Setting out to avoid Melbourne, we headed to Warragul and turned north towards Noojee.
We had to climb several hundred metres before droppin back down into the Latrobe valley. We stopped for morning tea at a rest area a few kilometres north of Neerim South which has a superb view out over a deep green valley. As we drove through this area, we noticed an extraordinary number of European trees. It seems that it planting feral trees was very popular in the nineteenth century.
We had a choice of stopping overnight at Noojee or pressing on to the north. We chose to press on because it was well before lunch and we wanted to make progress towards Horsham.
We turned west and drove to Yarra Junction. The road was very pretty but very winding and very up and down hill so Jean didn't enjoy it much.
When we reached the Melba Highway we turned north again, stopping for lunch at a rest area in Yarra Glen.
The Melba Highway was much more comfortble than the roads through the hills.
We pressed on to Yea where there is an author recommended rest area. It is quite big with lots of grass and trees but it is a bit noisier than we would like because the trucks coming down the hill use their exhaust brakes and we parked only fifty metres from the road.