The Age Saturday 21 May 1921 Page 4
By Ambulans
It is safe to say that few people better enjoy a holiday than those who go for a walking tour. In such a way, what may be called the "tourist instinct" - the desire to have been somewhere and seen something - is fully satisfied, and otherwise inaccessible places in virgin Nature's forest of mountains can be visited and enjoyed. The springy ground underfoot, the myriad mingled scents of the bush and the keen invigorating air combine to renew the vitality of a weary city dweller. And nowhere are these joys better realised or enjoyed than on a tourist walk from Warburton to Walhalla. This trip commences with a good days tramp of twenty miles overt the gently rising foothills of the ranges in front, holding in their blue depths unknown wonders. Down to the left the Yarra accompanies us all day, alternating deep still pools under overhanging trees with sparkling rapids gurgling in their baby delight. Near the river tree ferns abound, the sun smiling on the whole scene. At the end of our twenty miles lies McVeigh's Hotel with good accommodation appreciated by tired travellers. From McVeigh's a distance of fourteen miles to the Yarra Falls shelter hut is traversed next day. The hills are higher and steeper, the air is cooler and the beauty of the scenery increases with each forward step taken. Civilization is behind us, before us is Nature, showing in rugged grandeur on the hills, in delightful prettiness in the valleys. Many a stop we make to enjoy a picture of river, ferns and distant blue of the hills framed in the green of the nearby trees. The colour contrasts intoxicate, but in the solitude do not astound. A side trail leads up to the falls from the shelter house. Passing up the valley, with towering hills 700 ft. high we gaze on all imaginable varieties of ferns interspersed with myrtle and sassafras trees, roofed over with the high foliage of the giant gums. The music of falling water, sweeter than any made by man, makes the position so awe inspiring that one hushes the voice as in a church. Suddenly we see the falls. The water tumbles down five cascades, as if in sport over glistening rocks and sheer cliffs. It is a fitting climax to the walk up the valley and one of Victoria's best (an unknown) beauty spots. We who know the Yarra as it passes under Princess-bridge feel ill at ease in greeting the pure infant stream hereabouts as it plays among the rocks and babbles in its childlike joy. Under a complete arch of tree ferns, past moss-covered banks the ice cold waters of the Upper Yarra begin their long journey. Reluctantly leaving the beauty of Yarra Falls behind, we rapidly rise up the mountains, the track now leading through forest scenery of untold variety, with towering giant gums, and below them is a layer of beech foliage. Forest shrubs and ferns astound us with their beauty and variety. A sharp dip of several hundred feet leads down to the Yarra again, here almost at its source. The cool air at the bottom of this fern glade is heavy with the damp scent of wet and decaying vegetation, and the shafts of sunlight penetrating through the foliage above reveal fairy dells unnumbered. Only two miles further on flows the Thomson River. The track follows the Yarra for the first half of the journey, from here the Thomson is never far distant.
By Ambulans
It is safe to say that few people better enjoy a holiday than those who go for a walking tour. In such a way, what may be called the "tourist instinct" - the desire to have been somewhere and seen something - is fully satisfied, and otherwise inaccessible places in virgin Nature's forest of mountains can be visited and enjoyed. The springy ground underfoot, the myriad mingled scents of the bush and the keen invigorating air combine to renew the vitality of a weary city dweller. And nowhere are these joys better realised or enjoyed than on a tourist walk from Warburton to Walhalla. This trip commences with a good days tramp of twenty miles overt the gently rising foothills of the ranges in front, holding in their blue depths unknown wonders. Down to the left the Yarra accompanies us all day, alternating deep still pools under overhanging trees with sparkling rapids gurgling in their baby delight. Near the river tree ferns abound, the sun smiling on the whole scene. At the end of our twenty miles lies McVeigh's Hotel with good accommodation appreciated by tired travellers. From McVeigh's a distance of fourteen miles to the Yarra Falls shelter hut is traversed next day. The hills are higher and steeper, the air is cooler and the beauty of the scenery increases with each forward step taken. Civilization is behind us, before us is Nature, showing in rugged grandeur on the hills, in delightful prettiness in the valleys. Many a stop we make to enjoy a picture of river, ferns and distant blue of the hills framed in the green of the nearby trees. The colour contrasts intoxicate, but in the solitude do not astound. A side trail leads up to the falls from the shelter house. Passing up the valley, with towering hills 700 ft. high we gaze on all imaginable varieties of ferns interspersed with myrtle and sassafras trees, roofed over with the high foliage of the giant gums. The music of falling water, sweeter than any made by man, makes the position so awe inspiring that one hushes the voice as in a church. Suddenly we see the falls. The water tumbles down five cascades, as if in sport over glistening rocks and sheer cliffs. It is a fitting climax to the walk up the valley and one of Victoria's best (an unknown) beauty spots. We who know the Yarra as it passes under Princess-bridge feel ill at ease in greeting the pure infant stream hereabouts as it plays among the rocks and babbles in its childlike joy. Under a complete arch of tree ferns, past moss-covered banks the ice cold waters of the Upper Yarra begin their long journey. Reluctantly leaving the beauty of Yarra Falls behind, we rapidly rise up the mountains, the track now leading through forest scenery of untold variety, with towering giant gums, and below them is a layer of beech foliage. Forest shrubs and ferns astound us with their beauty and variety. A sharp dip of several hundred feet leads down to the Yarra again, here almost at its source. The cool air at the bottom of this fern glade is heavy with the damp scent of wet and decaying vegetation, and the shafts of sunlight penetrating through the foliage above reveal fairy dells unnumbered. Only two miles further on flows the Thomson River. The track follows the Yarra for the first half of the journey, from here the Thomson is never far distant.
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