The Wellington Peaks Series of caches will take you to a number of
peaks in and near the Wellington Park. Remember that the mountain
area is subject to rapid fluctuations in weather conditions and you
should always go prepared for all extremes - those of you who
haven't seen it won't believe us, but the mountain (and its
associated peaks) can change from sunshine to full fog (or vice
versa) in 10 minutes or so. Some advice about bushwalking in the
Wellington Park is available at: http://www.wellingtonpark.tas.gov.au/visitors/activities/bush/
There are a number of approaches to many of the caches in this
series. Make sure that you consult and carry a map. In addition to
the major tracks marked on maps, you will frequently find pads
leading off in all directions - so take careful note of where your
car is and where you want to go (maybe your gps will come in useful
here!). Useful Tasmaps for this series are the Mt Wellington Walk
Map, Collinsvale 1:25 000, Longley 1:25 000 and to a lesser extent,
Derwent 1:100 000. These are available from Service Tasmania in
Macquarie St. or agents such as outdoor shops. They can also be
ordered using the form available at: http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/JGAY-5496DW?open
Each cache has a number inside its lid/ on the back of the stash
note/ in the logbook. Record these, as - once the series is
complete - they will give you the information needed to find other
caches. Completing this series is almost inevitably going to lead
to you revisitng some areas - but, hey, these are nice areas worthy
of at least a second trip!!! If you want to minimise backtracking,
you may want to delay your hunting until the series is complete -
but that may be some time away as unfortunately we have to work to
earn money to buy and get to caches!!
All this series of caches could be said to initially contain too
many swaps or swaps that are too bulky!! Some swaps are better than
average (others aren't!!). As there should be some reward for
effort (ie climbing to a peak), you are allowed to take a better
swap (if there are any) and leave a regular swap (that's regular,
not garbage!!!).
Now, on to Get Connected . . . one of the easier caches in this
series. The most direct approach is to park at Big Bend (the sharp
bend before the final approach to the Mt Wellington pinnacle) and
follow the Big Bend Trail to the Collin's Bonnet Track, which goes
straight past the location you want. The initial fire trail soon
descends steeply and is rather rocky. The Collins Bonnet track
itself is being worked on, and varies from bog to duckboard. The
climb to the peak you want is relatively gentle. The easiest route
to the cache will be to stay on the Collin's Bonnet track until you
see several small cairns on the left, then follow your gps for
about 50m. Having come this far, don't stop at the cache but walk
for less than 5 minutes more to see the great views from the
top.
Useful information for this walk can be found in the book Mount
Wellington Walks by Jan Hardy and Bert Elson.