Travelogue: Tasmania | Mt Wellington

When we we planning our itinerary for this trip to Tasmania, I was honestly feeling pretty overwhelmed by the numerous recommendations I was receiving from friends who had been there before. Mount Wellington was a place I put on the list quite last minute, and it was simply there because it was close to Hobart, making it a good filler for our first day’s activities.

As we were driving up I frankly had low expectations for what I was going to see at the top. Having lived in Brisbane for some time now, I’ve been up to the summit of Mount Coot-tha many times, and so the summit of a touristy mountain didn't particularly excite me. But I didn’t know how wrong I could be.

Mount Wellington was not just any old lookout on top of a mountain. Stepping out the car, a quick look around revealed a flat plateau that reached beyond the eye could see on one side, and a staggering bird’s eye view of Hobart city and the surrounding bays on the other. One of the information plaques told a story about the first explorers who discovered Mount Wellington, who said that the still silence they experienced up there almost felt like being under a bell jar. At some points, when I stood far enough from the chatter of the tourists, I could feel that same, pressing silence.

I heard from my friend that it often snows up on Mount Wellington. I can imagine how pretty that must be, but at the same time I was glad it didn’t snow, giving me a chance to get a good look at the interesting fauna on the summit. We might not have seen this little guy too if it had been snowing. My Dad, ever the joker, said he was lost.

It takes about 20 minutes to walk around the circumference of the main lookout area, though you would definitely stop more than once to take pictures of the scenery laid out before you. But for the adventurous (and those with plenty of time to spare), they even have trails that can take about 2 hours to complete. We stayed until the sun set, and it was truly breathtaking.