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 Groovy Church Music. You will probably want to park
at the end of Betts Rd. Follow the signs that indicate the walking
track - access seems to be across private property so you need to
walk even though the road continues - which will take you down to
the river after about 10 minutes. Eventually the track joins an old
four wheel drive track and zig-zags upwards . . . (zag 3 gives you
a good view of the summit). Once you reach the saddle turn right
(track turnoff marked by a pink hat on a pole when we were there!)
and climb to your destination. Although the track is still obvious,
this part is less defined and involves some climbing through/over
rocks. Views from the peak are great. The trip took us about 4
hours (return), including lunch and cache placement.
Once you have conquered this peak and returned to your car, you
might like to travel via Leslie Rd so that you can sample the wares
of the local bakery (watch out for the signs).
You can find notes for this trip in the book Mount Wellington
Walks by Jan Hardy & Bert Elson. Or, for the truly
masochistic cacher, try the route suggested by David Leaman in
Walk into History in Southern Tasmania , which suggests you
return to your car via Mt Montagu and Wellington Falls . . .