nstructed which would
have saved heavy gradients and much rock-cutting.

[Illustration: Fern Forest]

At Helidon Mr. Laidby joined the train. He had been late for the train
at Tawoomba and had ridden down to Helidon, the train taking one hour
and a quarter to do the twelve miles. I was sorry to hear that he and
his mother had been summoned from Brisbane to see a brother who was
some 400 miles off in the bush suffering terribly from rheumatic
fever. The sick man had been carried to a civilised place by some
bushmen, who were nursing him day and night. I am happy to say he is
now in a fair way to recovery. Mrs. Laidby is already a great
supporter of the St. John Ambulance Association, and declares herself
more than ever convinced of its utility.

I caught a severe cold on my arrival at Brisbane, and have been in bed
for three days. I have therefore nothing to chronicle, and shall
accordingly make use of Tom's diary for that time:--

'_July 20th._--Returned on board the "Sunbeam," and cast off from the
buoy, making sail for Brisbane with a fresh breeze from the
north-west.

'_July 21st-22nd._--We continued under sail with variable winds and
generally fine weather. The chief features of the fine stretch of
coast between Newcastle and Brisbane are the Boughton Islands, Cape
Hawke, a densely wooded promontory rising to the height of 800 feet,
and the Solitary Islands, a detached group scattered over a space of
22 miles in a north and south direction, at a distance of four to six
miles from the shore. A light is exhibited from the south Solitary,
and a signal establishment is kept up. We communicated with this
isolated port. An islet adjacent to the south Solitary Island is
remarkable for a large natural arch, which the ceaseless breaking of
the sea has opened through the rock.

'Passing north from the Solitaries we again closed with the coast at
Cape Byron. The scenery is magnificent. The coast range attains to a
great elevation. Mount Warning, the loftiest peak, rises to a height
of 3,840 feet, and is visible fully sixty miles. It was our guiding
mark in the navigation of the coast for a space of twenty-four hours.
At Danger Point the boundary line between Queensland and New South
Wales descends to the coast from the high summits of the Macpherson
Range.

'_July 23rd._--At noon we were off the entrance to the narrow channel
which divides Stradbroke Island from Moreton Island, tearing along at
twelve knots an hour,