Toolibin Lake
Freshwater lakes were once common in the western Wheatbelt but now Toolibin Lake is a rare ecosystem. It’s classified as critically endangered in Western Australia, endangered in Australia and is on the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty covering important wetlands.
Over 140 animal and 450 plant species have been recorded here and Toolibin Lake provides an important habitat for waterbirds. It’s a seasonal wetland, which means it has periods when it is completely dry.
In less than 100 years over 90 percent of the original vegetation was cleared from Toolibin Lake’s 48,977-hectare (just under 490,000 m2) catchment area. This large-scale clearing meant more rainwater entered the ground, raising the water table and bringing stored salt to the surface.
There are information boards on the resilience, hydrology and engineering solutions at Toolibin Lake. You can also take the 1.6km loop Recovery Walk when the lake is dry to view these solutions. It’s also a great spot for a picnic.
This site is part of the Wheatbelt Science Trail and GeoTrail, you can find more information or other sites of interest across the region on the map.
The Cache
The cache is a large cache hidden in a tree stump, to find it head to the posted coordinates where you will find a few signs.
On one of these signs look for the heading 'Diverting inflows'. In that paragraph you will find two dates. These in order need to be subsituted to become ABCD and EFGH insert into this.... S32 54.6(C)(E+H) E117 36.(D+E)6(B) to find the cache. Which is about a 650m walk along the loop path unless the lake is in flood and you go the wrong way to the cache, which means doubling back.