uSee Us Bus - Arthur & Carol Stroud's Travels

The Cultivator / Seeder is carried on 60 wheels at the back and another dozen or so in front. AMAZING folded up it looks like a confusing heap of stuff.

I have cheated in this one. I took a picture of a picture which was taken from up a crane and under flood light. As most grape harvest happens at night whilst the grapes are cool I could not get a decent pic in the dark. They pass over the vines and shake them furiously taking just the grapes and leaving leaves etc behind. The vines look a little bruised after buy no harm done.

Well, since I had not been on a tram since I was about 12 years old. Thought I would have a go. A bit different from my days in Sydney where the trams had virtually no sides and you just swung on where ever you could. Not good for oldies or ladys with babys. The windows are all covered in advertising and it is like looking through shade cloth. Inside looks spacious but seats that face each are so close you have to interlock knees with the person opposice to fit. Anyway, the tram did a hour and a bit trip to the city and back. I enjoyed the experience and probably saw more than of the City than driving in the car. There were some 20 stops but you had to press a button if you wanted the tram to stop there and it did feel a little strange to have to stop for traffic lights.

The township pics are Harndorf in the Adelaide Hills. A lovely town with strong German heritage and is very quaint and attractive, A little like Melany in Qld. Beautiful street trees down every street. We meandered on through the Barossa Valley and the greenery all day was a very welcome relief from where we are in the Grain belt. All in all a very enjoyable couple of days and we were very glad we went in the car and not the bus. We have yet to get to Adelaide.

These scenes show one of the Locks on the Murray at the township of Murray Bridge an old train that bought grain to load the paddle steamers of old with grain etc and an old steam driven paddle steamer. There is a lot of interesting history around these parts and shows how ingenious man can be. We spent a few interesting hours at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood. I saw my first car a Austin A40.

We went for a drive in the are along the Murray going south then west to the Fleurie Peninsular overnighting at a B&B at Cape Jervis the jump off for Kangaroo Island. The weather was rather dull and did not really do merit to the water scenes so we stayed on the mainland. We visited most of the towns along the way.

The wine grapes are harvested at night when their temperature had dropped. We went one night with Ken to his vinyard and I rode on the harvesting machine which shakes the living daylights out of the vines and makes it divest itself of the fruit. These grapes are really tiny and very very sweet I think they were Chardonnay I think. The darkish picture was taken from the top of the harvester looking down on the tractor and bin which receives the fruit and then pumps it up into large truck trailers which go directly to the winery.

What a way to end the year. My tongue started to swell and about an hour and a half later I was in Waikeri Hospital where they were ready to do a Tracheotomy if I got any worse and my wind pipe was closed of. My tongue swelled (not a pretty sight as you can see) so much that the was no room for it in my mouth and it was so jammed between my teeth that it was sore and bruised for days. I could not swallow but could still breath through my nose. They pumped me full of stuff and, thankfully the swelling started to reduce immediately I was kept in over night and was brand new again in the morning. Amazing. Gave me a bit of a scare to say the least. Just as well we were not too far from medical help or I would have been a gonner unless Arthur had been game to cut into my throat. What caused it? you ask. It was a reaction to my blood pressure pills which contain RAMIPRIL - REMEMBER THAT ONE I had been taking this for years and am told this usually happens only rarely to people in the first few days of medication. If you are on it carry Phenergan always.

Some of the pics are not quite what I would like them to be but our camera broke way back and we have been using the phone to take photos. Lots of things have broken recently. Arthur's watch, the coffee pot our clock the bus radio the hand held two way and I am sure there is more Oh yes the (very important) knob broke off the welder. The car radiator and the car air con also. But we are still whole, that is as whole as we were. And havin' fun. Let's hope the break everything fairy pisses off by the end of the year.