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 Cap it Off . . . People generally start this walk
from the Myrtle Forest picnic area near Collinsvale (and if you
haven't already done that cache, do it en route!). The track climbs
fairly steeply for most of the trip, varying from wet and muddy to
dry and rocky. Most descriptions of this route say that it will
take 3-4 hours return. After climbing out of the wet gully, ignore
the track to Collin's Bonnet that goes off to the left and keep
climbing until you hit a fire trail. Cross the fire trail, and
then, shortly after, cross another fire trail. Follow the less
formed track that heads to the peak - and the cache.
You can find notes for this trip in the books Mount
Wellington Walks or More Family Walks Around Hobart by
Jan Hardy & Bert Elson.