2 Stairwells (Daylesford)

Back Blip. What you are looking at is a composite image — looking up at Pancho Cafe (left) and looking down from the second floor of Paradise Bookshop (right).

As forecast, it is raining heavily, very heavily. What better place to take shelter than a bookshop? Not just any bookshop — Paradise Bookshop is two floors of (mostly used) books, CDs, DVDs, and vinyl. Inside there’s a notice — “Relax, you’re in Paradise”. It’s the sort of place you could spend hours in, but we haven’t had breakfast yet. Pancho is a small cafe with a wonderful menu and great coffee. Afterwards, we stop into Bad Habits (the converted convent; now a cafe, art gallery and gift shop) before we drive back to Melbourne.

It’s our last night in Australia and, in the evening, we go to Arcobar in Heatherton on Melbourne’s outer fringes. My brother and his band Spectrum are playing, and it’s a rare chance for us to see Mike perform (Australians of a certain age will remember the group and that song).