Ice House Ruins: Lower Wellington Park, Tasmania, Australia
By Dippedidooda on 17-Nov-06. Waypoint GCZD10

I think so. I was tempted to just use the laminated sheet as a log.

Wellington Park didnt want people to find a geocache at this location due to its historical significance and sesnsitivity within the landscape. But its marked on wellington park map and open to the public. I was willing to work with them to come up with a mutually agreeable solution but they took the cache. I gave up.

Oops i still need to check whether Ranger Ben took this cache also.

Logging visit per discussion with the CO.
TFTC Dippedidooda

OK, so it turns out that the kerfuffle has originated from HCC and i have now been contacted by a Wellington Parks officer who is liaising with the Heritage Officer who has some concerns about caches that are placed close to some of the more sensitive locations of historical significance around Wellington Park. So I am currently in discussions with them about the placement of these caches and disabling them while this is occurring. I was talking with Ranger Ben who can be contacted at [email protected]

Weird that GC Admin decided to disable. I decide to Enable!

disabling

Helped reading through other people's comments. Great cache, thank you.

We parked at the Springs and headed up the track with the plan to walk as far as Smiths Monument. We grabbed A Cosmic Cache and Milles Jewel then detoured down the Milles Track to grab Lookout Wildlife. Then headed uphill toward the Ice House caches. We found all three Ice House caches and stopped at the Upper Ice House for a short rest and a bite of lunch. We decided against trekking to Devil of a Good Time as we would have run out of time to get the others, maybe another time. Onward and upward and upward and upward. We detoured again to collect a smilie at South Wellington then headed to our last cache of the day Smith’s Monument. Then it was just all downhill back to the car. The whole walk took five hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks to all the COs who have placed caches in the great area.

Cache still there.

We approached this one from above whilst walking down to the Springs from the summit. We walked right past GZ without even noticing it but then turned around and trusted the GPS, which took us right to the cache thanks to the very accurate coords. The cache and contents were in excellent condition. TFTC!
Cheers,
The Hancock Clan

Lots of bush bashing required. Many thanks.

Another find. That one was a lot more intense. Happy happy! Off to the next! Thanks!

Very nice! Definitely needed some bush-bashing but we got there. TFTC

We found it during a nice walk to Mt wellington.
Nice views and a nice walkingtrack there.
The cache just upgraded this day on the mountain

Oh my goodness this is a sneaky hide! Such a bush bash. We had to just trust the instructions, even if it didn’t look like we could reach the destination... got there in the end! Very good hide. See why it’s terrain 3 haha TFTC!

The walk from the upper icehouse was not fun at all with the track consisting of lots of pointy rocks that did a good job of hurting all my joints as we made our way down, talk of of why the parks dept was spending heaps of money on the perfectly good organ pipes track and not this track was one of the main topics up for discussion between the many yelps of pain and expletives.

Upon getting near ground zero my GPS showed the cache on the other side of the path but after a bit we discovered where we needed to look, with one of the younger cachers finding and standing on what was left of a wall I had a good idea where the cache would be so rather than mess about I just dove into the bush and after finding a clear patch I started the search and within no time at all was holding the cache aloft to show Gooseandegg, membsec, EeePees and Lil Rafa.

I was determined to find this cache since I had made the outer container for the CO some 3 years ago and what with Membsec DNFing it last time he was up this way I was not leaving till it was found!

I was a bit surprised that inside was a little wet but to think it has only been found once in those 3 years since the container was replaced is not bad going.

Very glad to add my name to this cache at long last, thanks for the fun dippy.

Found at 16:06 on 31/12/2017

The best caches I have found so far by type are:-

Traditional [Moorgreen P3:1, Penny Pincher](http://coord.info/GC32Z5B) By [Sven&Cup](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=6596795)
Multi [CoaledHearted](http://coord.info/GCKGZ5) By [CraigRat](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=256663) 
Unknown [Men In Black Holes](http://coord.info/GC1DVB0)  By [SG-3](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=918045) 
Letterbox [Rolf's Letterbox](http://coord.info/GC5NCYM)  By [membsec](http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?A=5318842) 

Continuing our walk down for the summit, enjoying the walk out of the wind up on top, it was a long slog down, down, down on this not so well maintained track. My 20 year old boots don't absorb the jarring so well anymore and I was glad of the break when we reached GZ. I expected to be here for quite some time after membsec's previous attempt but most of the group got stuck into the search, and not long after SSR threw himself into the bushes he literally bounced back out jubilantly with the cache held up high! It is severely overgrown at GZ bit it looks like there is a bit of trimming going on.
Thanks Dippy, we were all anxious about this one!

G'day dippedidooda, it's still here! Happy New Year (log added online right on midnight!)
Found today on a cracking downhill walk with members from fellow geocachers stainless-steel-rat, gooseandegg, membsec and Lil Rafa.
We found the small track, and sifted thru the undergrowth to find the ruins.
I note that stainless-steel-rat supplied the most recent container here. I reckon he must have put a homing device in it, as it was he who made the find.
The end of the ruin wall as described in the hint is most overgrown, but perseverance paid off.
The cache was quite damp inside, but we paper-towelled it out, and dried the outers of the two inner containers too. Contents of the inners were nice and dry.
This was one of only two caches for the day that all party members needed to find and log.
Most satisfying to add our monikers; re-hide a dry container.
Thanks for bringing me here.
A great day out; with excellent company.
#838 @ 1555hours New Years Eve, Sunday 31st December 2017.

Thanks to a recent message through GCA was able to meet up with stainless-steel-rat, gooseandegg, Eeepees and Lil Rafa for a great day walking (and scrambling) from the Pinnacle. The weather at the top was cold and very blowy but got better as the day progressed. After a successful but lengthy attack on "devil of a good time" we moved down through the upper ice house to this spot. Everyone honed in on the location of our previous failed attempt and scramble, looked, fossicked and fumbled our way around. The growth has been cleared in one spot but stainless-steel still had to scramble through a large amount of over growth to locate the wall and the cache. Really happy that it was there and a bit disappointed that we had not bush bashed further on our previous visit. Anyway happy to now log the find and leave behind a dry cache even though it should be overtaken by the bush quickly again.
TFTC

Found on a great walk on New Years Eve with fellow geocachers stainless-steel-rat, gooseandegg, membsec and EeePees. Dragged one of my adult sons along for the day as well. A bit windy and chilly on top, but once we started walking we soon warmed up, and the day got better as we headed towards the Springs. This was one of the caches of the day that no member of our party had previously found so it was full on search mode once we had located the little track. It took a few minutes but SSR eventually made the find. Some maintenance was undertaken to dry everything out and then the cache replaced. Thanks for the cache Dippedooda.

Bah humbug, I walked up this track and specifically wanted to check on this one. But I was taking a friend up the track and overshot this location myself! So I still have to come back to check on its status.

Last night we decided that we needed to find some caches and thought the mountain might be a good place to start before the cold weather begins. When we began this walk the weather looked great, very little wind and the sun was shining but not too hot. This was suppose to be our 3rd find for the day but we tried hard to find it but unfortunately no luck today. We searched for a lengthy time on the way up and then decided to have another good look on the way down. Saw a track and many round rocks but no cache behind any of them, and no evidence of any ice ruins anywhere, very overgrown. We expanded our search both times with no luck. With sadness we unfortunately had to give up and start heading home before the weather changed. We will just have to return one day when we are confident that it is still there.

Looks like nature claimed this one back. Could make out a small track leading off, but saw no walls, just a lot of bush. Had a look at the rocks I could make out, but did not want to go too much bush bashing, so gave up on this one. Thanks anyway, Dippedidooda

Cache checked and all in good order.

Thanks Dippedidooda for placing a cache here, we all really enjoyed the walk to this Ice House Ruin. The children just loved the contents of this cache.Thanks again for the cache.

Coordinates changed from:
S 42° 54.801 E 147° 14.464

Coordinates changed to:
S 42° 54.805 E 147° 14.460

Distance from original: 30.3 feet or 9.2 meters.
Took an averaged reading while doing maintenance today.

Cache replaced today: it consists of two small round screwtop containers (one for logbook, one for swaps) housed in a PVC pipe container - huge thanks to Stainless Steel Rat for his amazing work to construct it.
I took an averaged set of coords, which I've updated the listing with, however they place them 9 metres away from the original. Not sure which ones are/were out the most, but please follow the hint description as it is very specific.

Am going to replace the container this week.

Thanks Dip, have been to the ruins many time over the yrs as a muggle.
This one needs attention as it is very wet inside.
Cheers
Shark-bait 33

Hi Dippy, while Mrs T from Tassie Trekkers and Mrs W were at a GCA event Mr T and Mr W were collecting caches on the mountain on a glorious day for a walk. TFTC

Out and about with whitewebbs targeting caches on the mountain.

Thanks to all cache owners for placing and maintaining these caches for our enjoyment.

Good thing we had a hint, hard to tell the ruins are there at all. The whole container was waterlogged, the log book soaked.

Ruins are well hidden, found them in a clearing in the scrub. The cache was waterlogged, log book thoroughly soaked through.

Quick find TFTC

Would never have known the ice house was there. Thank you!!!

After having found the cache at "Ice House Ruins: Lowest", we continued up the track towards this cache. The track became a little more uneven and wetter but it was still quite reasonable, especially for this time of the year. Once near GZ we had to hunt around a little to find how to access the ruins - we noticed a narrow opening in the scrub and following this led us directly to the ruins. From there the hint led to a quick find. Again, there was water in the outer container but the logbook was secure in it's plastic bag and the cup cake candle was dry also. We drained the excess water and dried things as best we could before signing the log and then replacing the cache. Thanks Dippedidooda for another most interesting cache location and for the cache. Without geocaching, we certainly would not have known about the existence of the ice houses on the slopes of Mount Wellington. Given the time, we decided not to go onto the third cache in this series - we will leave that one for another day.

I have always been keen to see the fabled ice house ruins of Mount Wellington and now I've been I must say I was surprised they were so unimpressive. The cache was easy once on the right path.

one of the things we love about caching is that you get taken to places you would never have known existed. tftc

Nice hide. Thanks for giving me the excuse to come to such an interesting spot!

Thanks for the cache Dippy. Hint spot on so nothing gets damaged.

The growth about this ice house is now quite thick; it wasn’t that long ago that you could see the walls from the track, if you looked carefully. Left tablespoon and bird card and took rock hide. TFTC Dippedidooda T

he caches on the Ice House Track put in by Dippedidooda were the objective behind this walk. As well we decided to place a cache ourselves on the nearby Milles track and also collect a few other caches on the Shoobridge and Jacksons track areas.

Great spot, thanks for all the ice house caches, excellent walk. Would have walked straight past the lower two ruin without even knowing they were there. Dropped off TB.AA

I would have no idea this was here, nice hide.
TFTC

Nice little spot. From the main track the ruins are completely hidden. Like that.

Vagre

First of 2 icehouse caches that I attempted this morning. I walked right past the lowest one on the way here as I failed to register that the lowest cache was in fact lower than this one. Never mind
Loved seeing the ruins of both of these as I was visiting a few special spots on the mountian today.
Thanks
TNLN

A bit more trouble went into finding this one in the snow. I felt like Dr Gloucester at one point (snow up to my middle) but excellent directions revealed the hidey hole and I retrieved the well stocked cache

Tftc

Tnlnsl

P

Glad this one had a cache next to it as I'm not sure I could find it otherwise. Slightly less distance to trek with the ice in the good old days.

We watched the file "The Mountain" a few days ago which added some wonderful history about these structures. Well worth a look - by Thuderbolt Productions.

TNLNSL TFTC

Found with geoslomo (dad) after a tiring walk from the Pinnacle to Ferntree....nearly there!

TNLNSL TFTC

Fifth of fifteen for day on my walk around Mt Welllington.Interesting place which as usual never knew existed.So thanks for taking me here. TFTC

Enjoyed finding this one - who would have guessed where the ruins were.
There was mist about and I got a bit wet going the last few metres. (Without the recent maintenance it would have been worse.)
Took/left nothing. Thanks Dippy.

Soggy cache replaced with a nice new largish screwtop container with nice new swaps as well! Removed just a few of the little brushy limbs that had nearly completely overgrown the tiny track as well. Listing also updated.

It took me about 5 minutes and the GPSr was a bit erratic but the clue came to the rescue.
TNLN. thanks.

Found cache after a short search. Difficult to get to as the area is getting overgrown.

The cahce is wet through and the log book as also wet through so will need replacement. The lid does not fit very well anymore either. Suggest that dippy may need to walk to both Ice Houses for maintenance!!!! Sorry Dippy.

TFTC and the walk.

Walked past this one at first but after a little bit of searching and poking through the bush we found the spot and located the cache quickly.
TFTC

Can't believe we walked past it on the way up to the other caches without ever knowing this ice house was there.
bit of bush-pushing (not quite bush-bashing) required, but cache found easily enough.
logged and headed for lower than lower
tftc

A quick find niow GPS elevation corrected. A great place to stop and admire the view. Those old timers certainly must have worked hard for a living! Premature celebrations started when I beleived this was 200 overall finds but still a couple to go. Sorry for all the excitement Stumbleduponit.
Log book was a bit damp as lid not screwed on tightly.

Third for the day and a double centenary for Norms Quest. what a great way to reach this milestone on Mountain like we have. This was found after we realised how high up the maintain we were from the house and adjusted one GPS to suit... LOL. TNL wristband keyring. Signed soggy log. TFTC and the walk.

Continuing on up the hill from Cosmic and Lower than Lower, I walked straight past this until I noticed the arrow on the eTrex.
The vegetation has really reclaimed these sites.
TNLN Thanks!

Hi yet again, Got the second in the series at 1650hrs, last for the day and time to descend the mountain. Hopefully a nice day tomorrow will see me complete the trio. Enjoyed the walk, the caches of yours done today and getting dinner after a good day on the hunt. Cheers OldSaint.

Would have walked right past this spot too! GPSr went "bing!" we found the little track and found the ruins and the cache.
Thanks again Dippy for some more history.
TFTC

New one to me

Walked on from Lower than Low to find this cache. The log was a little damp - there is a hole in the plastic bag so perhaps the next person could take a new one. Met some other walkers just after I emerged from the bushes. Thanks for the cache.

A quick scramble up the hill from Lower than Lower and before long we found this cache. Two down and one to go. Will we make it? This cache was also quite damp. TNLN TFTC

I can't believe how virtually invisible these ruins have become. I made my way up from Lower than Lower, finding it rather hard to believe that many many many moons ago I piggy-backed a very much smaller chicksta down quite a lengthy section of this track. I wonder if I can blame him for the fact that my knees are now shot?! Anyway, it was great to be back here again, and to marvel at the challenges of early refrigeration (my sympathy is with the horse!). Thanks for the cache, Dippedidooda, and ensuring that these places are still findable!

We scramble up, adventure bound
for there's treasure to be found.
A cool drink really would be nice,
But where have they hidden the ice.

Quack, the Direction Finding Ducks.

These ruins are certainly well hidden... at least we were following the right track this time, and it wasn't quite as cold as on top of the mountain, though it was getting late and we had no time to do the others in the series, unfortunately. It was nice to do a bit of walking on Mt. Wellington though. Cheers for the caches.

#2 along the track (this time definitely along the track LOL). Found easily enough after resorting to the hint.

TFTC!

Must admit to being lazy on this one, a quick look around amongst the undergrowth resulted in nothing so given I was terribly overheated at the time and wanting to have a sit down and a drink I did peek at the clue. Interesting how nature just grabs back what is hers, without the cache I wouldn't have a clue about this being here. . . . well apart from the map, it's on the maps, but apart from the cache and the maps. . . . Thanks

Found after a knee busting walk from the top.

I'm gad the cache is here, otherwise we would have never noticed the ruins!!

Found after a peek at the clue

Thanks Dippy!

The track is great! Its called the Ice House Track. However, it seems "they" really don't want to make it too obvious as to why its called that! Found it anyway, a great sympathetic hide. Did I mention I loved this series?

2 for 2... so far so good... Left cuckoo wasp, took busking bear fridge magnet... and a recipe, of course!

[This entry was edited by gorbak on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 6:19:54 PM.]

Checked on it today. Replaced recipes for Dippy's Decorated Gingerbread Bikkies.

Found after a nice cool walk on a hot day. Great location for a cache.

A nice effort Dippy to find these ruins and I am enjoying the weather and the lack of human activity today. Makes it easy and can take in what these Icehouses must have meant to the colony back then. Thanks Dippy

Had the track all to ourselves and found the cache after only a few minutes looking. This would be hard to find in the snow but we had no trouble on such a lovely warm spring day. Thanks Dippy. If it weren't for these caches we probably would have never walked this track.

After finding the lower one ok my luck ran out with this one. Much snow and ice laying around and over everything on the tiny track leading in here and finally the chill factor got the better of me. I think I will have to save the higher altitude caches for warmer weather.
Countryside just beautiful though, with snow hanging from all the branches of plants, and the views are just glorious.
Thanks for a great series of caches, Dippedidooda.

Now I get it there is a lower ,lower and a lower one. Well managed to find them both despite my confusion. Great trail of caches left by Dippedidooda Thanks

First find on my mountain loop. I have no idea how you knew about this one, like everyone else I went straight past the turn off. There isn't much to this ruin any more, theres barely even space to turn around or bend over the bush is so thick in places. Luckily this makes the likely hiding spot pretty easy! Cache was nice and dry. TNLNSL, many thanks.

Senor el golco found the little track, led the way in and then stood back to allow el golco the find (with the help of the clue: breathing was difficult enough, thinking was out of the question [xx(] ).
T animal texta, L globe of the world ball.
Dropped TED TB in and out.
What interesting places! TFTC Dippy

Going by the logs, and for me too, I could have named this the foggy glasses series. Was pleased of the rest to fix up the cache. Logbook returned - dry and just a little wrinkled. Swaps replenished. All in ziploc bags, hope it survives better with the screwtop lid. Thanks for the container ff.

Was about to set out to retrieve waterlogged cache and found I'd been beaten to it by the very kind forthferalz. Thanks for the replacement cache, will restore original logbook and more swaps soon. Thanks again ff.

Feral Fox Geocoin dropped for Dippy to keep - thanks for a most enjoyable series!

What a fabulous trail ( how did Dippy do it? ) Did this one first. One of the best walks and series of caches I have done.
Thought it was going to be a DNF but the clue was great.

oops saturated- taken away to dry out and replaced with a temporary cache. I left a ready to travel geocoin for person who restocks cache ( needs new logbook, pencil and swaps. Will return logbook and salvage to owner.

The 4th of 5 for the day. Got to the Springs at about 1:30 and headed up the mountain, planning to bag all 3 caches along the Ice House track, as well as “Smith’s Monument†and “South Wellingtonâ€. Got back to the car at 4:00pm (but I’d allow another hour because I hurried). I’d already passed this one before I got decent GPS coverage so decided to get it on the way down.
Found this one easily with the clue – did notice the little side track on the way up but thought it was up further. Didn't know this ruin was here. Cache and contents still very damp. Tried to air them as best I could... TNLNSL

Find number 2 for an absolutely beautiful Saturday afternoon hike. This ruin was easier to find than the first one, but the hide was still pretty tricky. Unfortunately, all the rain on the mountain in the past few days has drowned the cache, so the log book was pretty soggy. It could use a good drying out. TNLNSL.

I thought I'd tackle the mountain today, from the lower end.
Parked at the springs and worked my way up.
#2 of five for the day, I don't think this old body could cope with many more.
T fairy L colonial figurine
TFTC

A great series and lovely part of the mountain with lots of history. TFTC

Beaglegirl spotted this one while genii was removing a large (but not yet juicy) leech. First geocoin ever found - very exciting! And then there was Dippy's ginger biscuit recipe - even more exciting! And then there was a bone cookie cutter for beagirl - excitement plus!! Swapped for bubble mixture (which was a significant choice for a swap at the time but can't recollect why, hmmm... will need to check log book on next visit). And then it was onwards and upwards again.

We continued up the track to find the next in this series. GPS said it was only a few hundred metres further up. AND up we did go.

Sirius had just handed the cache to Quilter when a muggle appeared from up the track. We chatted about the ruins, she said the next one was only a 25 minute walk further up.

T The Braves TB and Bikkie recipe (yum) L Tommy Trojan Geocoin.

Thanks for the cache,we really did enjoy this series.

Cheers Quilter

Found this one when I was Mrs Cheesy Pig. I have struck out on my own and am now logging the caches I found in my previous persona (but not the ones found only by Mr Cheesy Pig of course)! Let me know if you would like me to find it and log it again but under my new name.

Found this one when I glanced at the GPSr and it said I was right on it. The path is a very sneaky little one that's for sure! I would love to know how Dippy found these caches without a latitude and longitude TNLN, thanks for the cache!

7:26 pm We passed this one as I had just turned on the GPSr as we were walking past the track that leads to it. After the well-worn track to the upper ice house, I am very impressed that Dippidy found this one for us! Cache found easily.

Took: Arrow TB
Left: The Braves TB

[This entry was edited by Snuva on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 at 1:36:50 PM.]

Walked right past this one but luckily not too far. Didn't take long to find. Took cupcake candle and left hair pins and Arrow TB.

First of 3 for the day. Love this old history. Ta Dippy, TNLNSL

Walked past this one on the way up the mountain. Found easily, logged, TN L little car to race back down the mountain in.
Rehid and adjusted flora so it wasn't so obvious.
Thanks Dippy
Swampy

Now, what to do, what to do??? Shall we clean our house in readiness for visitors, or shall we head for the mountain and try for a FTF??????????????? Seems that the mountain won, so we headed off early to avoid any Xmas pageant problems - but not early enough to beat Dippy whose caching vehicle was already in place when we arrived (Hmm, She obviously thought that we wouldn't make it to the cache with the two bikky recipes she had entrusted us with!!). Got overly enthusiastic and overshot the cache, but turned back and discovered an obvious track that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier!!!!! Hadn't been to this lot of icehouses before, so good to see them. T frog stencil, L crucifix frog magnet and two Dippy recipes. Oh, and did we mention FTF????

Arrrrgh! We found it, and walked right past another one on the way downhill, before it had been listed! Well it was worth it just to get our greedy hands on the gingerbread recipe. Took that and froggy magnet, left hand magnet. Thanks for the great walk Dippy. We are so glad we did it downhill.

Recipes in. Have updated instructions slightly. Have also found the lowest ruins which have eluded me till now and a cache is in place...