Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, logbook of a journey from Port Stephens to Peak Range, 1 October 1846-3 November 1847 - Page 81

We travelled the 16th-17th & 18th almost through almost uninterrupted scrub. Our camp of the 15th was scarcely a mile from our old scrub camp on a box flat which was at present entirely covered with water. We edged round the low boggy soaked approaches of the creek and travelled tolerably fairly on pebbly rises all covered with dense scrub. Great difficulty was experienced where small creeks joined the main creek and in those more open patches, in which the vitex grew more abundantly with a blackbutted gumtree. Several times the mules waded with their loads up to their bellies into mud - the goats were knocked up several times and fetched to the camp after a few hours spell. When I came to the large [boossaf?] near the Big waterhole, it was all under water and my attempt to cross towards the creek was in vain. We had to bear back and to take a very circuitous route. The 19th F reconnoitred and found that we had to head an easterly creek which came from Scrubby Ranges, on which we had been on a reconnoitring ride with Brown & Calvert. The foot of these Ranges was covered with a fine open Myall forest, a finer one I never saw.—
The Myall is very abundant all along these ridges even on the [stages?] of the 17th and 18th.
We camped generally on a small open place in the scrub near shallow pools of water the remains of an inundation. During the day we suffered of sandflies during the night of myriads of muskitoes. Yesterday the 18th after having travelled for several hours to the Northward, we came out on the open Basaltic Ridges and we broke out into most joyful exclamations when the fine open undulating grassy silverleaved Ironbark forest was again before us. The stages were extremely fatiguing, the scrub injured our packs, our mules got tired, our sheep goats knocked up. The grass in the scrub was scanty, the animals scattered and we had great difficulty to collect them in the morning .The count of food made them feed on the road, the scattered through the scrub instead of fiking, planted, upset their load and fried our patience severely. the lat. of my last camp was 24º 34' by procyon