A NEW ASPECT OF AUSTRALIA.
MOST of those who trouble to think about Australia at all
picture to themselves a flat, sandy country, monotonous in its scenery and comparatively uninteresting in its fauna and flora. It may be news to some that the vast island- continent possesses some of the finest hill scenery imaginable, some of the most beautiful forests, and some of the boldest cliffs in the world. It is indeed true that Australia cannot hope to rival its neighbour New Zealand, with its geysers and glaciers, and with the numerous fjords on the western coast whose beauty is indescribable. Indeed the witchery of Milford Sound baffles description. In no other part of the world can we find long landlocked arms of the sea flanked by Alp-like mountains supporting glaciers that look as if a shock might send them down into the deep sound below. But New Zealand is a fairyland, and her huge neighbouring island-continent must be content to boast of charms few in comparison with hers. She is, however, discovering to her satisfaction that her attractions are growing yearly with her growth and development. The great drawback to Australia thirty years ago was the difficulty of finding a cool resort from the summer heat, with its winds which seem to come from some fiery furnace. The drawback exists no longer. It is no longer necessary to cross to Tasmania or to New Zealand to find bracing cold ; all who can afford to move from the hot plains can find the change they need within their own borders.
The most remarkable of the health resorts recently opened up is the famous Kosciusko Ridge, the greatest mountain range on the continent. Near the top of this mountain, at an altitude of nearly seven thousand feet, a large and comfortable hotel has been erected, which is largely visited in winter for skating and tobogganing, and in summer for the enjoyment of its fine mountain air. In the winter it is covered with snow, and it bears a great resemblance to Adelboden or Montana. There is a pretty lake just below the hotel which attracts skaters and curlers, and ski-ing has lately become fashionable. Not far from Kosciusko there is a village which is actually cut off from civilization in winter (our summer) by the snow, and the postman has to take the letters round on ski. The rock scenery in the neighbourhood of Kosciusko is remarkably fine ; rugged granite crags divide and look down on stupendous gorges, and mountain climbers can test their powers not less satis- factorily than in Switzerland. It should be added that golf-links and tennis courts have been laid out near the hotel. But the greatest attraction for the tourist is the excellent trout-fishing in the snowy river and its affluents : indeed it may be said without exaggeration that Australia contains some of the best trout-fishing in the world. The fish are numerous and take well. It is easy to understand their rapid multiplication when we consider that the population on the banks of the rivers is very sparse and the food supply inex- haustible. Probably the best region of New South Wales for the fisherman is New England, of which the main centres are Armidale, Tamworth, and Glen Innes; but Victoria and Tasmania are not to be despised as haunts for the angler, more especially the beautiful blue lakes on the mountains of the latter fascinating island. New England can also boast of some of the finest scenery in Australia: the gorges of the upper Macleay, the Cockburn valley and the Moonbi ranges, and the wild hills in the neighbourhood of Uralla and Walcha. These are spots seldom visited by the tourist, but they are now easily accessible, and good accommodation is to be found within easy reach of the wildest scenery. Then should be mentioned the Northern Rivers district, lying between the Bunter River valley and the northern border of New South Wales, bounded on the west by the great dividing range. This is emphatically the land of streams, and is an ideal winter resort, the climate resembling that of the Riviera. The vegetation here is sub-tropical, as might be expected from the latitude of the district, which is close to the Queensland border. Grafton is the chief centre of the River district; it can be reached in about twenty hours from Sydney, or by rail from Brisbane. The upper waters of the
Clarence abound in cascades, a truly welcome sight to the dweller in a land where no water is. The Blue Mountains of New South Wales are fairly well known to tourists ; a quick service of trains has now been arranged, and there are several
excellent hotels in the district. The marvellous Jenolan Caves can now be easily visited from Mount Victoria, the nearest railway station. A motor 'bus conducts the traveller to them after a drive of thirty-six miles through hilly country. The last six miles of the journey consist of a zigzag descent down the side of a mountain, and the final exit is through the centre of a mountain called the Grand Arch. This is a natural tunnel worn by water through the heart of a limestone mountain, and above it towers a crag some hundreds of feet high. All this has lately been rendered accessible to the tourist. In Victoria the fern-clad valleys of Healesville and the Upper Yarra are easily reached, and the cool fern-tree gullies opening among the giant eucalyptus trees afford a delightful retreat from the sunburnt plains.
But the attractions which are held out by Australia to the naturalist and the sportsman are hardly recognized in the colony itself ; we mean the attractions to the sportsman with the gun. The Australians themselves are devoted to racing, and there are few of the more preten- tious townships that do not own their racecourse ; hence it arises that the Australians care less for shooting as a sport than do those who visit Australia from the old country. The native Australian animals are numerous and interesting, but none of them can be looked upon as particularly valuable from the point of view of the sportsman. The wallaby, or dwarf kangaroo, affords perhaps the best sport, and soup made from the tails of these nimble animals is not to be despised. Bandi- coots are excellent eating, but are seldom seen by day. But the animals imported by private individuals and by the Acclimatisation Societies have stocked the country with enough to satisfy the most exacting of sportsmen. Of course rabbits meet you at every turn, and it is virtuous to kill them; but as no one will eat them when they are killed, the interest in shooting them hardly exceeds that afforded by killing blue- bottles. Brown hares have spread over large districts in the southern States, and on some stations have become a nuisance. Foxes, imported to keep down the rabbits, have found lambs and poultry more succulent, and it is considered charitable to slaughter Reynard. Deer of several kinds have been liberated in different parts of Victoria, and may be stalked not many miles from Melbourne. In New Zealand—which, strangely enough, possessed no large quadrupeds until the arrival of the white men—wild pigs, the descendants of those liberated by Captain Cook, afford sport equal to that of the wild boar in Europe. Quail shooting is good and easy of access, and snipe are common in marshy ground; the Australian snipe is consider- ably larger than his British congener. Wild duck swarm in the lake and river districts. Of the British game birds which have been liberated few have survived; some pheasants have been reared in the Western District of Victoria, but it is thought that the snakes interfere with either the young broods or with the eggs. The graceful, tufted Californian quail, on the other hand, has made itself quite at home. The brush turkey, in reality a species of bustard, is growing rarer and rarer, but it is probably the best game bird in the bush.
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