THE BLACK SPUR
The Victorian bush is very beautiful owing
to the immense tree-ferns that grow among
the gums, and during our stay in Melbourne we
were motored out to Black Spur, a favourite
objective of Melbourne picnic and week-end
parties, and a point of the "Great Divide," as
the Dividing Range of Australia is familiarly
called. From Melbourne, which lies at the edge
of a plain, the country rises to the great Dividing
Range. This belt of highlands starts from
Queensland, and separates the coastal drainage
from that flowing westward. An early rain had
laid the dust, so that we had ideal conditions for
motoring, as we left the city behind us, and passed
through a region of trim villas or bungalows in
gardens, each one of which showed its patch of
wattle gleaming among the grey gum trees. At
one point the road was bordered by fir trees, often
planted by early Scotch settlers to remind them
of home. Presently we had left all traces of the
suburbs behind and were crossing "Kangaroo
