Half-way up

I had a bit of a wander on Mt Wellington today. I didn’t get up to the summit, as I had other plans and I wanted to avoid the teeming hordes, but I’m hoping to get there (a) before I leave and (b) before all the snow melts.

Meanwhile, for today, I was content to go for a strenuous wander up the Ice House track from the Springs. The ice houses are old ruins from the pre-refrigeration days (right back in the mid to late 1800s): they’d be packed with snow in winter, and the resulting frozen ice would be carted to Hobart. All that remains now are some thick stone walls, and they’re very overgrown. It’s as well there are caches here now as I’d have struggled to find them without coordinates!

I visited them at least once a long time ago, on a family hike. I vaguely recall piggy-backing my little brother David for quite a distance down the rather steep track. Can I blame him for the fact that my knees are now dodgy?!

Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of the ice houses (I just couldn’t do them justice), and the photo at right is of a much more level track down near Shoobridge Bend. There were lots of kangaroo ferns and moss giving the whole place a lush green colour. Just nearby there was a large strange tree which grew horizontally over the track before taking a right angled turn upwards. There was a cache here of course! 😉