The Gawler Ranges are a beautiful part of South Australia. This geocache has been placed at a high lookout point with brilliant views in all directions.
"The Lookout" is located on Hiltaba Nature Reserve, the former Hiltaba Station. "The Lookout" is accessible via a hiking trail or via a high-clearance 4 Wheel Drive vehicle with Low Range gears.
Hiltaba is at an ecosystem crossroads with a rare collection of flora and fauna from three converging ecosystems – the rocky Gawler Ranges, arid country to the north and Mallee to the south. Brad&Janet, along with some other friends, stayed at Hiltaba for a few nights in May 2019 and did some of the formal driving and walking trails while there. They had a great time. While there a some geocaches were placed with permission of the owners.
There are a number of walks and 4WD tracks (locally called 4WD Nature Trails) on Hiltaba. Access to the walking trails is free, but a key will be needed to open a gate to access most of the 4WD Nature Trails. A payment is required which will get you a key and a set of trail notes. Please see the form which links from the image below for more detail. You can contact the duty manager at Hiltaba homestead to arrange access - see below.
Access to this cache however does not require a key or payment - see below. For safety and for legal reasons please do not try to access other private areas of the property without permission.
This geocache is a Letterbox Hybrid and contains a small stamp. Please leave the stamp in the cache. While the stamp is self inking, with time the ink may dry out so people keen to add the stamp to their own logbooks may wish to bring an ink pad. As B&J's travelling companions were all paramedics suitable swag has been left in the cache. Feel free to play with the large ambulance but it would be nice if it could stay with this cache. There were a number of smaller swaps and Travel Bugs when the cache was placed.
You can walk from the carpark (S32° 13.662' E135° 11.758') up to "The Lookout". Alternatively, while “The Lookout” is included as part of one of the 4WD Nature Trails this section is not behind a locked gate and so it can also be accessed at no cost by a high clearance 4WD with low range gears. For safety, and to avoid expensive recovery costs, please do not try to drive up to “The Lookout” unless you have a true 4WD with low range and you know how to use it. Ideally you should let the duty manager know you will be on the property.
The Hiltaba homestead where the duty manager can be contacted is located at S32° 09.443′ E135° 04.339′. There is also a waypoint listed for it on this page. The Manager's phone contact is (08)86481885 but mobile phone coverage in the area is limited and unreliable. The Manager also carries a UHF radio.
Permission has been given to place caches on this property. The duty managers have kindly agreed to assist in cache management. They know where they are. Thanks to them. Details of this information was provided to the reviewer when the cache was submitted.
Click on the image to access a form which can be used for booking accommodation (not required to do the caches on the property) and/or to book a 4WD Nature Trail drive.
