We relaxed as we walked along the trail from the parking area towards Sphinx Rock on Mt Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania. It took us close to 40 minutes as opposed to the 20 minutes shown on the sign at the start of the trail.

Mt Wellington Aerial View:


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We were surprised when we came close to the rock to see that a childproof gate has been installed to stop kids from running ahead and plummeting off Sphinx rock as there are no guardrails around the rock.


The gate is just like a swimming pool gate and so will stop children from rushing ahead of their parents. A great idea, in my opinion as the rock can be dangerous if care is not taken.

View from Sphinx Rock, Mt WellingtonBlack Currawong Birds on Sphinx Rock, Mt WellingtonWe were blown away with the glorious view that welcomed us as we came around the final part of the track to the rock. The view was so clear of the city and suburbs of Hobart down below with the Derwent River flowing along under the Tasman Highway Bridge.

The Tasman Bridge, the Hobart Casino and other landmarks were all clearly visible while standing on the rock.

After about 5 minutes of taking in the lovely view and getting some great photos and video shots we were surprised by the black currawong birds that began to fly around us.

When the first bird swooped in about a meter from Tehillah’s head only to land on a dead tree trunk a few metres from us, we were actually startled and wondered what the black thing was that came so close to us!

We relaxed when we saw that it was just a currawong. Then we noticed that more and more currawongs began to appear.


It reminded us of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds” as we began to be surrounded by these black birds with bright, almost glowing, orange, yellow eyes.

After a while we realized that other visitors to the mountain must have fed the currawongs in the past. The birds were just being friendly and looking for a feed.

Friendly Black Currawong Birds on Sphinx Rock, HobartWe got some lovely photos and really enjoyed our time on the rock.

Another great feature of the view from the Sphinx Rock is that you can look down on Hobart and the Derwent, but you can also look up at the Pinnacle and the tower at the top of Mt Wellington. It is pretty awesome. Sometimes even with clouds hovering around the tower on the pinnacle. Fantastic views both in the up and down directions!

We found that the walk back was only 20 minutes as we already had stopped on the way in for the photos and to enjoy the landscape and view.

In our next blog post we will start with our trip from Wyndham Seven Mile Beach, through Hobart over the Tasman Bridge and then heading southeast towards the Huon Valley.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Walk in a National Park!

Leanne Annett <><

Today we are back in Tasmania continuing our family holiday. Our last blog post in Tassie we wrote about having afternoon tea at The Springs, 720m above Sea Level on our way driving back down the mountain.

So let’s continue now and begin our walk out to Sphinx Rock.


Sphinx Rock Aerial View:


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The walk from the parking area and public toilets is usually around 20 minutes. It took us a little over half an hour as we stopped regularly to take photos and to enjoy our surroundings.

The landscape on the side on Mt Wellington was absolutely glorious. There were different types of mosses and lichens hanging from the trees and also growing on rocks and around the tree bases.

There were many Mosses and lichen of so many different and varied colours and textures, including rusty reds and different shades of green and greasy. It was truly beautiful!

We find that in our everyday lives we are rushing so quickly each day that we miss much of the beauty around us, but on our holiday we were determined to slow the pace down and to enjoy each moment!

There were rocks scattered amongst the tree trunks.

Along the path to the Sphinx Rock there were some spots where we could clearly see the Derwent River and the city of Hobart below.

Next time we will share about our time on Sphinx rock and our little friendly black visitors who greeted us there.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Walk in a National Park!

Leanne Annett <><

We drove back down from the pinnacle of Mt Wellington until we were just under the cloud. We found a car park where we could stop and enjoy the lovely view of Hobart and the Derwent River.

In fact in the photo below you can see the gorgeous view of Hobart and the river below with the cloud sitting just above us at the top of the photo.

Mt Wellington View With Rocks Below & Clouds AboveThe landscape was really interesting to me. There were sections, such as in the picture above, where there were just large rocks with no trees or plants growing.

Then there were other areas where there were other areas that had wind-swept trees growing with some rocks scattered around beneath them. I wonder why the 2 distinctly different landscapes right adjacent to each other?


Mt Wellington View Hobart with Clouds AboveAfter taking in the view we again got back into the car to drive down the mountain a little more. As I got into the car a sudden gust of wind came up and caught the door out of my hand. It almost hit the car that was parked next to us. I was fortunate that no damage was caused as the wind could easily have caused a dent in the car doors! So beware on your visit to Mt Wellington of sudden wind gusts!

The Springs, Mt Wellington, HobartWe continued our descent and stopped at a place called “The Springs” at 720m above Sea Level. Here we found a picnic table in the sun to keep us warm and unloaded our thermos, cups and soup from the car.

We then all enjoyed a hot cup of soup for afternoon tea.

After relaxing and warming up for about half an hour, we packed everything back in the car and then set off on our walk to the Sphinx Rock.

Afternoon Tea, Mt Wellington, HobartIn a couple of days time we will write about our walk to Sphinx rock and share some of the beautiful photos with you!

Before then though we have a special post for you tomorrow. Greg, Allan and I are going to head over to Grill’d at Robina Town Centre on the Promenade. Grill’d specialize in Healthy Burgers and so we are going to see what they are like.

So next time we will write about our visit to Grill’d at Robina on the Gold Coast and let you know what the burgers are like.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Family Meal Together!

Leanne Annett <><

Mt Wellington, Hobart, Tower in the CloudsLast time we showed a short video clip that we made up from a few of our pictures that we took up on Mt Wellington. Today we will write more about our fun in the snow and show you some photos of this time.

As we drove up to the pinnacle of Mt Wellington we also drove into a cloud. The road up had been quite clear and we had a lovely view of Hobart and the Derwent River. At the top however this was no longer the case.

In fact it was difficult to see very far away at all. The tall tower and the rocks around us faded off into the white of the cloud that enveloped us.

Not only was it white with the mist around us, but it was also very cold and windy. In fact at one stage a wind gust caught our car door and suddenly flung it open!

Hobart to Mt Wellington Aerial View:


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Mt Wellington, Hobart, Pinnacle, All Rugged UpWarning:

When on Mt Wellington be especially careful when opening and closing your car doors! We have since heard of stories of other visitors who had their doors bent back totally on their hinges so that they needed to tie the doors onto the car in order to drive back down the mountain.

Be also aware of the wind gusts that can catch your car door, rip it out of your hand so that it hits the car parked next to you. It certainly would not be a nice situation explaining to another visitor that you did not mean to dent their vehicle!

Since we were all rugged up in our warm winter clothes, including coats, beanies, gloves and even thermal undergarments we were all quite warm even in the cold wind and mist. You can tell from the photos that we still had a great time.

Mt Wellington, Hobart, Family in the CloudsSnowman on Mt Wellington, Hobart, TasmaniaThere are a couple of walks and lookouts up the top of Mt Wellington, but due to the weather and the lack of visibility we decided to just have a quick look around at the top and to hopefully make it back on a clearer day before we flew out to Melbourne at the end of our trip.

So we left the pinnacle and drove back down the hill a little to where we could park the car and walk up the mountain a bit to the snow so that we could have some fun. We saw other families doing the same thing at various spots along the road. Just watch out for the parking signs to ensure you are only stopping where you are allowed.

There unfortunately was not enough snow to use our toboggan, but there was enough for Tehillah to build a miniature snowman, which she named Dudley! Dudley was given little stick arms and prickly small branches as eyes.

 

She even made a bowtie for Dudley and we each had fun videoing and photographing him. I helped Tehillah place Dudley our mini snowman up on top of a large rock so that we could take some great photos of him.

Snowman on Rock on Mt Wellington, HobartJust after we took some shots, a sudden wind gust came by and poor Dudley leapt to his death. Tehillah was quite sad for a short time, but was happy that at least we had some fun with him before this happened!

Greg, Tehillah and I each got some snowballs and we had a little snowball fight in the snow. It was fun just clowning around and relaxing. Playing in the snow is not something that we can do back at home on the Gold Coast!

Snowballs Mt Wellington, Hobart, TasmaniaAs we finished playing in the snow we started to walk back down to where our car was parked and the cloud opened up a little in front of us and we could see the sun shining on part of the Derwent River. You can see in the photo behind Greg the sun shining on the water with the cloud still all around the rest of the photo. It was a cool effect!

Sun Shines Thru Cloud, Mt Wellington, HobartWe were glad that we got to experience the Mountain in the midst of the cloud. It was not something that I had experienced before in my life like this!

So if you are in Hobart then make sure that you drive up to Mt Wellington and check it out. I have even heard that it can sometimes get snow in the midst of summer. Because it is near the ocean the sea breeze can melt the snow, but it is still possible to find patches at different times of the year, depending on the weather.

In our next blog post we will begin our descent of the mountain. Once we were out of the cloud we stopped for some hot soup, a hot cuppa tea and some biscuits. Then we enjoyed a lovely walk out to Sphinx Rock where we met some inquisitive little visitors.

So until next time, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Fun Snow Holiday!

Leanne Annett <><

Last time we described our drive up Mt Wellington. We were anticipating whether we would find snow on the mountain so that we could use our toboggan that we had brought on the plane from Queensland.

So as we drove higher up Mt Wellington and began to see white patches of snow scattered between the rocks we began to get excited. We were well prepared with all of our winter woollens. We each wore our gloves, beanies, coats and thermal underwear so that we would be warm in whatever weather we found up the top of the mountain.



Our daughter, Tehillah, had not seen snow since a school excursion around 10 years ago. Greg and I saw a little snow as we drove out of Queenstown in New Zealand and it began snowing on us, around 4 years ago. But still all three of us were looking forward to seeing snow and playing in it.

Tehillah also had fun creating a mini snowman, which you can see in the short video slideshow above.

In our next post we will show you some of the pictures that we took while we were up on the mountain.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Family Snow Holiday!

Leanne Annett <><