Mt. Victoria is a prominent peak in the north-east with panoramic views to north and east coasts. A relatively short walk of under 6 km return, the track climbs steadily from 800m through varying forest and on to open boulder fields before traversing the summit ridge to the peak at 1213m from which there are expansive views of the north-east, including part of Bass Strait and the east coast. The walk does involve some rock-hopping, and a few people have been troubled by the exposed rocky sections near the summit, but it is otherwise not difficult, and energetic children have found it quite achievable in the past. There are a couple of scrubby patches, and depending on the level of track maintenance, wearing shorts might result in scratched legs.
Think it's too short a walk? Experienced walkers who are happy to walk and travel independently after returning to the car have the option of a further 3 peak-bagger peaks in close vicinity. See notes on maps and track files below.
Walk route:
From the car park at Mt. Albert Rd, the track climbs to the NE for nearly 2 km, before swinging east and then slightly south to the summit. 2 hours walk should be sufficient to reach the summit, with a similar return time.
Meeting Times and Places:
If you are interested in going on this walk, please phone Andrew Madden on 6399 3315. Please leave a message and return number if you get the answering machine. The departure time is 8:00am from Door of Hope carpark in South Launceston. The alternative meeting place/time is at Myrtle Park gates at 8:20 am, or at the Mt. Victoria car park at 9:30 am. However, you still need to contact the walk leader per details above if intending to walk. The leader should be notified of any other people you intend to bring along. Please be at any meeting place 5 minutes ahead of departure time.
To access this area from northern Tasmania:
Proceed from Launceston along the Tasman Hwy through Waverley and continue 33 km to reach the Myrtle Park picnic ground gate. Continue a further 500 metres and turn right into Camden Hill Rd. After approx. 6.5 km, turn left into Diddleum Rd, and after a further 2.5 km, take the right turn, staying on Diddleum Rd for a further 10 km to the junction of Ben Ridge Rd. Continue east for about 24 km to reach the junction of Mathinna Plains Rd. and turn right. After about 2 km, turn left into Mt. Albert Rd.
Warnings:
E... Exposed alpine conditions – can be dangerous in poor weather if not fully equipped
Make sure you have a good supply of drinking water - suggest 1 litre per person.
Walkers are advised to wear strong shoes or boots. You should always carry wet weather gear as well as warm clothing in case of sudden weather changes.
Click this link for a more detailed discussion of Preparation, Food and Safety guidelines for Boots N’ All walks, and especially preparation for exposed alpine conditions.
Map details: Mt. Victoria: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8415 (Forester) and 1:25000 map is 5642 (Victoria)
Map reference:
Short ref. 702237
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
55G 5 70 340 54 23 935 -41.33300 147.84061
Mt. Victoria is worth 2 peakbagger points. For listing of peakbagger points, see the Hobart Walking Club Peakbagger's Guide (2000 revision) which can be downloaded (Excel) from http://tastracks.webs.com/peakbaggers.htm The same web page contains several other listings of Tasmanian peaks.
Other peakbagger points in close vicinity are Mt. Albert (4 km further east along Mt. Albert Rd and about 2 hours/2km return) - 1 point, Mt. Blackboy (turn right about 11 km east of Mt. Victoria car park - you would need to follow the gps route as the relatively new road is not marked on maps - the actual walk is about 1.5km return and can be done in about 1 hour) - 1 point and Mt. Young (turn right into Evercreech Rd. about 15 km east of Mt. Victoria Car Park and continue about 500m south. Track is to east of road, and about 1 km return - allow an hour or so) - 1 point. Tracks and waypoints for these are included in the GPX and Google Earth files linked below.
Mt. Albert: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8415 (Forester) and 1:25000 map is 5642 (Victoria)
Map reference:
Short ref. 728219
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
55G 5 70 340 54 23 935 -41.33300 147.84061
Mt. Blackboy: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8415 (Forester) and 1:25000 map is 5641 (Saddleback)
Map reference:
Short ref.733161
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
55G 5 73 390 54 16 280 -41.40167 147.87798
Mt. Young: 1:100000 map is Tasmap 8415 (Forester) and 1:25000 map is 5642 (Victoria)
Map reference:
Short ref.799206
Zone Easting Northing Latitude Longitude
55G 5 80 065 54 20 810 -41.36024 147.95723
For GPX (.gpx) and Google Earth (.kml) versions of the track: Click here to browse our collection.
Direct links: GPX for this walk … KML for this walk
Right-click on the file and save target as to a location of your choice. (Suggest you click the Last modified at top to sort by date to get the most recent at top to find the file for the next walk).
