^^^^^'1 Excursion to Baw Baw. 20^ 



1914 J ^ 



Leptospermum flavescens ; Clematis and Lyonsia festooned the 

 shrubs, while in one or two places the beautiful blue fruits of 

 Billardiera longifolia were conspicuous. The bright yellow 

 flowers of Senecio velleyoides provided a golden border to the 

 track, while smaller ferns of various kinds carpeted the ground. 

 Lyre-birds and Coachwhip-birds gave a grand concert as we 

 descended, but we had not gone more than half a mile from 

 *' The Rocks " when we walked into a mist which continued 

 more or less all day, and quite robbed us of any views of the 

 lower country we might have had had the day been clear. 

 Soon after passing the 40-mile tree the fern scenery is left 

 behind, and more or less open, undulating country is passed 

 through. We reached the camping-place on the Tyers about 

 mid-day, and had a short halt while the billy was boiled ; then 

 on again, our photographer taking a picture of the termites' 

 mound on the way. At 43 miles the track turns a little to the 

 west and runs down the side of Hotel Creek for a little way. 

 By two o'clock we were back at Parker's Corner. Here our 

 guide made a re-distribution of the packs, as he was near home, 

 and dispensed with one of the horses. Instead of going into 

 Harris by the road we had traversed on Saturday we turned 

 towards Walhalla, still distant about six miles, with the 

 Thomson Bridge about half-way. Not far from Parker's 

 Corner is a lagoon, locally called a crater lake, in the midst of 

 a red soil area. Our pond-hunter was anxious to try it, as he 

 had not had much luck up to the present, so a slight detour 

 was made to it. The depression is practically on the top of a 

 hill, and is given as 1,530 feet above sea-level on the Geological 

 Survey plan (Report on the Walhalla Goldfield, Department of 

 Mines, 1901). The lake, or lagoon, which is about 150 yards 

 in diameter, has probably been caused by the falling-in of 

 caverns in basalt beneath. We then followed the road from 

 ]\Ioondarra to Walhalla, and soon came in sight of the high 

 hills between which the Thomson flows on its way to the lower 

 country. The last mile or so of this was well bordered with 

 spring-flowering shrubs, and would be worth traversing in 

 October or November. As it wound down the spur we got 

 many delightful glimpses of the Thomson valley, and of 

 tributary creeks bordered with tree-ferns. The road makes 

 several sharp turns, and down the steep slopes Bursaria bushes 

 were in full bloom. On some of these were taken a fair number 

 of a Cetonid beetle we had not seen before, which gladdened the 

 heart of our coleopterist. Some flower-spikes of the Spotted 

 Orchid, Dipodium punctatum, were seen, but the flowers were 

 past their best. A very remarkable scale-insect, Pidvinaria 

 tecia, var. alha, was seen on the Kunzeas. It appeared like 

 loose, fluffy cotton-wool attached to the branches. 



