water's edge, and the endless panorama of the harbour.
Those who have unlimited time at their disposal can choose between taking ship at Sydney and coasting up to Brisbane in preference to the very long and exhausting railway journey of about thirty hours; though by so doing they would miss the magnificent scenery of the Hawkesbury River, and the smiling suburban country-side that the train passes through after leaving Sydney, with the red iron-roofed houses scattered among the gum trees. The Hawkesbury River runs into the northern extremity of Broken Bay, bordered here by a national reserve of great beauty called Kuring-gai-Chase. Formerly trains from Sydney were met on the shores of the river by a steamer, which took passengers across to the other side to continue their journey; a delightful experience on a fine day, for every traveller on its shores must long to make a closer acquaintance with this noble and mighty river. Now, however, it is spanned by a bridge, which crosses to Long Island, where it resembles an Italian lake. Along the shore the water showed through a fringe of coral-trees. Farther north the country grew more tropical;
