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When Kevin was a young whelp of five, his adventurous family swapped houses with a family from Horsham. While Kevin's dad
worked at Horsham High, Kevin and Chris continued their education at
Horsham 298,
the primary school just up the street from their new residence.
It's twenty years later, and Kevin returns to his alma mater amid much applause and jubilation. His teacher from 1982,
Ms. Jackman,
is still working there, and not only does she remember Kevin, but his footy team as well. The year three whelps
welcome him with a barrage of questions about Canada, cycling, peanut butter, tornados, and how to get away from a bear.
As he departs, they offer him a new friend for the journey ahead...
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where's wally wombat?
Thanks to Mr. Clough's Year Three class, Wally Wombat is the most recent addition to our Bikeabout support crew. Wally will
join us on our tour around Australia, and, knowing wombats, he'll be turning up in the most unlikely of places. The
question is...
Can you find him?
Each week, Wally will turn up in one of our many photos. You might see him climbing Mt. Disappointment, crawling across the
Nullarbor Plain, or ordering up a Carleton at the Three Ways Roadhouse. He could be anywhere!
Look for him each week! What fun!
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Stevens' Stats:
Married: 38 yrs
Owners of: Stronsay B&B, since 1997
Kids: 2 (Shelly-Ann & Samantha)
Dogs: 2 (Molly & Grumpy Jack)
Grandkids: 4
Chooks: 5
B&B Bites:
Location: Haven
Rooms: 3
RACV Rating: 4-Star
Named after: One of the Orkney Islands, in Scotland
Congratulations! Stronsay B&B just won the Wimmera Business Award for Excellence!
Good on ya!
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meet ann & ken stevens
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In 1982, Ann and Ken lived just across Culliver Street at number 39. She was my mom's tennis
partner, he was my dad's barbecue buddy. Nowadays, they run the Stronsay B&B just outside of
Horsham. Let's catch up on the past 20 years...
What did you do before the B&B? When you met us in '82, Ken was the bank
manager, and Ann worked in sales in just about every shop in Horsham. In about '91, we went into
business for ourselves and opened the Superfeast, a sandwich deli. Five years ago, we sold that and
opened Stronsay.
What was the hardest part about running the deli? The third day we
were in business, there were bush fires nearby. We got a call from the police, ordering 300
sandwiches for the fighters. We had it out in 2 hours. We knew if we could handle an order like
that, we could handle anything!
What about running the B&B? It's a little less stressful, as long as
the guests are steady. Once you've got the guests, the main concern is making sure the eggs
aren't overdone.
Any pet peeves? When they clean us out of shampoo and soap, it's a
little frustrating. We welcome people like houseguests, not customers, and you wouldn't steal a
friend's shampoo, would you?
How's business? Wonderful. We just won a 2002 Business award, and
that's kept us very busy every weekend. We've got a great location, minutes from the Grampians, and
of course, we're so friendly!
Stronsay Bed & Breakfast
Plozza's Road, Haven, Victoria 3400
Phone/Fax: 03 5382 6247
Email: stronsay@wimmera.com.au
Print this page and get a special treat when you visit Stronsay B&B!
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the old neighbourhood...
It's one thing to remember people from 20 years ago, but it's another thing if you were five at the time. How
much do you remember from Grade One? After pummelling my brain for long term fragments, (and asking neighbour Ann)
here's the old gang from Culliver Street...
Allan Natruss
Next Door Neighbour. Still lives next door at 16 Culliver. |
Kay Davies
Next Door Neighbour, opposite side. Makes a fine fruitcake. |
Henry Davies
Kay's Husband. Akin to Wilson on Home Improvement, only grumpier. |
Samantha Stevens
Ann & Ken's Daughter. She and Shelly-Ann used to babysit me. |
Cara Jackman
My Year 1 Teacher. Still at Primary 298, teaches Year 5s now. |
Wendy Weight
My First Piano Teacher. Remembers I had talent. What happened? |
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why are we being sponsored?
Bikeabout!
click here to see what we're up to!
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I haven't been here since I was five years old, and it's incredible how much I don't remember. Yes, I said "don't".
Hardly remembered a thing, and the things I do remember aren't more than vague, obscure details.
I trusted Ann Stevens (you'll meet her over on the left) to take us to anyone or anything that might jog my
memory from twenty years past, but y'know, you don't realize how small your world is when you're five. I remembered my
house, I remembered the neighbours' houses, and I remembered the park behind the Stevens' place (except they've taken out
the seesaws and the unsafe slide). That was my world, the world of a five year old.
The Harrises have moved away, and taken their tire swing with them. Brendan Coulson's front yard, where we'd
spend our afternoons laughing at how funny bums are, now holds two more houses, and the paddock at the end of the street is
a new subdivision. Sigh. At least we can still sit on the front fence of the Stevens' place, even if we do have to ask first.
"You know, you shouldn't make generalizations."
- Year 5 student, after Aimee said all Aussies are nice.
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Another blast from Kevin's past... it's Zumstein's! A 45 minute drive from Horsham, and you're nestled in the Grampians
mountains with kangaroos eating out of the palm of your little hand!
Not anymore though. The kangaroo viewing area is still there, but you can't feed them, and since you can't feed
them, the kangaroos have found somewhere else to hang out (psst... behind the visitor's centre in Halls Gap). Thankfully,
this one lone, grey kanga stuck around to play the welcome wagon, and even posed for a few photos. Thanks skippy!
"10,000 years from now someone's going to dig that up."
- Aimee.
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It has happened. Today at 2:56pm Australian Standard Time in Australia's Tidiest Town, we were asked for our autographs.
Does this mean we've made it? Does this mean we're super stars? Does it matter that the autograph seeker was an
eight-year-old girl? Will we always appeal to the fickle younger generation? Will they take what they can from us and
toss us away like yesterday's Moncheechee? Only time will tell, but in the eyes of that little girl... for those few
moments... we were cool.
"Hear that Aimee? I was a prodigy!"
- Kevin.
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rise and go
|  Minority Report  |
Another all-day travel-day! Wheee! Dropped off at 6:10 at the Horsham Bus Terminal (okay, it's really out front of the
Police Station), we boarded a bus to Ballarat and a train to Melbourne. We booked the Melbourne-Broadford tickets for
six hours later, since we wanted to bum around the big city one last time. We grabbed some Chinese, slurped down a
Bubble-Cup, and took in a movie at the Crown. Ahhh, the perfect day.
Ann: "Every so often Ken gives me fifty dollars and I tell him I'm putting it in with my Running Away Money."
Ken: "Then I give her another fifty."
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Today's Travel Tip: Never make reservations. Never book tickets, and never, ever plan ahead. Why? Because the second you
make those plans, something will go awry, and you'll just have to cancel them. Here's an example...
We never make plans, but we found out there was a deal on train tickets to Sydney if booked two weeks in advance.
As always, frugality beats spontaneity. So, last week, we booked tickets for next week from Culcairn to Sydney (Culcairn is home to another family of friends from
1982). Then Wednesday, we booked tickets from Horsham to Broadford, and Broadford to Culcairn. It was flawless.
That is, until we unexpectedly heard from Culcairn that we couldn't stay with them. So, cancel cancel cancel,
all the way to Sydney, and go back to flying by the seat of our pants. That's the way it should be anyway.
P.S. Dear Mackies: Hope everything is alright over there.
"Why do prostitutes always get the short end of the stick?"
- Aimee.
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Nobody told me there was free food and beer at the Broadford footy games. I would have stayed past half-time last week and I
definitely would have wandered over for the game this week if I'd have known. No wonder Kev and John stay there so long.
It's not the love of the game, it's the love of the food.
"Nobody shoots the pizza man when they're sober."
- Kevin.
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New week, new house. While we wait for our fancy-shmancy Penningertm trikes to arrive from the U.S. of A, we're
bunkering down in Ocean Grove, thanks (once again) to our heroes, the Pattersons. They've just reclaimed their beach house
from their former tenants and handed us the keys! We're going to while away our time testing out travel recipes and
brushing up on our survival skills until we hit the road. Next week we'll tell you what food is making the cut to go with
us around Australia, and what we've got to scarf down while we're in the vicinity of a stove.
"Not everyone has a forwarding address."
- Aimee.
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flash:
(adj.) fancy, extravagant, showy. If something is flash, it's over the top glam. Think Trump Tower. 
the old 'hood
6 
2 
3 
zummy's!
200 
2 
Big! 
celeb status
$24 
$33 
best laid plans
$16 
free footy food
89 
71 
6 
grovey!
Yum! 
Shackleton 
