One thing I particularly like about Hobart is Wellington Park. It’s a forest reserve around the iconic Mt Wellington with quite a number of walking tracks and trails, perfect for daywalks alone, with family or friends. Last year in February I already climbed on top of Mt Wellington and it was a great day, even though I climbed down too late and missed the last bus from Fern Tree back to the city, so I needed to walk.
In the last few weeks I was always hoping for a sunny weekend so I could to another daytrip to Wellington Park. Last week it finally happened and I decided to climb up Mt Wellington again, but this time on a different route.
The first thing I needed to do was buying a new daypack. Since I lost my previous one I still had not organised a new one, so on Saturday I checked out the local outdoor stores and was once again surprised how cheap you can get outdoor equipment in Australia compared to Germany. I found a nice daypack for only $30 (20 Euro).
Then on sunday I packed lunch and sunscreen and went to the bus stop in the morning. There’s a bus that drives you to Fern Tree from where the walking tracks start. It’s only around $3 and in less than 15 minutes I was there. It was a nice and sunny day, great for some relaxed walking in the forests.
Last time I walked to The Springs, then to the top of Mt Wellington via Pinnacle and Zig Zag Track. Later I walked back down via the fantastic South Wellington and Ice House Tracks. This time I wanted to walk a different route, and I decided to walk back to the city instead of taking the bus, therefore I only bought a one-way ticket.
My plan was to walk the Pinnacle Track again, but then instead of climbing to the top I wanted to walk the Organ Pipes Track around the stunning Organ Pipes cliffs. Afterwards I planned to take the Hunters Track and then choose from a number of possible tracks that lead back to the city on the other side of the mountain. I knew that walking back to the city would make it a really exhausting day but I like that, it feels great to go past your limits and then return home with your legs and feet and everything aching, but knowing that it was a fantastic day.
So from Fern Tree I walked to The Springs via Silver Falls, and there I had a first lunch break. It was interesting but somehow disturbing to see all the cars driving up to the top of the mountain. I know Australians love their cars, but it somehow worries me how many families drive up straight to the top with their cars. They don’t seem to realise what a great family trip it would be to walk to the top and enjoy the great weather.
When I arrived at the junction of Pinnacle and Zig Zag Track I noticed it was still early, so I couldn’t resist and walked to the top of Mt Wellington, took some photos, had another lunch break and then walked the same track back again, to finally continue on the Organ Pipes Track. It’s a nice track along the cliffs, I could even see some climbers which was quite spectalular.
When I reached The Chalet at the end of Organ Pipes Track, I crossed the street and continued on Hunters Track. There’s a helpful Wellington Park map available for purchase which shows the network of tracks that leads from The Chalet back to the city. I found it useful to have the map since almost all tracks lead back to Hobart, but you might end up in Moonah if you take the wrong one.
Hunters Track was actually a really pleasant track to walk, and I didn’t meet a single person on my way down. From the Junction Cabin later, I decided to take a shorter track because I started to become a tired. So I chose Myrtle Gully Track and soon found out why it’s called Myrtle Gully. Parts of the track feel like walking through the jungle, I didn’t expect to see this sort of environment so close to Hobart, really interesting to walk there.
In the end I arrived at Cascades in South Hobart and from there it was not far to walk back to my place. After spending around 6 hours walking I was back and had had a really great day. I’m sure I will do that again soon, you can easily have a fantastic day just walking around Wellington Park.
