248 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIII. 



and other usually associated plants were here in abundance. A 

 little further along the first real fern gully was crossed, coming 

 down from a high range on our right. We were now almost in 

 sight of our destination, M'Veigh's Upper Yarra Hotel, the only 

 habitation of the district, situated at the junction of Walsh's Creek 

 with the Yarra, often known as Yarra Bridge, 66 miles from 

 Melbourne. Here the road crosses the Yarra for the first time, 

 and then commences to climb a spur on its way to Wood's 

 Point, of which I will speak later on. 



The Yarra is here a shallow, swift-flowing stream, about 30 feet 

 broad. Walsh's Creek, a fine stream formed by the union of 

 Donovan's, Damper, and other creeks, joins it just below the 

 bridge, and adds considerably to the volume of the river. Our 

 elevation is still comparatively small, for, though nearly 20 miles 

 up the stream from Warburton, we have risen rather less than 

 500 feet, the verandah of M'Veigh's hotel being 990 feet above 

 sea level. 



Yarra Bridge is situated among fairly high ranges, and the sun 

 sets to its inhabitants long before it has ceased to illumine the 

 tops of the surrounding hills. It seems to me to be a difficult 

 place from which to judge the weather, for a change approaching 

 from the west or south-west must be almost overhead before any 

 signs of it could be seen. 



We selected for our camp a cleared space on the bank of the 

 creek, just where the Mining Department track to Clear Creek 

 leaves the Wood's Point road. We were told that some 

 excellent scenery can be had in a ramble of some eight miles along 

 this track, but time did not allow us to make the trip. It was 

 late in the afternoon when we got there, and after making things 

 comfortable for the night we indulged in fishing, and got some 

 fair-sized black fish. 



The Yarra Falls were now our objective, and next morning 

 (Sunday) we were up betimes getting ready for the 15-mile walk, 

 for the only wheeled vehicles which have yet got nearer the Falls 

 than M'Veigh's are bicycles. We turned three of our horses into 

 pack-horses, loading them up in an amateur style with tents and 

 provisions, and utilizing the fourth horse as a riding horse for the 

 tired ones of the party. We were late in getting away, owing to 

 the delays in fixing the packs, but at last we recrossed the Yarra 

 Bridge and started along the mining track marked " To Conten- 

 tion Creek " — why the name I do not know. This is also known 

 as the T track, every here and there the trees being marked with 

 a large letter T, standing either for Tanjil or Thomson, or 

 perhaps both, for, if followed to its ending, some 20 miles distant, 

 it will bring the traveller on to the Tanjil-Matlock track, not far 

 from Mt. Baw Baw. 



The track takes a south-easterly direction along the south bank 



