2nd April.
At 6.45 am started from the depot with Messrs. H. Gregory, Baines, and
John Fahey, taking four riding and two pack horses, carrying eighteen
days' rations, etc. Steered east over an undulating grassy country of
basaltic formation with occasional sandstone ridges; the soil was
generally good, but very stony. I had already traversed this country, and
as the day was very misty with much rain, nothing worthy of further
record was observed. At 1.30 p.m. altered the course to east-south-east,
and at 3.15 camped on a large creek trending north-east, in the bed of
which were large pools of a permanent character. The hills were basaltic,
but the creeks having cut through the rocks and excavated the sandstone,
the valleys were not of such a fertile character as the plains and
ridges. Timber was wholly absent, and only a few small trees were seen at
intervals on the hills. The morning was cloudy with light rain, but it
cleared towards sunset.
Latitude by e Argus 17 degrees 4 minutes 6 seconds.
3rd April.
Resumed our route at 6.30, and steered east-south-east to a basaltic
hill, which we reached at 7.40; from the summit a great extent of country
was visible, but there were no marked features, as the broken ranges and
isolated hills were nearly similar to each other. The whole country
appeared to be a nearly level basaltic plain, with masses of sandstone
rising 100 to 200 feet above its surface, while the valleys of the creek
were excavated to the depth of 100 feet. The country was well grassed,
but very stony; but this, though very inconvenient to the traveller, does
not render it less valuable for pasture, as stony land always stands
feeding better than any other. At 8.20 altered the course to nearly east
towards a low ridge of hills. The plain was well grassed till 12.50 p.m.,
when the sandstone prevailed on the surface and triodia prevailed in the
valleys. At 1.50 followed down a rocky ravine, and at 2.15 encamped.