Pitcher and Stickland, A Week at Marysville. [voT.^^xxxili. 



AN OCTOBER WEEK AT MARYSVILLE. 



\^\ V. PlTCHKR AM) J. STIfKLAM). 

 {Read before the Field Naturalisis Club of Victoria, ^tJi March, 191 ().-^ 

 Having decided to spend a week's holiday in the Marysville 

 district we left Melbourne, accompanied by Mrs. Pitcher, by 

 the morning train for Healesville, on 13th October last. It 

 was a beautiful morning. The orchards around Croydon, 

 as we passed through, were most picturesque, being then in 

 full bloom, promising what they have since yielded — heavy 

 crops of fruit. In addition to the ordinary spring flowers, 

 which were in profusion along the railway line, the creamy- 

 white bottle-brush spikes of bloom covering the tops of the 

 Swamp Melaleuca, M . ericifoliiu near Mooroolbark and along 

 the Yarra valley at Yarra Glen, as well as on towards 

 Tarrawarra, covering miles in extent, was a glorious sight 

 from the train as we passed along. 



Reaching Healesville soon after 10 o'clock, we sought the 

 motor coach by which the journey to Marysville is completed. 

 With six othe/ passengers, and a varied assortment of luggage 

 and packages for delivery along the road, we left the township 

 just before 11 a.m., and, travelling at fair speed, passed through 

 favourite old Fernshaw, which we all knew under different 

 conditions over thirty years before. Our motor had no diffi- 

 culty in ascending the well-made road over the Blacks' Spur, 

 with its Devil's Elbow and numerous sharp curves and turns, 

 up to the remains of the once famous monster eucalypt of the 

 forest here, " Uncle Sam." We stopped at this notable spot 

 for some minutes, in order to give the motor water and allow 

 the engine to cool, and, at the same time, enable the passengers 

 to stretch themselves and view the surroundings. Then we 

 continued our journey, thoroughly enjoying the beautiful fern 

 and bush scenery close at hand and the magnificent views of 

 apparently interminable forest-clad hills and lofty mountain 

 ranges in the distance to the north, east, and south. ' The 

 level summit of the Blacks' Spur is at length reached, the 

 altitude being nearly 2,000 feet, then down the other side, 

 past the well-known house and grounds of " The Hermitage," 

 into the village or hamlet of Xarbethong. which is reached by 

 half-past 12 p.m. While remaining there for an hour for lunch 

 we visited the post-office and conversed with the postmistress, 

 a Mrs. Williams, ^^ years of age, who performs all the duties 

 of the office, together with those of electoral registrar for the 

 district, in a manner which our chauffeur described as being 

 unexcelled in any similar place on the road. Soon after leaving 

 Narbethong we 'made a detour along the by-road leading to 

 the well-known tourist resort of " St. Fillan's," which was 



