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294 city direct to "The Bluffs," the port of Invercargill, or to Hokitika, and then make the circuit of South Island; while the steamers from Sydney run to Auckland, and make the circuit of North Island, both lines touching at Wellington as a common and central port. Our friends were fortunate in finding at The Bluffs a steamer which was going direct to Sydney, and in less than six hours after their return from Lake Wakatipu they were afloat and away for their destination, about fourteen hundred miles distant. Six days later the coast of New South Wales was in sight, and they entered the Australian continent through the famous Sydney Heads.

All the way across from New Zealand they had been listening to the praises of the beauty and advantages of Sydney Harbor, which were sounded by some of their fellow-passengers who lived in the capital of New South Wales. "I doubt if you ever saw anything that approaches it," said one; "not even the famous Bays of Lisbon, Rio Janeiro, and New York can compare with it—so everybody says who has seen them all. The navies of all the world could anchor there, and I wish they would come some time in a peaceful way and do so. It would bring a lot of business to Sydney, and send up the price of naval stores and supplies."