'^'^^^•'1 Excursion to Loch Valley. 1^3 



1920 J . JU 



EXCURSION TO LOCH VALLEY. 



Encouraged by the reports of members of the Club who had 

 spent last Easter at Loch Valley, the committee selected it for 

 the Christmas excursion of the present list. The locality is 

 somewhat off the beaten track, and requires a little explanation. 

 This, however, can be given as I proceed. Owing to i\\t 

 difficulty of securing accommodation, the party was limited tc 

 eight, seven finally joining in the trip. Melbourne was left 

 by the first train to Warragul on 24th December. The 

 morning had every appearance of being hot and uncomfortable, 

 but by the. time Warragul (61 miles) was reached a decided 

 change had taken place, and rain clouds were gradually coming 

 up. Changing trains here for the Neerim line, new country 

 for the majority of the party was entered on. Some rather 

 picturesque scenes — the Shrubby Helichrysum making a fine 

 show — ^were passed on the way to Neerim South, where about 

 an hour was occupied in re-making the train, &c. On leaving 

 Neerim South the train winds up the valley of Red Hill Creek, 

 amidst the remains of a blackwood forest, passing a stone- 

 crushing plant which is at work on the Older Basalt, converting 

 it into ballast. More extensive views are obtainable as it 

 approaches Neerim, when the Tarago valley and the Laber- 

 touche Hills — the part visited from Longwarry for Boronia 

 pinnata some twelve months ago — come into view on the left. 

 Nayook, the next station, is the highest on the line (1,412 feet), 

 and we get a glimpse of the situation of Nayook Glen, a visit 

 to which is on our programme for the trip. On leaving 

 Nayook the line, hitherto running northerly, turns easterly 

 and descends into the valley of the Latrobe, dropping 700 feet 

 in the six miles to Noojee, the terminus, and our destination. 

 This six miles is one of the finest bits of railway scenery in 

 Victoria. There is hardly a straight hundred yards ; at least 

 half a dozen huge timber viaducts occur, one of which is 

 95 feet high and 300 feet long. Several deep cuttings in 

 contorted Silurian are passed through, while fern and gum 

 scenes abound, and in the distance the Yarra divide stands 

 up against the northern sky. About a quarter of a mile from 

 the station the Latrobe was crossed, rushing from the V^^ar- 

 burton HiUs to end its career near Sale in Lake Wellington. 

 It had been raining ever since we left Neerim South, and the 

 road to our boarding-house was rather soft ; however, a 

 twenty-minutes' w^alk put us under shelter. The house had a 

 delightful outlook, a tree-fern-covered hilt standing up across 

 the river, and in the varying lights and shades affording many 

 pretty pictures. Here, at Easter, we had heard Lyre-birds, 

 but this time the scrub was generally too wet to get near their 

 haunts. More rain fell during the night, and, though Christmas 

 morning broke fairly fine, everything was so wet that we were 



