Wrong!!!  I soon found the red light fairy was working against me. 

As I travelled the full lengths of Belair/Unley road, and The Main North Road, through, and past Elizabeth, all lights turned to red. With each red light, my vocab became more and more colourful. (predominately blue)
 
 

Reaching the Gawler district, I chose to try the Gawler bypass road, and travel the Sturt highway, turning off to Tanunda via the Gomersal Road.

Where had I been all this summer? I pondered as the sight of brown and gold fields met my eyes north of Gawler. Bare brown paddocks, golden stubble in others. The remnants of a summer harvests. 

Obviously I had not ventured far from the "Adelaide oasis" this summer.
 
 

I eventually arrived (almost on time, better late than never) at Rally HQ time enough to sign in.

 The motel car park was impressively full of a wide array of Nuffield products, squeezing out any foreign moderns that may have tried to enter.

Attempting to gain entry within the rally check in room was an ordeal too, where those with the sharpest elbows rained supreme in the jostle to get to sign in, get to the coffee, the bearded memorabilia man, and get out to the fresh air and space once more.

Once the official welcomes were made, we were all free to fill in the arvie as we wished.

A carload of us (travelling modern at this stage) took in the sights of craft markets and eateries, before picking up our older trusty steeds and returning to our accommodation for the remainder of the rally. (The Barossa Hotel)
 
 

The meal that evening was at rally HQ, an out door BBQ fully catered by the Barossa Weintal Motel, and a good feed it was. Some looked for BBQ'ed fish this being Good Friday, but had to be content to chew on lettuce.
 
 

What an artistic treat awaited those there present when after the dishes were cleared away, 

(no hard objects, or left over food scraps were left within the reach of the audience) 

when into the spotlights strutted eight coat clad spunky males to strut their stuff to the strains of "You can keep your hat on, Hot Chocolate, The Stripper," etc..

The months of practice getting those dance steps just right, thrown out the door with gay? abandonment along with the under garments they drew from under their all concealing coats.

Pretty soon the dancers succumbed to the "get it off" calls from the audience and revealed all that lay hidden behind the folds of the heavy coats. "HOT STUFF" 
 
 

Back at the Tanunda Hotel an all night disco was in full swing, the walls trembling to the bass beat, squeals of delight from the darkness, warned us that sleep may be in short supply tonight.

That night a group of 'Register members formed a splinter group. "The Balcony Gang."  Meeting nightly from then on, on the Hotel's balcony, and partaking of The Barossa's famed grape juice, mulled over the day's proceedings.

Once the de-briefings were over, the gang sought refuge from the cigarette smoke and disco mania within the safe confines of their bedrooms.

The industrial earplugs I had with me filtered out the loud voices to some degree, but not the bass vibrating thump that penetrated all barriers placed before it.
 
 

Saturday dawned a really fine morning, and stayed that way all through the day.

The motorcade of Morris Vehicles departed from the Rally HQ, and wound its way through the Tanunda back streets to the town oval where we set up our display for all comers to view.

Over one hundred vehicles were listed on the entry sheet, not certain if all listed were in attendance, but looking down from the grandstand it was a grand sight.

The first cars allowed on to the oval, and taking the front row position, were the Concours entries, an assortment of vehicle models and ages.

The remaining vehicles arranged in model types from the early Minors to the lumbering trucks.

One that might be listed under the "lumbering" category was Tony Clipstone's 1949 Morris J van. The vehicle type featured on this years rally logo.

The rally committee should be congratulated on their choice of logo, and the quality of the badges was of high standard.

The maroon and navy T-shirts and windcheaters were a hit too. It seemed just about everyone was wearing one or another at some time throughout the weekend.
 
 

Saturday night's dinner venue provided seating for the numbers attending, but fell short in providing service.

Twelve months earlier my family stayed there, and guess what? The same excuse for slow meal delivery was still being used! (Sick cook my arm!!!)

All frustrations quickly went out the door when in hobbled a motley crew calling themselves "The Morris Singers,"  they looked as though they'd just arrived from the American war of independence.Their notes not always true, they were not always in unison, but their sharp lyrics accompanied by a visual power point presentation, soon had tears of joy streaming from the crowd's eyes.

 Congrat's. to the head lyricist Brian Triplow. (any relationship to Barry Manilo?) 
 
 

Sunday the attendees had two outing options, either the church service followed by a run through to Angaston for lunch, the other option, a driving tour of the Barossa, meeting up with the church goers at the Mengler's Hill Look out, before lunching together on the Angaston oval.

 (phew! Mengler's Hill What a climb with a three speed box under the floor)
 
 

 Sunday night's dinner at Nuriootpa's Vine Inn was a resounding success, the décor, the food, the service, was hard to fault.

The company shared, was also of the same high standard. What a buzz to be in a room full of so many friends.

After the awards were handed out, (a local couple scooping the pool with their Mini Cooper S,)

 Normally Kerry and Marian (N.Z.  M8TC Members) would have been in an Eight, but this time chose something with more grunt.
 
 

Other awards going to the owners of, 1919-1930 Cowley & Oxford, 1929-1934 OHC & SV Minors, 1931-1939 Post Vintage Models over 8HP, 1935-1948 Eight-Ser. 1,2, and E, 1948-1958 All models except 8 HP, 1954-1972 All Models, and Champion Vehicle.
 
 

After these awards were presented, the announcement was made of the location for the 2006 national Rally.
 
 

Just where had those sneaky NSW folk hidden all those school kids in school uniforms these past days? The uniforms battered, most showing signs of wear, others showing signs of cheek. (Rather full ones at that)

Cheeky or not they delivered a good clear message in song, dance, and video asking all to visit them in 2006 at Queanbeyan NSW

Monday morning the rally was officially closed by Valerie, signalling departure time for many rally entrants. Some elected to stay on for another day or so.
 

This Rally really was a success.
 

Congratulations to the South Australian Rally Committee.
 

Barry Booth