Hobart’s Disappearing Tarn is back after kunanyi/Mt Wellington drenching

A mysterious Tasmanian natural drawcard has reappeared after 200mm of rain fell on kunanyi/Mt Wellington over the past three days.

HOBART’S mysterious Disappearing Tarn is back, and locals are hiking up kunanyi/Mt Wellington to see a natural gem only witnessed several times a year.

The crystal clear waters of the Disappearing Tarn only appear after good rains or heavy dumps of snow.

Once, only avid bushwalkers knew where to find it, but more bushwalking enthusiasts are now familiar with the site.

It sits in a small depression in the middle of a boulder and scree field, and its crystal blue waters are more akin to something you’d find in the tropics, rather than halfway up a Tasmanian mountain in winter.

Grace Holligan and friends going for a swim in the Disappearing Tarn on Mt Wellington/kunanyi. Picture: MARLEE HURN/MATT HOLLIGAN

For those up with local mountain terminology, the tarn is just before you get to the “potato fields.”

Hobart’s Grace Holligan was lucky enough to find the tarn full this week, after 200mm of rain fell over three days.

“I’m the one swimming in the photo, and the picture was taken by my friend Marlee Hurn,” Grace said after her bracing dip.

“It was my first time visiting the Tarn when it was full. It was such an amazing thing to see in person, I’ve been wanting to see it for years. I think it is so incredible we have something as mythical as a disappearing tarn that when you finally see it, it’d be rude not to have a dip.”