- Address: Pinnacle Rd, Wellington Park TAS 7054, Australia
- Phone: +61 3 6238 2176
- Website: wellingtonpark.org.au
- Elevation above sea level: 1,271 m
- Exceeding: 693 m
- First ascent: December 25, 1798
- Prime Minister: George Bass
Wellington is a mountain on the island of Tasmania, not far from Hobart , the capital of Tasmania. Rather, it was built at the foot of Hobart, and from anywhere in the city you can see the top of the mountain. Locals often call Mount Wellington just "mountain." And the native Tasmanians came up with a whole series of names for it - Ungbanyaletta, Puravetere, Kunaniya.
Mount Wellington was discovered by Matthew Flinders, who called it "Table Mountain" in honor of the eponymous summit in South Africa. And its current name - in honor of the Duke of Wellington - the mountain received only in 1832. The beauty of the mountain, its picturesque views attracted many artists - it was depicted on its canvases by such famous artists as John Skinne Prout, John Glover, Lloyd Rees, Houghton Forrest.
Rest on Mount Wellington
The mountain has been popular with tourists since the XIX century. In 1906, the eastern slope of the mountain was recognized as a public park. Already at that time, on its lower slopes, many observation platforms and huts-shelters were built, but a terrible fire in February 1967, raging for 4 days and destroying part of the mountain range, destroyed them. Today, in their place, areas for picnics with benches, barbecues are arranged. On the slopes of the mountain there are several picturesque waterfalls - Silver, O'Grady, Wellington and Strickland.
The top of the mountain is crowned by an observation deck - it can be reached on foot or by car. It offers stunning views of the city, the Derwent River and a place about a hundred kilometers to the west, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the top is also Australia Tower, or NTA Tower - a 131 m high concrete tower that receives and transmits radio and television broadcasts. It was installed in 1996 and replaced the old steel 104-meter tower. Also on the mountain are several weather stations.
The mountain offers several hiking trails; The first trails here were laid in the 20-ies of the last century. There are simple routes available to almost any person with normal health, and more complex ones. Despite the not too high altitude, walking on foot even by a simple route to people with a sick heart is not recommended. And the road to the summit, built in 1937, and officially called "The Road to the Top" (Pinnacle Drive) was popularly called "Ogilvy's scar", since from a distance it resembled a scar on the body of the mountain. Ogilvy is the name of the Prime Minister of Tasmania, where the road was built (its construction was started as part of the campaign to combat unemployment).
It is worth to look at the mountain and from Hobart: from here you can see the so-called "Organ Trumpet" - rock formations from large-crystal basalt. This formation attracts rock climbers; here several dozens of routes of various degrees of complexity, classified by the Tasmanian Climbing Club, have been laid.
| | |
| | |
Climate
At the top of the mountain strong winds blow, the speed of which reaches 160 km / h, and gusts - and up to 200 km / h. At the top for most of the year is snow, small snowfalls happen not only in winter, but also in spring, and in autumn, and occasionally even in summer. The weather here changes quite often and very quickly - during the day, clear weather can be replaced by overcast or even rain and snow, and then again become clear several times.
The amount of precipitation throughout the year varies from 71 to 90 mm per month; most of them fall in November, December and January, least of all - in May (about 65 mm). In winter, on the slopes of the mountain and especially on its summit it is quite cold - in July the temperature fluctuates between -2 ... + 2 ° C, although it can fall to almost -9 ° C, and may rise to +10 ° C. In summer, the temperature fluctuates between + 5 ... + 15 ° C, sometimes there are very hot days when the thermometer's column rises to + 30 ° C, or even higher, but frosts are possible (the fixed absolute minimum in February is -7.4 ° C FROM).
Flora and fauna
The lower part of the mountain was overgrown with thick eucalyptus thickets and ferns. Here you can find a wide variety of species of eucalyptus: berry, oblique, regal, delegatensis, tenuiramis, rod-shaped eclipse and others. At an altitude of more than 800 m, too, the stunted varieties of eucalyptus grow. In addition to eucalyptus and ferns, silver acacia, Antarctic dixon, and at higher altitudes, musk atherosperm and Cunningham's notophagus can be found here. More than 400 species of plants grow on the mountain slopes.
Here lives more than 50 species of birds, including endemic. From animals to the slope of the Wellington mountain, one can find Tasmanian possums (or marsupials), foxes and ring-tailed possums, Tasmanian and small bandicoots, sugar marsupial flying squirrels and other small animals.
How to get to Wellington?
From Hobart to Mount Wellington, you can drive in half an hour: first you need to drive on the Murray St, turn it to the right on Davey St, then continue along the B64, then continue on the C616 (note: part of the way through the C616 is a restricted road) . The total distance from Hobart to the top of the mountain Wellington is 22 km.
| | |
