Church bells, jelly slices and ice cream

Dong. Dong. Dong. And four more. St Paul's Church across the road provides a Sunday morning wake up alarm whether we like it or not.

For me, not. I had a headachy night with weird dreams. First thing I do when I get up is take a covid rapid antigen test (negative).

Eight chimes and then a celebratory carillon performance.

I walk across to K-mart and Coles to buy some supplies for nights indoors on our holiday.

It is quite late and we'll past breakfast when we head out down to the country town of Beechworth. It is nice to be off the motorway, driving through the hills, archways of trees above us, autumn colour around.

The Beechworth Bakery is full of tourists as we eat meat pies for brunch, pastries for treats and take away jelly slices and pink lamingtons for a later dessert. I buy more cordials and local vegetables for the trip, but we have had enough of quirky shops yesterday.

The motorway to Melbourne is too familiar and boring, but not as stressful as I feared as I did not need to enter the city proper. I'm so focused on the road I can't enjoy what scenery there is and the many memories of the ride towards Geelong.

We stop in Geelong's city centre because B wants to try the Asian Essence Malaysian restaurant. The timing is too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so we order takeaway and continue on towards Barwon Heads.

The bright blue sky has clouded over with big cumulus clouds and the evening light is gorgeous as we drive the country road to the coast.

Before we relax in our accommodation we head into the centre of Barwon Heads to pick up some supplies. First we buy ice creams and take an evening stroll along the bridge across the river. It is so beautiful here and I have so many childhood memories of staying in the caravan park, strolling beneath the lamps, watching the Point Lonsdale lighthouse flash in the distance as cars rattle across the bridge.

Our accommodation is a lovely cottage that is perfectly equipped for relaxing in, with couches, daybeds, National Geographic magazines and old books.

The Malaysian food is really good, one of the best beef rendangs I've tasted and excellent sambal. I think we might make another visit on the way out

But right now a Panadol and a sleep is in order.

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