TAZZIP proposes to build dual zip line on Mount Wellington, igniting backlash

The man who designed and built the Tahune Airwalk wants to build a zip line on kunanyi/Mount Wellington – but critics say the plan is ill-conceived and not suited for the area. Here’s why >

A concept drawing of the zip line proposed for kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Picture: Supplied/TAZZIP

The engineer who designed and built the Tahune Airwalk is proposing to construct a 1300-metre-long zip line on kunanyi/Mount Wellington – but his grand plan has attracted significant backlash before a development application has even come before the Hobart City Council.

Shane Abel, the director of TAZZIP, has developed treetop walks in Victoria, NSW and New Zealand, where he has also established a zip line, which has been running for about eight months.

Mr Abel was the designer and project manager behind Geeveston’s Tahune Airwalk, which opened in 2001, and he has also proposed to construct an artificial surf reef at Park Beach.

He now wants to bring his zip line concept to Hobart, seeking to build the “longest, fastest, highest” dual zip line in the Asia-Pacific region, starting at the Springs and finishing at Strickland Falls.

Mr Abel said the structure would “basically” be invisible.

The West Coast Tower Zipline in New Zealand. Picture: Supplied/treetopsnz.com

“The vista from the zip line will be fantastic because obviously you’ll get to see the [Derwent] River and the city, Bruny Island and all of Storm Bay, plus you’ll get to look back up the mountain to see the pinnacle.”

The zip line would be 1266 metres long and would require the construction of a 25-metre takeoff tower near the Springs carpark.

Users of the zip line would reach speeds of up to 100 km/h and be suspended at heights of up to 50 metres above-ground.

Mr Abel plans to lodge a development application with the council by September and wants the zip line to be up and running by late 2024.

“We won’t be impacting any Aboriginal relics either because there aren’t any where we are – I know that already,” he said. “And there won’t be noise issues either because I’ve already had the noise report done and we’re below the requirements. There’s no parking issues, there’s no traffic issues.”

However, critics of the proposal say the development would clash with existing uses on the mountain and threatened to turn it into a “theme park”.

Tasmanian Conservation Trust CEO Peter McGlone. Picture: Chris Kidd

Tasmanian Conservation Trust CEO Peter McGlone said after the controversial cable car project had been “comprehensively refused” by the state’s planning authorities, it was surprising to see another proposal put forward that “shares many of the same unacceptable elements”.

“It doesn’t seem to really enable visitors to enjoy the natural values of the park in the way that we really expect. And, in fact, I think it will clash with people that are wanting to walk or bird watch or do other silent things in the park,” he said.

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car spokesman Ted Cutlan said the zip line was a “nice idea, for those who like that sort of thing” but the mountain was the “wrong place” for it.

Aboriginal Land Council Manager Rebecca Digney speaks to the media on Parliament Lawns on Thursday, June 16, 2022.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania manager Rebecca Digney described the proposal as a “tourism gimmick”.

“Aboriginal people will be disappointed and dismayed that someone would propose a … zip line on a landscape as special as kunanyi, well accepted as a living cultural landscape, not a theme park,” she said.