Ice House Track – Smiths Monument – South Wellington Track – Rocking Stone – Zig Zag Track – Richards Monument

After dropping off eldest to pickup his new car we made a day of it on Mt Wellington. Today involved a loop from the Springs on Mt Wellington via the Ice House Track past the ruins of the old Ice Houses, onto the plateau over to Smith Monument, back across the South Wellington Track to a lunch stop on the escarpment next to the Rocking Stone and then back to the Springs via the steep Zig Zag Track picking up a few nicely placed Geocaches along the way.

Ice House Track & the Ice Houses

There is not a lot of information on the old Ice Houses used during the 1850-1890 period that I could find. They apparently had thick walls and brushwood roofing. The old rock walls are all that is left these days. Packed with snow during the winter which froze into ice and this was carved into blocks and taken to Hobart by horse to be used  by the confectioners in the preparation of ice creams. The development of the first Ice House built by convict labour was instigated by Governor Sir William Denison in 1849.

The track starts at the site of the old Springs hotel that burnt down in the big fires of the sixties I believe? All uphill and rocky but not to bad though, a bit hot in the still conditions. The first Ice House is just the remains of the back wall and some of the sides but the side facing the track is missing. Some nice stone work here and our first Geoacache. The second Ice House is hidden about 10M off the bottom side of the track and you may miss the small pad without the Geocache to guide you there. Not much left of this one and really over grown with scrub. Quite a bit further up the hill till you reach the third Geocache and the best example of the old Ice House. Most of the walls are present on this one giving a better indication of their size and height.

Smiths Monument

After gaining the plateau we headed off to Smiths Monument. Lots of stunted trees and typical low growth in this harsh alpine area but relatively flat walking now. The Monument is at the spot that Dr John Smith was found when he perished here in January 1858. He apparently got separated from his companions and died on the Mountain. It took several days to find his body. The monument has a canvas cover over it to protect it from the elements as it's metal and maintained by the Hobart Walking Club and Freemasons of Tasmania. Another well placed Geocache to bring us here and tell us a bit more of the history.

The Rocking Stone

After Smiths Monument we retraced and joined the South Wellington Track that takes you to the pinnacle car park. The rocking Stone is a large rock balancing on top of another rock about 5 minutes to the east off the main track. A bit under whelming this one but worth walking out to as the views are pretty good out here. This became our lunch spot along the ridge a bit on a high point overlooking Hobart. As it was a nice calm clear day you could see a long way today. We could also see our car in the car park at the Springs from here.

Zig Zag Track – Richards Monument

After lunch we walked to a few hundred meters before the towers then cut across to the Zig Zag Track and followed this all the way back to the Springs. The track starts off very steeply zigging and zagging as it descends steeply. We had walked a small section of this track when we did the Organ Pipes Track a few weeks ago. About half way down you come to another monument to somebody who died on the mountain (quite a few have). Our last Geocache  for the day at Richards Monument, for Joseph Richards who died on a running race in 1903. The road did not go to the pinnacle in those days.

Back to the car by 17:00 for a well earned coffee and some home made date loaf. We spent about 7 hours on the mountain today as we walked very slowly uphill to avoid getting too hot. We traveled about 8.5Km with about 550M of elevation change. A great loop walk on the mountain and some interesting history.