delivered without them.
Mike O'Connor, director of the Millennium Commission, says this unlikely location, and the jewel it now holds, was 'like finding a diamond in a coal cellar'.
'In the past the message was that to be environmentally conscious you have to give up all the trappings of 20th century life. That put a lot of people off.
'The reality is if you take a small step it will make a difference. And if you find that not too hard you will find it not too hard to take the next step.'
Protecting and stewarding the environment is one of the big issues of our generation and Mr O'Connor praised the Eden Project for striking the correct balance between education and entertainment.
'There is a virtue in starting something new in a new area rather than doing it where you might expect to find it.'
With £43-million of lottery funding Mr O'Connor says every player who bought a ticket was a winner because they had helped create this project.
Tim Smit, the powerhouse whose Eden dream is now a world-acclaimed reality, said the birth of the project was made possible initially by local people who said 'go for it'.
He said the opening was the 'first day of the start of the rest of the Eden Project's life' and felt he should be shot if it did not make a positive difference.
In the Tropics Biome a cascading waterfall creates the only breeze in a sauna-humid rainforest that welds your shirt to your back. Here with the air kept between 18 and 35 degrees we walk through the jungles of South America, Malaysia and West Africa. The Warm Temerate Biome is almost chilly by comparrison with its Mediterranean, Californian and South African habitats growing citrus, olives and a multitude more.
'We are at the cutting edge for Cornwall, the country, Europe and the world,' says Tony Kendle, assistant director of science. Like everyone associated with the project he is gripped with infectious enthusiasm.
'Cornwall has not just got something for the 20th century but something that really is for the 21st century,' he says.
'Doing this near London or Birmingham would have been just another Alton Towers. So much that is important about the Eden Project is that it is somewhere where people thought it wouldn't happen.'
While some industrial doors have sadly closed, he says that isn't the end of Cornwall. Eden stands for the fact there are new possibilities.
'One thing that has struck a chord with the local people is that even the big tourist developments have always been looking back at how Cornwall was. Eden is the first thing that says Cornwall is looking forward.'
The main challenge for the Eden team was to excite and make sure people wanted to know more.
'A bit of showbiz is necessary to grab their attention. We are looking at the wonders of the world, the threats and the way through some of these challenges. People find environmental issues difficult because they are not given the solution. Our focus is to showcase positive steps forward.'
We may now have the technology to do the most environmental damage to our planet — but Mr Kendle says this generation is beginning to take its environmental responsibilities seriously.
Keeping a firm hand on the Eden Project coffers is finance director Gaynor Coley. It has been an amazing fusion between private and public sector.
'Because we know how hard the money is to raise we think three times before we buy a plant.
'Rather than saying: "I cannot do it because we haven't the money," the fun is in saying: "What do we want to do?" and seeing how we make it happen financially,' she explains.
'You may be looking at the numbers — counting the cash in the bank but that cash has paid for the plants, the building and the people. I don't get pleasure looking at the bank balance — but in seeing what people have done with the money.'
Before the project took off there were months of extensive dialogue both with the public sector and a private sector more familiar with traditional developments.
' The joy of putting it together was seeing hard-nosed City financiers coming to Cornwall, having got the first train out of Paddington, and thinking we were at the end of the earth. Then, watching them go home on the 5.30 train from St Austell and realising there was something here they wanted to buy into!'
A former financial director at Plymouth University who trained in the City of London, she describes her career change as like 'going from a large ship into a speed boat'.
'It was terribly fast, you wondered in which direction you were going and you didn't know how much fuel was in the tank - but it was going to be fun.'
Fun is a key word in this high-profile project. Fun, enthusiasm, education and an aim to promote sustainability and responsible stewardship of our world resources are all part of the Eden ethos.
Colin Crane is the human resources manager. 'We recruit people with a vast range of attitudes and aptitudes. I'm looking for a people person. I don't want Cheshire Cats but I don't want Victor Meldrews.'
With theory now being put into practise he believes the whole team will learn a lot in the coming months.
'It's a huge learning curve. But that is what this is all about. We are going to learn along with the public. We are going to grow with them.'