GIPPSLAND WILDS 



47 



plunged into Lilly-Pilly Gully, on the eastern side of 

 Mount Vereker. At the creek we had admired fine 

 specimens of King Fern [Todea barbara] ; now we 

 camped in a bower of Tree-ferns [Dicksonia Antarc- 

 tica, and Alsophila australis]. The place was dank, 



IN LILLY- PI LLV GULLY 



and every leaf shed moisture. But it was so wild and 

 beautiful that we made light of damp clothing and 

 other discomforts. The horses fared rather badly. 

 There was no feed for them save what they gleaned 

 from boughs of the Blanket-wood tree, which were 

 cut for their evening meal. 



Night came without her train of stars, and rain 

 fell steadily till our fern bower became a bathroom, 

 roofed with sprinklers, whose unwelcome showers 

 could in no way be stopped. A fire was started with 



