Hobart’s famous Disappearing Tarn has filled to record levels on kunanyi/Mount Wellington, but visitors are being urged to prepare properly before making the trek – and to stay out of the water.
Ben Masterman from the Wellington Park Management Trust said the temporary alpine pool, which only appears after heavy rain or snowmelt, was fuller than it’s ever been.
But he warned it wouldn’t last long.
“It will be not much, I would say, within a week,” he told Pulse.
Masterman said the vivid turquoise colour that draws crowds could fade even sooner, possibly by Monday, if the rain stays away.
The tarn sits near the Potato Fields area on the mountain and requires a one-and-a-half to two-hour walk south from The Springs.
Masterman said the route is tougher than many people realise, with steep, muddy sections and long stretches of boulder fields where rocks wobble underfoot.
“If you haven’t got decent shoes you are gonna do yourself a mischief,” he said.
He said people have needed rescuing after leaving too late, running out of daylight and turning ankles on the rough terrain.
“People have been leaving too late, running out of daylight, not having a torch, or maybe the phone wasn’t charged and then they turn an ankle or they get scared or lost and need rescue,” he said.
The tarn went viral around 2020 after photos of its striking blue water spread on social media, and Masterman said that has created problems.
“People have found out about it through social media rather than from authoritative sources,” he said.
He said visitors see photos of people in T-shirts or bikinis and don’t realise it’s a four-hour return walk in cold, potentially snowy conditions.
Parking at The Springs is also extremely limited and Masterman encouraged visitors to catch a bus, walk up from Fern Tree or carpool.
Critically, swimming in the tarn is off limits because it sits within Hobart’s drinking water catchment.
Masterman said the water quality is so high partly because the area was locked up for years and access is still carefully managed.
“The reason all of that country is in such good nick and that we don’t have to do the sort of super-duper fancy UV expensive treatment on that water before we drink it is because it was actually locked up for a long time,” he said.
He said if people started swimming, TasWater could be forced to spend millions upgrading treatment facilities.
“It’s so miraculous that we get to drink such good quality water right off our backdoor step,” he said.
“Let’s keep it that way.”
Visitors are encouraged to check the City of Hobart and Wellington Park Management Trust websites for trail notes and weather conditions before heading out.
