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Hey hey! It's me, Wally! It's time to visit my old classmates from Horsham 298! Hooray!
I was soooo looking forward to get back to 298 and see all of my old friends again. I'm enjoying being on the road,
but there's nothing quite like going home, even if it's just for a short visit. I hid in his hidey-hole while Kevin and
Aimee talked to all my friends about our trikes and our trip, and then... SURPRISE!!! Here's Wally!
But you know what? I'd been away for so long, the kids didn't even recognize me! Maybe it's because I was a little
older and a little more cultured, maybe it was because they'd had gotten a little bigger, or maybe it was just my keen new
hat I was wearing, but a lot of my friends didn't believe I was me! "IT'S ME! IT'S MEEEE!" I shouted. Jeepers!
Have I changed that much?
Later, I went around the room, said hello and I got a pat on the bottom from everyone I knew, and I even met nine or ten
new friends that weren't in Mr. Clough's class last year. I think they believed me once they saw me up close. I hope so,
anyway.
All in all, I had a pretty good day! Hot Diggity! Don't forget to enter my contest
below! See you around, you Year Four clowns!
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who's wally wombat?
I'm Wally Wombat, yes the real Wally Wombat, all you other Wally Wombats are just lookin' for some combat! So will the
real Wally Wombat please stand up? That's me! Yay!
Ask yourself this... what amazin' facts do you know about me? Have you learned anything I've taught you? Would you,
unlike the Year Fours, recognize me if you saw me? Let's see what you know about the world wide web's favourite world
wide wombat...
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Atticus Maximus:
Style:
Contemporary Rock
Songs: Six
Bass: Lee Wallis
Drums: Catherine W.
Vocals: Another chick
Lee's Top 3 Albums:
1. The New Metallica
2. By the Way, RHCP
3. Powderfinger
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meet the bassist of atticus
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Lee Wallis, Horsham's answer to Flea. If you've never heard of Atticus, now you have, and
you heard it here first.
What's the future of Atticus look like? It rocks. We're competing
at the Battle of the Bands next weekend at the pub. We've got a great chance of winning, and it's
the same night the Androids are playing.
So what your saying is that Atticus is opening for the Androids?
Yeah, I guess.
Never sell yourself short in this business. Have you got an album? We just finished putting together an EP, six
songs. Except, the guy who mixed it can't find it anymore.
Now, what's going to be your first release? Probably Hilde's Song. Hilde
was a Norwegian exchange student who was part of the band before she moved back home. She
wrote the lyrics; it's a great song.
Who are your influences? Probably Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers...
Bob Dylan? Bob Who?
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I took a walk down the breakfast aisle at the Supa Valu the other day (shoulda called it the Stupa Valu,
if you ask me), and you know what I found? CRAP, that's what. How come there aren't any fun cereals here? Where's the frickin'
marshmallows and stuff? It all Weeties and Oaties and Cornies and Grainies. Barf. The coolest you've got is Coco Pops?
That's the best you can do? Sheesh.
Hey, look, by the way, if you're wondering why I'm looking more and more, erm, unkempt every week, it's 'cuz I don't do
so good in the rain. Whaddya want from me? I'm made of frickin' paper mache and water based paint. Anyway, I'd appreciate
it if you didn't say anything. I'm kind of sensitive about it.
Yeah, so, cereal? I reckon that's crap.
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Be sure to read "I Reckon That's Crap" every week, only on Beimers.com!
*The opinions expressed by Mr. Skinnylegs do not necessarily reflect those of beimers.com. If you have any complaints, direct them to mrskinnylegs@beimers.com.
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these are the people in our neighbourhood...
The Stevens
It's Ann and Ken! It's Ann and Ken! We took the ride out to Haven to drop in on the Stronsay Bed & Breakfast and have a
cuppa with our old mates, the Stevens. They're busy busy busy, which, when you're running a B&B, is a good thing!
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The Wallises
Chris Wallis taught with my dad at Horsham High back in 1982, and he's been trying to catch up with me for a year. His
fondest memory of my dad involves Canadian Club whisky... it seems he can't remember much after that. Nice to meet you!
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Rory, Margaret & Kieran
I didn't take a picture, I didn't really see what they looked like or heard anything they said, but they win the prize of
being the only people ever to stop in the rain and help us change a tire. More people honk, but nobody stops. Well,
honourable mention to the Ryan family!
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John & Paul
Yet another Paul that gives clout to the rule of Pauls: I've never met a Paul I didn't like. It seems the biblical name
inspires honesty and integrity in its owner. Notice how many Pauls become firemen, medical workers, and charity workers.
His mate, John, wasn't such a bad guy either.
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Dominick
Surprise! Dominick, the on-the-spot roving reporter for ABC Radio Ballarat caught us coming out the supermarket with some
Corn Flakes and asked us for an interview! Too bad he picked the day after our WORST DAY EVER to interview us. We made him
feel so sorry for us, he took some of our gear in his car to Ballarat for us and dropped it off at Richard's! Thanks, Dom!
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Richard
This is the Richard whose house at which Dominick dropped our gear. This is also the Richard who is the son of John Patterson,
the man who picked us up at the airport. He lived in my house in Canada in 1982 while my dad was drinking Canadian Club with
Chris Wallis in his. He and Sally, his fiancee, didn't even know we were coming. We just dropped in and slept on their couch!
You'll meet Sally next week.
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wally's amazin' facts!
As if you haven't had enough of me this week. Hey, who else on this site is going to tell you that Bridgette
Muir was the first Australian woman to climb Mount Everest? Mr. Skinnylegs? I don't think so!
This Week's Amazin' Fact: Ballarat may have been the centre of the Victorian gold rush back in 1850, but today
it makes its money from a different kind of gold... golden caramel, to be precise, poured over rich, creamy
nougat and coated in milk chocolate. I'm talking about Mars! The Ballarat Mars factory provides Mars and
M&Ms to the entire South Pacific. If you buy a Mars bar in Singapore, chances are it was made here!
Until next week, let this question melt in your mouth: What do the M's of M&M stand for?
Don't forget to look for Wally this week!
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| Distance this week: 219km | Distance since Day 1: 13090km |
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What is Bikeabout? Click here to find out!
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Day 330: When's Recess?
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19.9km
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14°
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2.5h
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1.0L
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Horsham Rush hour
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Simon's
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 injury-free for 330 days
The Year Fours may not have remembered Wally, but they certainly remembered us! Look at that excitement!
Actually, the joy of the kids of 298 may not have been captured by the camera, but they had a great time, and surely
remembered us. In fact, when we first arrived in Horsham, we pulled into the Shopping Centre, and one kid waiting for his
mum by the car saw us and actually said, "Hi Kevin, hi Aimee." Either a gifted memory, or Mr. Vivian blabbed we were coming.
This visit, we started off the afternoon in with the old school chums, showing them our route on the map, and the trikes themselves. Then, for the last 20 minutes of school, we went out onto the Netball court and talked to the rest of the school. Caught up with Mr. Clough, Ms. Jackman, and all the old friends from a year ago.
One startling revelation... one of the kids asked us if we'd ever been injured on the trip. The answer: No! Can
you believe that? No torn ligaments, no broken bones, no scraped shins, no lost toes. Incredible. Shackleton should have
been so lucky.
"Put your hand up if any of you are impressed by this."
- Kevin.
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Day 331: New & Improved!
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4.6km
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13°
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Just up to the shops
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Simon's
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 are you being served?
Not ones for beating around the bush, we decided today that, just for kicks, we'd look for a new online host for
the beimers.com enterprise. A simple task, easy enough to do while you're travelling. All you have to do is follow this simple checklist:
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Dig around online to find a suitable host, preferably one that offers three times the amount of space at a quarter of the
price of your current host. Check.
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Email Danny, who has broadband. Ask him to download everything from your old server, burn it onto a CD, and then upload it
onto your new server. Should take him 14 hours, tops. Check.
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Tell the internet registration company where they can find your new DNS server. They should take 24 to 72 hours to make the switch. Check.
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Get onto your new host and re-enter all the old email addresses, subdomains, and mailing list members. Check.
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Get onto your old host and tell them to go reboot themselves. Check.
And that's all there is to it! Some companies spend weeks, months even, preparing for this moment, and make the tech
staff sleep at the hosts office and on blow-up mattresses to ensure minimum down time. Us? We just decided to do it in
the middle of our bike ride. No worries, mate!
"Is that somebody's cell phone? Nope, it's an eggplant!"
- Kevin.
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Day 334: Milo, just like mom used to make
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75.7km
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11°
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9.5h
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0.5L
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Scenic
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Stawell Van Park
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 kumbayah, my lord
I think the last time we stayed in an honest to goodness caravan park was in Carnarvon, about a billion kilometres ago. Back when the earth was warm.
Tonight, we stayed in the caravan park next to The Sister Rocks, on the way to Ballarat. At first, we were going to just pitch our tent at the Rocks, but we were getting a creepy vibe from all the graffiti. It looked like the sort of place where a lot of underage drinkers could hide from the country cops at night while beating up vagrants like us and hiding their bodies amongst the rocks so that the country cops would never find them. The caravan park was only 500m up the road.
It generally goes against our principles to stay at a van park, on the ideal that why should we pay $13 to sleep on the ground in a park, when we can sleep on the ground for free everywhere else. The answer finally revealed itself after being shrouded in mystery for so long: Mission Impossible was on in the TV Room! Yay!
"Is one sandwich enough for you?
I mean, one sandwich and half a banana cake?"
- Aimee.
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Day 335: Day is Done, and so am I
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72.9km
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6°
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9.5h
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0.5L
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Crap
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Beaufort Pub
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We told you we'd save it for a day we really needed it! Thanks to
Michael, Idana & Noam Kellman
who provided the donation for us to stay indoors tonight!
Buy us a gift at
The Giftshop!
Get yourself one too!
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 you had a bad day?
Don't you hate it when you say something like "I had a bad day today," and somebody one-ups you with "You think you had a bad day? Let me tell you about my day." Like it's some kind of ongoing contest to prove who had a worse day.
Today, however, no matter how bad your day was, there's a pretty good chance that unless you lost a limb, our day was worse than yours. I could easily say this was the worst day of our trip, possibly even our worst since birth. In fact, for me to tell you about our day, I need to revert to point form in order to fit in how bad it really was. You think you had a bad day?
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Day began at -1C, and condensation had seeped into the tent to wet our sleeping bag
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Rain began at 11am. Not mist, not drizzle, but heavy, fat, pelting, chubby rain. Good for the farmers, bad for us.
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Strong wind, never quite going in the direction we want it to.
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Punctured two tires, but needed to change tubes four times. Why? Because we've been carrying a pile of both good and bad tubes, intending to mend the bad ones when convenient. Well, it certainly wasn't convenient today, I can tell you.
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Purchased one new tread in Ararat. Thank goodness we did, because we ruined two during the course of the afternoon. The purchased tread, when inflated above 35psi, would bulge in one spot. Finished the last 15km of the day wobbling on one side and pumping every 2km on the other.
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Changed one tire in the rain in front of the Buangor pub, much to the delight of the vastly dull patrons, who, when we entered the pub to warm ourselves at the fire, couldn't think of anything more intelligent to say than, "Why don't you stay here for the rest of the night and get on the piss?" Gosh, what an invitation!
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Rode the last 5km into Beaufort (or rather, the Mobil near Beaufort) in the dark, in the rain, without the aid of our trusty reflective vest which, unbeknownst to us, fell off the back of the bike that day.
The only good thing to come out of today was Paul. Paul and John were eating their Saturday meal at the Mobil, and agreed to escort us the rest of the way into town, for safety's sake. And so, at 8km/h, Paul followed behind us in his car on the side of the highway with his hazards on. Straight to the Beaufort Pub, where we entered the restaurant looking like drowned kangaroo rats and mustered the energy to say, "Room?" Once inside, we shivered for three hours under the electric blanket, all the while thinking about having to get up and do it again tomorrow.
I would like to say that he went through it all with a smile, but I don't think maniacal laughter counts.
"That last hill into town? Some serious guess work there.
Like, driving by numbers."
- Aimee.
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goog:
(n.) egg, I think. A 'goog' is an egg, but eggs are sometimes described as 'googy eggs', which I guess means
'eggy eggs'.
are you being served, part 2
dropping in
i told you so
