FLEURIEU LIVING
THE BEST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S FLEURIEU PENINSULA AND KANGAROO ISLAND
ESCA at Nest & Nature
AU $9.95
En Fleur – Fashion in bloom
20 years of the Aldinga Arts Eco Village
Fleurieu fresh – New haunts to discover
The Vale Taphouse brings its ale back to the Vale
Art · Design · Food · Wine · Fashion · Photography · People · Destinations
SUMMER 2022-23
CURTAINS & BLINDS Call in to our concept store in Victor Harbor now! Betta Quality Curtains & Blinds 78 Ocean Street, Victor Harbor SA 5211 · T: (08) 8552 3770 · W: bettaquality.luxaflex.com.au Let there be light. But not too much.
It ’ s a Fleurieu Summer-time ...and the living is easy
VISIT OUR NEW DISPLAYS AT MURRAY
Sarah Homes are #1 for holiday homes and homes that make you feel like you’re on holiday. It’s easy to see why! They’re designed to include generous living areas and expansive decking. A brilliant space for entertaining or just relaxing. Wide opening sliding doors and full-length windows deliver wonderful views and let you retreat to sunlit comfort. We have a great selection of 1 and 2 storey home designs, now available with the option of fully integrated solar power. Visit a Sarah Homes display today and discover just how easy it is to enjoy The Fleurieu’s easy lifestyle.
Our display homes are located at Victor Harbor, Old Noarlunga, Mile End, Pooraka and now open at Murray Bridge. Open across the holidays, see our website for details.
BLD 175837 Imagery for illustration purposes only.
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BRIDGE
Key Personnel
Petra de Mooy
Petra started her career as a furniture designer/maker, but always had aspirations to write so … why not start a magazine? Making the connections we’ve made and getting to know this region in-depth has been a gift.
Jason Porter
Jason has worked as a graphic designer and creative director both locally and overseas for over thirty years. When not in the office, he can usually be found tweaking the crossover filters on his ridiculously over-the-top audio system.
Kate Le Gallez
Kate started her working life as a lawyer and consultant, before turning to a lifelong love of writing. She confesses to suffering a mild podcast addiction, which results in her overuse of the phrase ‘I was listening to a podcast … ’ as a conversation starter.
Hollie Connery
After over a decade at sea and traversing some of the world’s wildest places, Hollie has landed back home on the Fleurieu. With a diverse repertoire of experience, Hollie comes to her role at FLM with a deep connection to land, community and culture.
Lulu
Our company mascot Lulu started appearing in way too many of our Instagram posts – so now she has her own profile (sad, we know) where you can follow her charmed life. Search ‘@miss_majestica’ if you’re so inclined.
FLM
Featured Contributors
Poppy Fitzpatrick
Working in journalism, photography and film, Poppy thrives in the creative space where words and visuals meet. She produces documentary and scripted screen projects, but can never say no to writing another Fleurieu Living article amidst the chaos. Despite relocating to the city, it seems she can’t quite resist the pull of the region – as the kilometres on her car might suggest. As a sixth generation Fleurieu-dweller, it’s safe to say that the food, wine, hills and coast are her lifeblood.
Jacob Barter
Jacob Barter, a tenacious lad from the south, has recently opened Port Noarlunga’s new hideout – Noori. Equipped with a passion for the industry and a tendency to be more curious than he should be, Jacob has found himself bartending across the map and across the ocean. Humbled by the depths of knowledge of the wine world, Jacob’s new (and first) venture, Noori, has positively added a fabulous new option for wine/cocktail drinkers down south.
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STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS
Jasmine Gaskell
Jasmine has been a hairstylist for close to 30 years, employing her skills while travelling the globe, styling at Adelaide Fashion Week and working in some of Adelaide’s best salons. In 2021 Jasmin fulfilled a dream and opened her own salon in McLaren Vale. Dye Bird Hair brings with it Jas’s expertise in a luxurious one-on-one pampering experience. In her spare time Jas manages a busy household with her partner and four children and plays netball. She also has a fondness for reptiles and snakes.
Other contributing writers, photographers and stylists:
Azarita Aitken, Sam Healy, Zoë Kassiotis, Mark Laurie, Heidi Lewis, Sam Marchetti, Jodi Nash, Emma Masters, Sean McGowan, Liza Reynolds and Nick Stock.
Publisher Information
PUBLISHER
Fleurieu Living Magazine is published four times a year by Fleurieu Living Pty Ltd. ISSN 2200-4033
PUBLISHING EDITOR AND MANAGING DIRECTOR
Petra de Mooy petra@fleurieuliving.com.au
GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jason Porter jason@fleurieuliving.com.au
EDITOR
Kate Le Gallez
ADVERTISING SALES
Hollie Connery hollie@fleurieuliving.com.au
PRINTER Newstyle Print
DISTRIBUTION
Wrapaway
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print: isubscribe.com.au
Digital: zinio.com
ALL ENQUIRIES
Petra de Mooy petra@fleurieuliving.com.au
POSTAL ADDRESS PO Box 111, Aldinga, South Australia 5173.
ONLINE fleurieuliving.com.au
facebook.com/FleurieuLivingMagazine instagram.com/fleurieulivingmagazine/
COPYRIGHT
All content copyright Fleurieu Living Magazine Pty Ltd unless otherwise stated.
While Fleurieu Living Magazine takes every care to ensure the accuracy of information in this publication, the publisher accepts no liability for errors in editorial or advertising copy. The views of the contributors are not necessarily endorsed by Fleurieu Living Magazine.
environmentally friendly
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Printed on paper from well managed forests and controlled sources using
vegetable-based inks.
South Coast
South Coast
Family owned and operated since 1991. Telephone 8552 3055. Find us at baileyhomes.com.au or like us on Facebook. CUSTOM DESIGNED HOMES | EXTENSIONS | RENOVATIONS | COMMERCIAL
FLM
82 Willunga Farmers Market Producer Profile with recipe: McCarthy’s Orchard
50 Drinkability: Wine reviews by Nick Stock
86 Cocktail feature: Shaking it up
30 Through the glamour of the glass
90 What to buy, where to buy it
104 Selections for a liveable and stylish home
68 Who we are: Yesterday, today, tomorrow – Jared Thomas
70 Who we are: Geoff Hayter and Tess Sapia – Competitive planting
78 Alumni journey: Lauren Jew – From little things
08 Vale Leonie Porter-Nocella
100 Oscar W at full steam
38 Pip Kruger and Grahan Holmberg –Living light
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6 18 54 Contents COVER FEATURE ESCA at Nest & Nature FRONT COVER PHOTO
FASHION FEATURE En Fleur – Fashion in bloom
WINE & SPIRITS
by Jason Porter
FOOD,
FACES & PLACES
Barry Green: The KI Cat Man
PENINSULA PEOPLE
THIS ISSUE RETAIL THERAPY
HEALTH
& WELLBEING
ART & DESIGN
24 Artist Emmaline Zanelli: Taking silly seriously
64 Artist Chris Summer: Realism in focus
54 En Fleur – Fashion in bloom
112 Photo from a reader: Todd Martin
52 Boutique & Unique: Koi Knives –A gift that lasts
94 FLM’s third annual student portraiture series
BOOKS & WORDS
28 Summer book reviews from South Seas Books
72 Summer reading recommendations
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
14 Diary dates to keep you busy this summer
88 Fleurieu Film Festival 2023
11 Morning, noon and night –Locals’ favourite spots for any time of the day
WEDDING FEATURE
102 Matty Myhill and Ashleigh Krzysh at Mt Beare Station, Mt Compass on Friday 28 October 2022
BEING SOCIAL
108 · Persia Brokensha Band at Barn1890
· Mad Dash Willunga
110 My Fleurieu: What locals and visitors love about Fleurieu life
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FEATURE
of the Aldinga Arts Eco Village
FEATURE Fleurieu fresh – New haunts to discover
FEATURE The Vale Taphouse
COMMUNITY
20 years
VENUE
VENUE
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Vale Leonie Porter-Nocella
In the early years of FLM – as a start-up business – we were incredibly lucky to have Leonie as our editor. She loved the region and prided herself on knowing all of the food producers and chefs. She loved it when a new cafe or restaurant would open and would be one of the first to book in. She appreciated a good coffee and would critique it with a simple, ‘it’s good’ or a lament of ‘oh no, it’s bad.’ No further discussion necessary.
Jason and I spent innumerable Sundays around Paolo and Leonie’s dining table eating a delicious three, four or sometimes even five course meal prepared by either Leonie or Paolo. Their love of food and generosity was gratefully shared with many of their friends and family.
It was always extra fun when Leonie’s sister, Lynette, would show up and regale us with stories of their growing up which would be punctuated with uproarious laughter and a great many interjections from both sides. Leonie did love to laugh.
Leonie was very well qualified for her job as FLM’s first editor. In the early nineties she was part of the Distance Learning project created by the University of South Australia, well ahead of most other Australian academic institutions. From the Underdale campus, where she was based, she pioneered the project herself working from home in Rushton Street, Goodwood and travelling to Underdale only once a week for meetings. Here she allegedly instructed her husband that, in case of a fall outside the dedicated office room, he should drag her back into her office so that she could be covered by worker’s comp.
The Distance Learning project was a fitting position for someone who had dedicated her own life of learning and academic studies to the English language, mainly through the prism of her literary heroes William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Her solid and substantial linguistic knowledge was one of the reasons that led to her being invited to contribute to the Macquarie Dictionary, the dictionary of Australian English, which every year updates the list of terms that feature in the dictionary.
Just before joining the Distance Learning project, Leonie had completed three years as Secretary of the Italian Chamber of
Commerce in South Australia. In this role she introduced a number of new practices and a new, revamped magazine, improving its circulation substantially beyond the Chamber’s membership. This was thanks not only to a new graphic style and logo (created with Jason’s input) but also to focusing on content that was specifically relevant to members, as well as business people involved in trade between Italy and South Australia. A distinctive feature was the front page where a selected South Australian entrepreneur would appear with a twopage story inside. Leonie conducted all the interviews herself with the help of her favourite commercial photographer, honing her skills for what was to happen later on when she interviewed dozens of local winemakers, food producers, restaurateurs and artists on the Fleurieu Peninsula for FLM.
If something exists that encapsulates Leonie’s attitude towards those who are sloppy, lazy, or simply ignorant of correct English, it’s probably the cartoon below by Jon Kudelka. Leonie spotted it in a little shop in Hobart’s Salamanca Place and had to buy it. She was even more delighted when she was told that the much admired cartoonist was living very close to the shop and she was able to meet him and have a chat. She took her cartoon wherever she went.
In the words of Dr Seuss; Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened. We are smiling because she was a great wife and mum, a dear friend and her eternally generous spirit lives on in us.
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In March 2022, we lost Leonie –much loved wife, sister, mother and grandmother.
Words by Leonie’s husband Paolo Nocella and daughter-in-law Petra de Mooy.
Our advertising partners
A special thanks to the advertising partners that have made a long-term commitment to FLM.
GOLD PARTNERS
Alexandrina region:
Mount Compass on 8 April (Bookings 03 9005 7750)
Aquafest on Barrage Road, Goolwa on 8 and 9 April
*Goolwa Art and Photographic Exhibition at Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa from 9 to 23 April
*The Amazing Magic Mike - Kids Magic Workshops at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 17 April
South Australian Wooden Boat Festival at the Goolwa Wharf Precinct on 22 and 23 April
*Cole - starring Michael Griffiths Hall, Goolwa on 26 April
Silent Disco 4 Kids Party at Strathalbyn Library
Community Centre on 27 April
*Sista Girl, at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 5 May
Our Mob 2015, Aboriginal arts at Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa from 5 May to 11 June
Good Things Small Packages, at South Coast
Regional Art Centre, Goolwa from 5 May to 18 June
*Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - The Elton John Tribute Show at Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 20 May * tickets/ booking required
www.visitalexandrina.com or call Council’s Visitor Information Centre on 1300 466 592 . Alexandrina Council program in 2017. View a copy online for more events in the region, www.alexandrina.sa.gov.au
OUR SPONSORS
10 ACKNOWLEDGES
Morning, noon and night
NOON
Our neighbours at Fleurieu Cherries for the best cherry ice cream and moscato you have ever tasted! Such a beautiful spot run by a lovely family.
Bec Trethowan, Pages Flat
MORNING
During the week I go to the Willunga General Store for coffee. They have Dawn Patrol beans, the best muffins and sandwiches and offer a friendly distraction from busy weekday mornings. On the weekends we always head to De Groot in Port Elliot for good coffee but also the best Kingston biscuits you’ve ever eaten.
Liza Reynolds, Principal Interior Designer, Larc Designs, Willunga
I love to go to the Coffee Factory every morning before I open up the shop. I always have an almond milk chai latte – they make the best ones I’ve tried. The atmosphere and the lovely staff are a great way to start my mornings
Prue Gardner, Owner, The Sound of White Boutique, Port Noarlunga
De Rose Café – They don’t miss with their food selection. I’ve never been one to repeatedly order the same dish, but their mushroom sandwich is out of this world. Also this is my daily coffee spot, we share the same building! They take service with a smile to the next level.
Kyran Tyron, SA Sales and Wine Coterie Manager, Hither & Yon, Willunga
If I’m down south it’s Beaches in Port Elliot, or One Little Sister in Normanville. My kids are also almost entirely responsible for consuming a whole freezer of icy poles at Valley of Yore. Hollie Connery, Advertising Sales Manager, FLM, Myponga
Kuti Shack Goolwa. The food and drinks are next level and the shack vibes are real. Sandy bodies and salty feet always welcome, shoes optional. Kuti Shack crab pasta and a cold riesling after a surf is literally my favourite thing ever.
Emily Hilder, Owner, Human Brands, Port Willunga
NIGHT
Charlotte Dalton for Friday wines and dumplings with friends, or maybe hop over to Harborganics pizza!
April Howes, Teacher, Goolwa.
Big Easy Radio. Live music, delish drinks, atmosphere – perfect for balmy summer arvo/nights.
Rhiannon Stevens, Entrepreneur, Port Elliot
The Salopian – always a reliable choice for fresh produce and sophisticated flavour.
Siobahn Connery, Teacher, Willunga.
Friday night at Geddes Wines is the best way to end the week, catching up with mates with a glass in one hand and a bowl of deliciousness made by Mrs G in the other. These gatherings aren’t regular yet, but keep an eye on your socials for when they are being held, as you certainly don’t want to miss a night of laughs, shenanigans and plenty of good times (and wines!)
Sam Marchetti, McLaren Vale.
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In the past few years our choices on where to go for a coffee, a quick spot of lunch or even a bit of nightlife have expanded terrifically with wine bars, gin bars and breweries popping up everywhere. We asked some of our friends and associates: Where do you go? And why?
ENCOURAGING ENJOYMENT OF LIFE’S GREATEST PLEASURES; WINE, FOOD AND FAMILY SHOP • DINE • STAY A: 26/28 Kangarilla Rd Mclaren Vale 5171 T: 8323 0188 E: info@oxenberry.com W: www.oxenberry.com OPEN MON TO FRI 10~5 SAT ~ SUN 9~5
Summer Diary Dates
MARKETS:
Willunga Farmers Market
Willunga High School
Every Saturday 8am-12pm
Come rain, hail or shine, enjoy fresh produce from more than eighty farmers and artisan food makers. Become a member for discounts on all your goods, and enjoy the nourishing atmosphere every week.
Victor Harbor Farmers Market
Grosvenor Gardens, Victor Harbor
Every Saturday, 8am-12.30pm
Spend the morning choosing from thirty plus stalls, with locally caught seafood, organic vegetables, seasonal fruit, local honey, mushrooms, fresh flowers, Fleurieu wines and much more.
Yankalilla Craft and Produce Market
Main South Road, Yankalilla
Every Saturday 9am-1pm
This lesser-known market is a surprising gem offering homemade jams and preserves, delicious sweet treats, locally grown fruit and vegetables, plus craftwork, trinkets and unique gifts.
Willunga Quarry Market
Located adjacent to the Willunga Oval
Second Saturday of every month, 8am-12pm
Browse through an eclectic mix of wares ranging from secondhand tools to plants and crafts.
Willunga Artisans and Handmade Market
Willunga Show Hall
Second Saturday of every month, 9am-1pm
An inspiring curated market showcasing local art and handmade goods. A great place to buy unique, handmade gifts crafted from high quality materials.
Meadows Market
Meadows Memorial Hall
Second Sunday of every month, 9am-3pm
A market focused on promoting community. The Meadows market has something for everyone including plants, food, bric-a-brac and much more.
Port Elliot Market
Lakala Reserve, Port Elliot
First and third Saturday of every month, 9am-2pm
A classic country market with plenty of fresh local produce, plants, bric-a-brac, books, fishing gear, and even a two-dollar stall. Soak up the ambience and variety of wares both you and your dogs can enjoy.
Goolwa Wharf Market
Goolwa Wharf
First and third Sunday of every month, 9am-3pm
With around eighty stalls including bric-a-brac, collectables, fresh local produce, plants, books both new and old, unique artisan goods, and delicious food and coffee, you’ll find a myriad of goodies at this market.
Kingscote Farmers and Artisan Market
Kingscote, Kangaroo Island
Second and fourth Sunday of every month, 9am-1pm
Come to Kingscote for a relaxing experience the whole family can enjoy. With plenty of fresh food and locally grown produce to take home, the Kingscote market is the perfect place with its many boutiques and bric-a-brac stalls to buy gifts or find a treat for yourself.
Strathalbyn Market
Next to Gilberts Motor Museum on High Street
Third Sunday of every month, 8am-2pm
A quaint, country-style market with bric-a-brac, local produce and condiments, crafts, plants, jewellery, photography and much more.
Victor Harbor Artisan Market
Victor Harbor Railway Plaza
2nd Saturday and 3rd Sunday of December
The whole family can enjoy the fun and lively atmosphere at this artisan market. Browse the wide range of craft and food stalls while enjoying live music.
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DIARY DATES
Right: Don’t miss Chillifest Willunga on 18-19 February 2023 for all things chilli. Chilli plants and produce, chilli foods and cooking demonstrations, plus chilli-related merchandise.
FESTIVALS AND EVENTS: DECEMBER
Summer in the Square
Willunga Town Square
Weekly markets start Saturday 3 December, 9am-1pm in the Town Square.
The Willunga Business and Tourism Association, in association with the City of Onkaparinga, is excited to announce Summer in the Square – activating ‘The Town Square’ in picturesque Willunga. Enjoy the summer vibe at the market and events hub, with a weekly Saturday morning market alongside a calendar of Friday twilight and Sunday markets and other social events.
The Lazy Days of Summer art exhibition
Red Poles, McLaren Vale
5 November to 29 January
Features artists Renee Goulding, Stephanie Pitcher, Angie Harrison, Pam Diment, Michele Nooteboom and Indigenous artists Russell Bryant, Verna Lawrie, Josephine Lennon and Elaine Cox from Ceduna.
Recycled Rug Making
Willunga Library
11 December, 2-5pm
This beginner’s class will teach you the knotting technique you need to start this addictive and fulfilling hobby. All materials are provided, and you’ll receive your own handmade wooden needle to take away with you.
Event by Onkaparinga Libraries. Visit eventbrite for tickets and info.
Willunga Farmers Market
Twilight Christmas Markets
Willunga High School
23 and 30 December 4-7.30pm
A local favourite. Come stock up on the best local produce on offer for festivities and celebrations over the Christmas break. Soak up the atmosphere with live music and Christmas cheer.
Off the Bridge Fireworks Goolwa
Goolwa Wharf Precinc t
31 December
JANUARY
Come Diving days
Rapid Bay Jetty
1 January, 2pm
Underwater Explorers Club of South Australia
Book in a dive to see in the New Year and perhaps spot a Leafy Sea Dragon. Register at uecofsa.org.au
Summer Twilight Market
Rotary Park, Christies Beach
13 January, 5-9pm
A huge variety of attractions for the kids as well as music, food and of course market stalls.
Murray River Splash
Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge
6-9 January, 13-16 January, 20-23 January
A free, family-friendly event. Sturt Reserve comes alive with all things water park fun and just a stone’s throw from the Fleurieu!
Hennessy and Strings – 2023 Summer Festival
12 Cadell Street, Goolwa
19 January, 7.30-8.15 pm
Concerto Rhapsody 2023 includes Lucinda Collins returning with Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto under the string orchestral leadership of renowned violinist William Hennessy AM.
Also on the program is a rare performance of Swiss composer Ernest Boch’s Concerto Grosso No 1 with the piano obbligato played by talented up-and-coming Spanish-Australian musician Simon Pazos Quintana.
Santos Festival of Cycling 2023
Port Willunga to High Street, Willunga
21 January, 11am-2.30pm (approx)
The Santos Tour Down Under is back in 2023! For the first time since before the pandemic, the City of Onkaparinga is set to host Stage 4 on Saturday 21 January. Starting at Port Willunga (adjacent to the Star of Greece restaurant), Onkaparinga’s 135.3 kilometre stage will travel through Aldinga/Aldinga Beach, Tatachilla, McLaren Vale, McLaren Flat and Blewitt Springs, before an exciting finish in Willunga – this time along the historic and much-loved High Street, rather than Willunga Hill.
Fleurieu Beer Festival
5 Main Road, Willunga
21 January, 2-10pm
This one-day festival presents a line-up of the Fleurieu’s finest craft breweries, with a chance to meet some of the brewers behind the beer. Share an afternoon with friends, listening to live music and sampling the finest brews and fantastic food. >
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FEBRUARY
Fleurieu Film Festival
McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Coast Visitor Centre
796 Main Road, McLaren Vale
4 February, 6-11.30pm
After a successful festival in 2022 with over 500 attendees, 2023 is set to be even better. Enjoy a night of local food, wine and entertainment as you watch the finalists of Fleurieu Film Festival 2023 showcase their work. Priding itself on nurturing Australia’s rising and established filmmakers, the festival screens short films of 8 minutes and under, from any genre worked to this years’ theme –‘Gift’. (See page 88 for more event information)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John Tribute Show
(The Flaming Sambucas)
Centenary Hall, Goolwa
11 February, 7.30pm
Chillifest Willunga
Willunga Recreation Park
18-19 February
All things chilli in Willunga. Chilli plants & produce, chilli foods and cooking demonstrations, plus chilli-related merchandise. ‘Chill Out’ with live music, local beer, wine and sangria, plus enjoy a little local colour with our Artisan Market. Chilli Fest Willunga is hosted by the Willunga Recreation Park as a fundraiser for this community-owned and managed facility.
The Green Gourmet @ Willunga Farmers Market
Fast & Fresh: Summer – Autumn Vegetarian
26 February, 11am-3pm
Using the best, freshest produce from Willunga Farmers Market, create a healthy meal with minimum fuss and maximum flavour. Includes shared lunch and wine with a cooking demonstration and take home recipes.
Visit thegreengourmet.com.au for bookings and info.
ONGOING
Valley of Yore workshops
Myponga
Valley of Yore Cafe is running a series of workshops this summer. Including tweens basket weaving, leather craftsmanship and candle making. Check the Valley of Yore website for further information.
Feast and Beats
Kimbolton Wines
Get a group of friends together, book a table and enjoy a Saturday night of Kimbolton Wines in Langhorne Creek. Fun for all ages with fine wines, music and kids activities. Find out more at kimboltonwines.com.au
10 December – A Slice of Italy
7 January – Vietnamese Yes Please!
11 February – Satay Partay
Reds@190
Red Poles
Below: Every Saturday night from November to April, Red Poles has created a twilight experience ‘Reds@190’ with ‘street style’ food, cocktail bar and live music.
Every Saturday night from November to April, Red Poles has created a twilight experience. Open from 5-9pm with ‘street style’ food from a Hibachi grill on the lawn, cocktail bar open and live music. A mustsee this summer!
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Esca at Nest & Nature
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Story by Petra de Mooy. Photography by Jodi Nash.
Claire and Mark bought their Inman Valley property, now known as Nest & Nature, in 2018. The couple had fallen in love with the area and began looking at properties for sale. They were intrigued by a small parcel of pastoral land for sale on Mount Alma. ‘We drove up to take a look and loved the views and pretty much straight away thought it deserved some kind of accommodation on it,’ says Claire.
Subsequent to the purchase of that first block, three adjacent properties came up for sale and with their expanding vision to add a function centre in the future, Mark and Claire eventually secured 240 acres. The initial concept was to develop a high-end couple’s retreat and they quickly set about finding an architect.
They came across South Australian trailblazers ESCA and were immediately drawn to the style and quality of their designs and decentralised hotel operator model. ESCA worked in partnership with architect and interior design firm Das Studio to obtain planning approval for five suites to be located in prime positions around the property.
A collaborative partnership was formed with ESCA and Nest & Nature now offers three separate couple’s accommodations on the property: first building an eco-structure for glamping and now the two luxury high-end suites – operated by ESCA and hosted by Claire and Mark. Apart from the idea to eventually build a function centre, there are >
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When people think of the Fleurieu, it’s often the beaches that first spring to mind, or perhaps the wineries. It’s almost certainly not Inman Valley which, for all its beauty, is often somewhere you drive through to get somewhere else. Claire Mills and Mark Kirk saw something else –a destination.
Page left: Walnut wood flows from floor to wall to ceiling, creating continuity in the carefully designed layout taking in sweeping views of Inman Valley. Above: The outdoor bath and outdoor fire pit with curved, seat-height stone wall by local mason Billy Goat Brick Stone is sheltered by a curved wooden screen.
also plans to open a cellar door modelled on the ‘Artisans of the Barossa’ concept, as well as low-impact walking trails through the 120 acres of heritage-listed woodland which will allow guests to discover the property’s five waterfalls.
That’s all in the future, but for visitors to the property it’s impossible not to sink straight into the here and now. The drive through Springmount Conservation Park up Mount Alma begins the transition as we pass through stringybark forests and past yaccas fresh from the recent rains. As if on cue, a flock of rainbow lorikeets swoops past. Coming out the other side into the vast landscape of the large acreage, we find ourselves at one of the highest points on the Fleurieu with, on a clear day, views towards The Bluff at Encounter Bay to the left and Normanville to the right.
However, we can only imagine the view on the day we arrive, as the mist hangs thick in the valley. Rather than gazing at the ocean, we watch stormfronts blow in and out. A break in the clouds shines gorgeous light on the verdant landscape. All’s quiet apart from the birdsong. The discreet entrance to both suites – Nest at the top and Mist 120 metres down the valley – is set up for what the architects envisioned as an ‘unfolding of the view.’ As you enter, the blinds simultaneously lift and you have arrived at ESCA. The transition is complete. Deep breath in. And relax.
The footprint and layout of the suites is concise and considered. Drop your bags to the left and enter the lounge to the right, fireplace stacked. All the fixings you need for a glass of bubbles and a platter are at your fingertips and Claire and Mark have included a
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Above: The outdoor bath (in this instance being enjoyed by guest Rebecca Morse) takes in views across the valley. Hat, bag and sandals from the Valley of Yore, Myponga.
lot of local love in their selections. Cheeses are from Alexandrina and Paris Creek, with Matchett’s quince paste. Croissants come from Myponga’s Valley of Yore. Wine and bubbles are from nearby Mosquito Hill.
The materials inside and out are beautifully selected. Ryan Brown, founder and director of ESCA, describes the quality and thinking behind the concept: ‘We want to occupy the upper echelon of sustainable, eco, luxury accommodation. We want people to come to the suites to take in the environment but also experience the building itself.’ The interior selections create a sense of being warmly enveloped. The walnut flooring extends up the wall and onto the roof and its warmth is complemented by the tan leather lounge and wool throws. Fully revealed after their party trick on entry, the floor-to-
ceiling windows bring the outside in. Stone countertops are a matteleather finish with a rough edge showing off the materiality.
This colour palette is carried seamlessly into the large en-suite via the matte bronze tapware in the rain shower and oversized, natural-stone bathtub. Another large window takes full advantage of the view, while its ledge holds luxe candles, Aesop soaps and shampoos, with more than enough space for your glass of bubbles. The team have also worked with the Jam Factory on bespoke hand-blown glass wall sconces, as well designer bar stools and artisanal ceramic plates and cups. >
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Top: The bedroom sits adjacent to a sheltered outdoor kitchen area. Bottom left and right: The bathrooms are luxuriously well-appointed with solid stone tile work, a large stone bathtub and, bronze tapware. Towels from Valley of Yore, Myponga.
Outside, a rough hewn screen curves around the outdoor fireplace and is echoed by a curved stone wall expertly crafted by local mason Billy Goat Brick Stone. The sunken outdoor bath looking out to the northwest has also proved to be popular with guests. Claire has been surprised that no matter the weather, couples will use the outdoor bath which is, of course, plumbed in with hot water. It’s an enticing option after taking a short walk up to Sunset Hill where guests can watch night fall over Second Valley.
ESCA’s business model is based on activating underutilised land in beautiful regional locations with luxury accommodation, and they’ve achieved an exceptional result at Nest & Nature. Mark and Claire are enthusiastic about the future and their vision for the property. ‘We really stuck our heads out to do this for the region. This part of the Fleurieu needed something and we really just wanted to put something special here,’ says Claire. And now the secret’s out –ESCA at Nest & Nature have consciously and sustainably helped elevate Inman Valley to its rightful place in the Fleurieu firmament.
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Above: The stone bathtub also takes in the splendid views.
Taking silly seriously
Story by Poppy Fitzpatrick.
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As an adult, it’s often hard to remember the exact moment the joy of ‘silliness’ became a distant memory. Being silly for silly’s sake suddenly lacks any tangible pay-off and that unreserved sense of childlike wonder becomes significantly harder to grasp. But for artist Emmaline Zanelli, silliness has maintained a purpose entirely in its own right. And enjoying the process of being intentionally playful is just as valuable as any outcome.
Playfulness exudes from Emmaline’s varied artworks, be it a manipulated photograph of a burnt McCain’s pepperoni pizza suspended in a golden sky, or an intricate sculpture of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) made entirely of ice cream cones. But her unique sense of humour comes layered with insight. The pepperoni pizza has been cooked to ‘absolute crisped-up hell’ representing a universal experience of failure. The model made for AGSA represents her often material-driven practice – in this case, a thousand ice cream cones leftover from a commission that didn’t eventuate.
Embracing the practice of resourcefulness as its own aesthetic, Emmaline produces colourful and unpredictable art, often underpinned by an amusing story of its creation or demise. After immortalising the incredibly detailed AGSA wafer sculpture in a perfectly composed photograph, Emmaline left it unattended in her studio for several days. ‘When I came back to the shed a lot of it had
been eaten by mice… So I just decided to give the rest of it to the chickens,’ she says flippantly.
It’s this flexibility of form within photography that originally drew Emmaline to the medium. During her undergraduate study in Visual Arts and Design at Adelaide College of the Arts, Emmaline struggled to choose one major from a list of topics she genuinely enjoyed. A wise tutor suggested she do photography, ‘because then you can do anything you want and just take a picture of it’ – an approach Emmaline carries with her to this day.
‘I find it really liberating that whatever I’m making doesn’t have to be structurally sound or last or be entirely real – there’s a lot of freedom. My shed becomes my own little lab of trickery,’ she says. Much of Emmaline’s photographic work fits more comfortably under the label of ‘lens-based’, given the complex layers of sculpture, styling and design that make each still-life composition so compelling.
Working from her shed studio at her house in Maslin Beach, or ‘Mazzies’ as she affectionately calls it, Emmaline describes her solitary, process-driven practice as almost meditative. Photography allows Emmaline to layer obscure visuals with unusual and often perishable materials, such as food, which can’t be transported and displayed as sculptures. ‘It’s the beautiful, legitimised falsehood of photography,’ she says.
Through Emmaline’s lens, there’s a wonder in the everyday that fosters an interactive relationship between herself, her subjects and her audience. During a residency at Sauerbier House in 2021, Emmaline let her father’s job with SA Water and her brother’s job as a plumber lead her body of work Water Meter Reader. While underground piping seems an obscure maze in which to findinspiration, the project >
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Page left: ‘Scallop’. Above: ‘Cuttlefish and kelp’.
encouraged her to connect with her dad and brother in a way she never had before.
Emmaline says the same of her recent video work, Dynamic Drills, which won her the commendable Churchie Emerging Art Prize 2022. Over two years, Emmaline created a choreographed video with her grandma exploring memory, family legacy and the relationship between body and machine. ‘It really enriched my relationship with my grandma, and this is something I want to do more of in my work,’ she says.
A long-time member of performance collective The Bait Fridge, Emmaline has also found an empowering sense of community and security in her relationships with other artists. With ten core members, and a number of others coming and going, The Bait Fridge has created a network that scatters throughout Adelaide – with a handful based on the Fleurieu. The artists enlist their multi-disciplinary skills to exhibit absurdist performances that combine an improvised
mix of music, movement and visual art. The Bait Fridge have performed at galleries, festivals and various public spaces, engaging audiences in their obscure process, using only found or recycled materials – much like Emmaline’s individual practice. Having only been living on the Fleurieu since April 2021, Emmaline says she’s looking forward to observing how the area may influence her future work, while she finds her place as a local. On a morning coffee run to Goodness at Aldinga, she was surprised when a staff member recognised her from a Bait Fridge gig the night before, where she had been dressed in a bald cap, painted entirely white with elongated fingers, fangs and contact lenses. ‘It was so awesome that she recognised me,’ she says. ‘And for some reason it just made me think ‘oh, I love this place’.’
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Emmaline’s work will be exhibited at Good Bank Gallery in McLaren Vale during December.
Top left: ‘Sweet Dreams’ – diorama made for the Art Gallery of South Australia. Top right: Bait Fridge Lab. Bottom left: ‘Willy Shirley Dali’. Bottom right: Artist Emmaline Zanelli.
Summer book reviews
by Mark Laurie of South Seas Books, Port Elliot.
Willowman
by Inga Simpson
Published by Hachette Australia
ISBN 9780733634550
$32.99
Inga Simpson has outed herself as a cricket tragic. With this new novel, she will endear herself to the many others of her kind who walk among us, particularly those drawn to the game’s more traditional and ‘pure’ manifestations or who look wistfully back to the days when education ranked cricket training and its attendant moral discipline more highly than (other) intellectual pursuits. Naturally, and as the title suggests, this acclaimed doctor of nature writing has also given considerable attention to the white willow trees so vital to cricket’s nuances and style.
Set at the turn of this newest century, lightly interwoven twin narratives follow Allan Reader, maintaining his family’s traditional bat-making business in a new home in Australia, and Todd Harrow, a talented young player seeking cricket’s highest playing honours. With professional success and satisfaction, they each find themselves dealing with stresses placed on their family lives by their dedication. There’s plenty of cricket action and Simpson portrays the highs and lows, rewards and sacrifices of the pared-back life of the professional sportsman. The novel moves to a higher gear when exploring the game’s social contexts, its meanings on the cusp of true professionalism for women and the introduction of its most attenuated, T20 format. What we value does indeed reveal who we are. However, it’s in the distillation of the patience and craftsmanship lying at cricket’s heart, its positioning as a kind of ‘Zen and the art of cricket’ if you like, when Willowman shines most brightly.
Marlo
by Jay Carmichael
Published by Scribe Publications
ISBN 9781925713695
$24.99
This short novel explores what it meant to be a homosexual man in mid-century Australia, in a small way seeking to redress a largely undocumented history and profoundly misunderstood group. Echoing the revelations associated with investigations into Dr George Duncan’s murder in Adelaide, and a long way away from Priscilla’s desert, it portrays lives forced into the shadows by surveillance, fear, victimisation and silencing. At the time, homosexuality was considered a pathological condition and its victims portrayed as either tragic or corrupting figures.
Christopher moves from Marlo to Melbourne seeking the anonymity of the city and to escape the gaze of his father, a man ‘from a generation who’d absorbed war and the Depression into their souls and were left speechless’, unable to communicate with their families. Reflecting the societal fears and prejudices of the day, the city proves to be no safe haven. Struggling with his identity under the relentless consciousness of disapproving eyes, their revulsion mirrored by his own shame, Christopher nevertheless finds love in these censorious times. Looking back from 2022, it may be startling to note the temporal proximity of the attitudes and constraints exhibited by the novel. However, for those readers old enough to remember anything of the last century, the need for some to ‘go, quiet, to [their] days, before the world was clear-eyed’ is all too familiar, recognisable and real.
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BOOKS & WORDS
The Idea of Australia: A search for the soul of the nation
by Julianne Schultz
Published by Allen & Unwin
ISBN 9781760879303
$34.99
Published shortly before the recent Federal election, and being read as profound changes are being debated concerning so many aspects of our cultural, social, political and economic lives, this book is as timely as it is thought provoking. Julianne Schultz AM, a writer and academic best known as the long-term founding editor of Griffith Review, asks us to imagine the community we might become if we were to cast aside our habit of forgetting, our habitual lack of curiosity about our nation and the cultivated, mythologised past which has brought us to where we are today.
From wars at the frontier to the culture wars being waged today, the world’s leading extinction rate from settler colonialism’s brutally exploitive continuum, and an ongoing suppression of inconvenient truths, there is much upon which to strap a black armband. The official foundation story is laid bare while the fallacy of egalitarianism is shown stripped of its pretences by decades of neoliberalism and its tenets of self-interest and individual success. Since publication, we no longer even have our monarchic mother to turn to ‘to tell us who we are.’
Against this, the author draws innumerable stories ‘rich with nuance, inclusion and possibility’ from her decades of immersion within Australia’s writing and cultural spaces, sketching out the society beyond the confines of the economy. In doing so, she provides both hope and considerable support for the idea of an Australia to which we might all belong.
Limberlost
by Robbie Arnott
Published by Text Publishing
ISBN 9781922458766
$32.99
On his family’s small orchard in northern Tasmania, Ned West spends his summer trapping rabbits and dreaming of buying a small boat to sail on the river. Too young to remember his mother’s early death and to follow his brothers into war, he’s conscious of the void they’ve left at Limberlost. Unmoored by dread of further loss and unsure of his fractured family’s love, the boat and his mastery of it come to symbolise his worthiness to their unknowable adult minds, even as he otherwise struggles to make right all that has gone wrong.
It’s a summer of consequence as Ned nurses a wild animal his trap has injured, teaches himself to sail, and meets those who will help him to define his relationship with nature – a source of beauty but not always of peace – and to find his place in the world. Ultimately it steers ‘his short, tight life’ on its quiet course, sliding into the future, its ‘paths raked clear, its stones washed in blinding light’.
Tightly constructed and beautifully written, this coming of age story follows in the classic traditions of Charlwood’s All the Green Year and McKie’s The Mango Tree, perhaps even surpassing them. Its emotive power is striking. It is as well that its effects linger so long as it’s with no small sadness that I realise that, in all the years to come, I cannot reasonably hope to read many more of its like.
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Through the glamour of the glass
Words by Sam Healy.
‘People can forget that winemaking is agricultural. We get swept up in the glamour of the glasses and forget that there’s a grower behind the scenes,’ says Corrina Wright, award-winning winemaker from Oliver’s Taranga. Fox Creek winemaker Steven Soper, also experiences the sometimes illusory nature of the wine industry’s glamour. ‘As people and as consumers, we all love a happy story,’ he says. Paradoxically, this can create pressure for labels to add a certain romanticism to their visitor’s experience. What we don’t see in the curated cellar doors is the physical work, the chaos and struggle.
Originally a McLaren Vale Local, Rebecca Hopkins is an expert in this field. She now provides wellbeing support and education to those in the wine industry through her inspiring US-based business, A Balanced Glass. ‘I think what’s unique about this industry is the frequency and volume of the access to alcohol,’ she says empathetically. ‘In order to have a long and successful career, you need to have a lot of self-awareness and discipline around the core product that you work with.’
Adding to this, Rebecca continues, ‘The production of wine has a singular, high-impact part of the year, which is harvest. Sleep interruptions from night work, family interruptions from the long hours and the immense physical work can really impact people in the industry.’ Steven agrees, ‘You basically block out a handful of the best months of the year, I don’t even know what autumn feels like anymore!’
The challenges around this high-impact time are not new to the industry, but they’re now experienced against the background of a huge cultural shift. Thanks to our ever-present technology, our brains
now take in 200 times the amount of information every day as they did in 1986. And we simply haven’t (and can’t) evolve quickly enough to deal with the influx of data. This causes and normalises mental fatigue, deeply affecting our ability to be self-aware and disciplined. With these abilities further compromised, the already ‘high-impact’ time of vintage becomes even more fraught.
‘There’s positives and negatives in all lines of work. I love what we do and what we create,’ says Steven. Knowing I would deeply struggle with the challenge of the all-consuming vintage, I ask him how he navigates it. ‘I engulf myself,’ he replies simply. ‘I surround myself with the love of what I do, the things I love to do, and I make the most of them when I can.’ While the ‘business’ can be exhausting, Steven still finds the love for it. This is self-awareness and discipline in action. There’s an increasing narrative that being ‘busy’ is not good for our mental health and wellbeing. But busy is not always bad. Steven masterfully models how being busy with purpose can lead to a thriving life. For Corrina, this also comes naturally. ‘Being a woman in the industry can mean you’re working against conscious and unconscious bias,’ she says. ‘Standing up for your purpose is the only way forward.’
I await her purpose like an eager student. ‘I’m sixth generation. So, I’m thinking about the generations after me. Everything we do ensures the next generation has the best platform to lead from. We make products that celebrate our produce, not products that cater to demand. Make sure everything you’re doing fits with your long-term vision,’ she explains.
We all face unique struggles within our respective careers. For those of us touched by alcoholism, anxiety and exhaustion, we understand the stakes of our beloved wine industry. What is blindingly obvious, however, is that our wine region is so successful because of people like Rebecca, Steven and Corrina – people who love their job, and support each other and their consumers. People who are connected to their purpose and are always building their selfawareness and discipline.
So, do wellness and wine go together? Absolutely. But not through the glamour of the glasses. They go together through the purpose of the people.
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The Fleurieu and wine go hand-in-hand. Beautiful, world-class cellar doors are scattered across our sprawling hills and coastline, bringing great pride to the region as well as helping to support our local economy. But thinking about whether wine and wellness likewise go hand-in-hand has been an eye-opening journey.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
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Fresh destinations
Words by Poppy Fitzpatrick.
Here’s to Strength
Aldinga
When faced with adversity in her health and quality of life, Elise Riannen found herself with a choice: sink or swim. With incredible determination, she chose the latter, and has now dedicated her life to helping others heal and find ways to effectively take care of themselves. Here’s to Strength is designed to hold space for individuals who need help with their overall wellbeing, but don’t know where to start. Knowing that self-care is unique to each individual, and that taking the first step can be daunting, Elise wanted to create a hub that offers an accessible range of holistic options. Here’s to Strength includes a café, garden centre, florist, retail store, animal therapy zone (with chickens, bunnies and ducks to snuggle), and over 40 wellness practitioners ranging from beauty, massage and allied health, to counsellors and psychics. Elise has created a one-stop-shop community safe zone that aims to create a supportive and validating environment that makes seeking help feel less scary, for both mental or physical health.
Kookery
Old Noarlunga and Willunga
Kookery in Willunga quickly became an iconic fixture among the High Street shop fronts as a place to bring community in, as well as find a unique gift. When a space became available in Old Noarlunga, with multiple rooms, a big garden and a little more space to grow, owner Amy decided to jump in with both feet. The second store will include all of the high-quality, fun kitchenware Willunga locals have grown to love, as well as expanding to cater for food hobbyists. Kookery Old Noarlunga will have fermenting, bread making and cake decorating offerings and will also offer small events, cooking demonstrations and a cookbook club. Be sure to pop in – whichever store is closest to you – and explore a pleasing combination of Amy’s in-house designs alongside a rotating selection of other high quality wares.
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Above left: Her’s to Strength on Old Coach Road, Aldinga includes a café, garden centre, florist, retail store, animal therapy zone (with chickens, bunnies and ducks to snuggle), as well as a range of wellness practitioners. Right: The new Kookery in Old Noarlunga is a foodie/gardener’s dream come true – a retail space where the owners can now offer workshops, demos and even more fantastic gifts. Photograph by Sally Badnall.
By now we shouldn’t be surprised by the impressive unveiling of each new local business that opens its doors on the Fleurieu. As each issue of Fleurieu Living goes to print, the region’s offerings only go from strength to strength.
Main & Cherry Chandlers Hill
Developed as a small boutique wine label in 2010, Main & Cherry has found its home in a brand new Chandlers Hill cellar door. The brand has settled in a stunning, architecturally designed building with sweeping views over the vines, gumtrees and Gulf St Vincent. Main & Cherry showcase a wide range of freshly framed Mediterranean wine varieties, as well focusing on the local McLaren Vale heroes of grenache, shiraz and cabernet – each lovingly plunged by hand. Customers are welcome to enjoy wines by the glass or take part in a casual but educational wine flight. Local beers and light food offerings are also available to enjoy on the large undercover deck or spacious lawns, while soaking up the views.
Nino’s Victor Harbor
After the best part of 45 years in Victor Harbor, iconic eatery Nino’s has had an impressive makeover. The venue’s cosy, family-friendly space has been expanded to accommodate 150 guests and refitted with a modern kitchen, bar and shiny new toilets, all complemented by stylish décor. The 1903 building facade has been lovingly restored, while the interior combines a beautiful mix of timber alongside olive green and brown furnishings. It’s the same old Nino’s we know and love – comfortable atmosphere with high-quality food and great service – just with a shiny new look. >
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Whether we see old businesses finding new life, or young people giving their dreams a first crack, every concept keeps bringing something uniquely fresh to the Fleurieu.
Above left: The brand new cellar door for boutique wine label Main & Cherry is now open at Chandler’s Hill. Above right: Nino’s at Victor Harbor has had a recent makeover. Same great food and service, just in a shiny new package.
Noori
Port Noarlunga
Young southsider Jacob Barter has recently opened Port Noarlunga’s newest haunt, Noori. The concept behind Noori initially came to Jacob on the plane back to Australia after a two-year stint bartending in England. Jacob imagined a bar specialising in Japanese whiskey, named ‘Nori’ – the Japanese word for seaweed. After some time back in the industry on home soil, Jacob’s passion for wine grew and his vision expanded. He kept his eyes peeled for a venue, eventually setting his sights on a space in the heart of his hometown of Port Noarlunga. As an ode to the 1976 film Storm Boy, he thought an apt name for his venture would be ‘Mr Percival’, after the famed pelican sidekick. Alas, the name was trademarked which led Jacob to the Ngarrindjeri word for pelican, ‘no:ri’. It seemed fitting to bring the two words together to make ‘Noori’, with Port Noarlunga being one of the main resting points for pelicans travelling the coast down to the Coorong. Offering wine, spirits, coffee and small plates, this new hideout is taking the sleepy seaside town to a whole new level.
Ukiyo House
Port Willunga
The modern use of the Japanese word ukiyo describes the state of living in the moment, enjoying the ‘floating world’, detached from the bothers of life. Nestled on quiet Martin Street in Port Willunga, this carefully designed getaway allows its guests to do exactly that. Every corner of Ukiyo House has been thoughtfully considered, from the ‘butter soft’ mattress, to the dehydrated fruit at the personal gin bar picked from the owners’ trees. The minimalist layout is fitted out with a seamless fusion of Japanese ceramics, Italian kitchenware, vintage Danish furnishings, Indian antiques and Australian artworks. Such luxurious curation, however, hasn’t been at the expense of the earth. Built using sustainable timbers and rammed earth, the house also features a smart toilet, Tesla battery and an Ocular car charging station. Only a short walk from one of the Fleurieu’s most spectacular beaches, there isn’t a better place to completely detach.
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Above left: Port Noarlunga’s newest haunt ‘Noori’, a bar offering wine, spirits, coffee and small plates, is taking the sleepy seaside town to a whole new level.
Above right: Nestled on quiet Martin Street in Port Willunga, the carefully designed Ukiyo House is a getaway that allows its guests to do exactly that.
Prohibition at Penny’s Hill McLaren Vale
Prohibition Liquor Co has called Adelaide city its home since 2017, showcasing their award-winning gins at their Gilbert Street distillery and tasting room. When the opportunity came to have a regional presence in McLaren Vale alongside Penny’s Hill Estate, the team felt it was a perfect fit. Prohibition at Penny’s Hill is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 6pm, offering their quality gins, gin flights and cocktails, alongside a selection of Penny’s Hill wines and Mad Men and Vimy Gin. A new bar fit-out and enclosed pergola is planned for 2023, where guests can also enjoy platters featuring Prohibition-infused cheese produced by Woodside Cheese Wrights, complemented by a refreshing ‘Prohibition’ drink. This new venture aims to create a wine and tourism village within Penny’s Hill Estate where families and friends can relax with a gin and tonic, wine, whisky, beer, cider, or coffee among the 200-year-old red gums.
Morocco by Mish Aldinga
Driven by their love of Morocco, mother and daughter team Mish and Bahija created Morocco by Mish. After some time charming locals on Willunga High Street, the pair have recently moved to open their Moroccan concept store in a bigger location at Aldinga’s Temperance precinct. Mish lived for twenty years in Morocco, enchanted by the ‘shweea shweea’ lifestyle – Arabic for ‘slowly slowly’ – that encourages people to stop and enjoy community, connection and the small joys of life. Morocco by Mish offers this experience, alongside conscious, thoughtful and handmade products that enrich and empower the artisans. Mish sources each gift on her own travels through village markets in isolated areas, throughout the Sahara and Atlas Mountains. Whether it’s Fatiha and her mum who crochet earrings in a small village outside Marrakesh, or Najib who makes bags deep in the souk, you’re sure to find something special in this little piece of Morocco on the Fleurieu. >
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Above left: When the opportunity for city-based Prohibition Liquor Co to have a regional presence arose in McLaren Vale alongside Penny’s Hill Estate, the team felt it was a perfect fit. Above right: After some time charming locals on Willunga’s High Street, mother and daughter team Mish and Bahija of ‘Morocco by Mish’ have recently moved to open their Moroccan concept store in a bigger location at Aldinga’s Temperance Precinct.
Bodega McLaren Vale
Bodega Wine Bar is a European-style wine and cocktail bar, and bottle shop in the heart of McLaren Vale. The idea for Bodega came about when a group of like-minded people came together with the idea to create a cosy, approachable space with a relaxed vibe and a touch of vintage charm. Bodega offer an impressive selection of wines sourced both locally and internationally, with a particular emphasis on varietals. Guests are invited to enjoy a wine in-house, or make a selection at the bottle shop to take away. Also on offer is an extensive list of cocktails and spirits, to be enjoyed alongside nibbles from their Australian Bites menu. Open Wednesday – Friday 4pm ‘til late, Saturday and Sunday noon ‘til late.
Salt at the Elliot Port Elliot
The iconic Hotel Elliot have recently expanded their venue to include a brand new space – Salt at the Elliot. The front of the building, featuring a wine bar with small, intimate tables and spaces to share wine, cocktails and tapas with friends, leads on to a large purposebuilt events space. The clean and modern coastal design creates the perfect setting for weddings, milestone birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, seminars and more. Salt at the Elliot aims to draw more attention to the premium locale that is the Fleurieu, while showcasing the region’s spectacular food, wine and produce. Throughout the year, the space will also host a variety of special events and performances for audiences to enjoy, breathing more life into the south coast, while also offering new hospitality training and work opportunities in the future to young locals who call the area home.
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Above left: Bodega Wine Bar is a new European-style cocktail bar in the heart of McLaren Vale. Above right: The iconic Hotel Elliot has recently expanded their venue to include a brand new space – Salt at the Elliot. It features a wine bar and spaces to share wine, cocktails and tapas with friends. It also has a brand new function space.
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Living light
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Story by Sam Marchetti. Photography by Heidi Lewis. Styling by Liza Reynolds.
Arriving at Pip Kruger and Graham Holmberg’s home, I find them with their two small children and Otto the dog on an oversized wooden day bed. It feels like this family’s whole world could be happily lived just on this small island in their home, with conversations bubbling away and three-year-old Elkie playing while Pip feeds baby sister Tippi.
Pip and Graham are preparing to travel to Thailand for Graham’s work at Enserv Group, a Thailand-based company that focuses on delivering sustainable innovations to improve everyday life. This closeknit family flies to Bangkok together a few times a year, and while Graham works in the realm of renewable energy, Pip spends her days working remotely and exploring her temporary local environments by foot, children in tow.
These trips to Bangkok excite Pip as she not only finds the vibrancy and colour of the streetscapes inspiring, but as an illustrator she’s always exploring the fascinating and unique work of the local artists.
‘I’m concerned about how we will fit more art on our walls when we return home, as there are some incredible artists we’ve visited, and their work is big!’ she says.
Pip’s concern is not due to an overwhelming collection of art in their Aldinga Beach home – a home that’s somehow both a curated splash of colour and a calm zen-style space. Rather it’s because she and Graham made a conscious choice in 2019 to downsize their lives and now live in a compact house. A house free of mantlepiece bling, where the drawers in one of the two bedrooms touch the bed when opened. A house where grandparents are asked to give Christmas gifts that offer an experience or something the children can grow out of, rather than gifts that may create clutter in the small structure. It feels like they’re now happily living the William Morris quote: ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.’
Pip and Graham met through friends as young adults after both growing up in the Adelaide Hills. When the time came to buy a house together, they purchased an unrenovated place in Seacliff Park with four bedrooms and a tennis court. ‘Suddenly we found ourselves doing the typical thing – buy your big dream home and then spread yourself thin with an even bigger mortgage and work like hell to pay >
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Page left: The living area features an oversized daybed piled high with cushions from one of the couple’s favorite shops, Morocco by Mish; Carpet, poufs and throws are also from there. Above: PIp, Graham, Elkie,Tippi and Otto rejoicing in the simple life.
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it off,’ reflects Pip. ‘When Elkie was born in 2019, Graham was working full time as an accountant. He would leave early when Elkie was still asleep and then come home at night, and she was asleep again. He did that for six months before deciding to resign from fulltime work, with us having no initial plan except that we just wanted to be together all the time and have the flexibility to travel.’
What followed was a purge of two-thirds of their material possessions and a move into their tiny basement for a year while they worked on renovating their ‘dream house’ above them with a goal to sell and become mortgage-free. ‘We really enjoyed living in the basement. I didn’t have an oven for a year, just a small gas burner and a fridge
in the shed where we cooked. But we were in heaven and all our belongings boiled down to just the things that we really loved,’ smiles Pip.
As they were in the process of selling what was now a very desirable house, a small yellow-brick cottage came up for sale in Aldinga Beach. The location was ideal for the family, with schools close by and the beach just three blocks away. Its diminutive size was a comfortable fit for Pip and Graham’s vision for their family. ‘Living in that basement for a year amplified what’s important to us and we want to keep home-life small, where we are jostled around the kitchen island everyday with the kids near us,’ declares Pip. >
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Page left and above: The kitchen / dining area is full of much loved art and design treasures. Some old and some new – all full of character and charm.
They moved in at the end of 2021 with Elkie celebrating her third birthday there a few months later.
Pip’s creativity flows from their front gate – designed by Pip and created by Willunga Forge – through the house and out to the backyard where Pip has transformed a once-generic cubby house into a beautiful play-space with her hand-painted designs. Her whimsical creative style reflects the simplicity of everyday life and, cubbies aside, can be seen in the wider world in her line of greeting cards, prints, brooches and textiles as well as in corporate commissions. ‘Pip has a beautiful way of translating our conversations and ideas into images and illustrations,’ says Libby Tozer of ‘She is
Seen’, one of Pip’s regular clients. ‘I found Pip after seeing her handdrawn maps of the Fleurieu and knew she was the person to create a unique logo for my business.’
It seems Pip and Graham have found a way to balance life so that their needs are met, they feel fulfilled and, with less distractions in their lives, they’ve found room to flourish. With the freedom of uncluttered minds, they’ve been developing a distillery set to open early 2023, while running their holiday accommodation ‘The Lobster’ in Normanville – a place to experience simple beach holidays the way they used to be. Work, life and family all coexisting together in that little cottage by the beach.
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Top left: Bird icons, vintage finds and local art. Right: The front gate– designed by Peter Stentiford and PIp and made at the Willunga Forge. Bottom left: Elkie and Tippi’s room – full of delightful treasures and toys. Right: The caravan come home office at the back of the couple’s block.
South Seas Books is an independent bookshop on the Fleurieu’s south coast. South Seas will ignite your imagination.
53 North Terrace, Port Elliot P: 8554 2301 www.southseasbooks.com.au
South Seas Trading offers a selection of vintage art and design pieces · clothing · jewellery · giftware and books in an evolving Arcadian haven. 56 North Terrace, Port Elliot P: 8554 3540
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Back in the Vale
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Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photography by Jarrad French.
It’s been five years since Vale Brewing packed up their bags, their kegs and their cans and moved away from their spiritual home in Willunga to the northern suburbs of Adelaide following the sale of the brand. Now, with the opening of the Vale Taphouse, Restaurant and Bar, Vale Brewing has returned home.
‘It’s a project that’s been in the making since Vok picked up the Vale brand in 2017,’ says Simon Habib, Vale Brand Manager at Vok Beverages. ‘It’s been a long-term vision to put a brewery and visitor centre back into the region. Now that it’s finally opened its doors it’s incredibly exciting for the business and for the region.’
The Taphouse has found a home within the grounds of McLaren Vale winery, Beresford Estate, also owned by Vok. It’s part of a $10 million development that includes fifteen new, luxury suites for onsite accommodation which sit beside Beresford Wines’ Tasting Pavilion and wedding venue, Beresford House.
Positioned on top of a hill, the Taphouse enjoys sweeping views over the seventy hectare property and beyond. The building itself is sleek and minimalistic, the dark exterior emblazoned with the now-iconic inverted triangle of dots that marks every Vale Brewing beer.
Inside, the Taphouse includes a ten-hectolitre microbrewery which allows chief brewer Jeff Wright the chance to experiment with smaller runs. Fittingly, the microbrewery features a refurbished brew kit that’s been repurposed from Vale Ale’s Willunga facility. The gleaming stainless steel vats are on show behind the bar – which sports no >
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‘It’s been a long term vision to put a brewery and visitor centre back into the region. Now that it’s finally opened its doors it’s incredibly exciting for the business – and for the region.’
Page left: Home of the Vale Ale Taphouse enjoys sweeping views of Beresford Estate and Blewitt Springs. Above: Some of the delicious menu designed to complement the Vale Ale brews.
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less than fourteen beers on tap – and guests will be able to see the brewery in full swing on brewing days. ‘The whole idea is that it’s a really immersive space,’ says Simon, with brewery tours and masterclasses also planned for the future.
While the bar and brewery will no doubt attract beer lovers and those in search of a casual drink, the space is designed for broad appeal.
‘We want to be able to offer something for everybody. We’ve got casual bar seating for the punter who just wants to come in and have a beer. We’ve got the restaurant side where you can come and sit down and have a degustation or three-course meal if you’d like,’ says Simon. ‘Then we’ve also got the outside area where we’ve got games for kids – it’s a perfect place to bring a family with a large grassed area.’
Chef John Rankin, previously at Sean’s Kitchen, is at the helm in the restaurant. ‘We wanted really sophisticated food made to be paired with our beers, which is unique to breweries,’ says Simon. ‘There’s such fine produce to draw on around the Fleurieu and we really wanted to hero that.’
John joined the Taphouse team about six months prior to opening, which has allowed him plenty of time to be hands-on with Vale’s brewers and to develop recipes, making sure they work with the beer. The brewery’s influence is woven throughout the menu, including in the bread which is leavened with Vale’s IPA yeast. >
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Page left: A generous offering of local dry aged beef. Above: Plenty on tap at the Taphouse.
Of course, a Taphouse survives on the strength of its beer and so it helps having the world’s best pale beer available on tap, with Vale’s Tropic Ale winning the title at the 2022 World Beer Awards. Naturally the original Vale Ale is available, but there are also three new beers in the line-up to celebrate the Taphouse’s opening.
‘We’ve got the Hazy Tropic Ale, which is a really juicy, fruity style of beer. An Aus IPA that’s a lighter, session-style beer using all Australian hops and malt. And a Red Lager that’s actually the first beer we brewed on site,’ says Simon. ‘It’s a lager with an amber-red colour and fair bit of chocolate malt which is really well-rounded and balanced. They’re all easy-drinking, approachable beers that are quite refreshing.’
Down the line, they’re hoping to develop a gluten-free beer as well as a lower-alcohol beer styled as a ‘super-session ale’ which will be about half a standard drink and will cater to people driving within the region or taking it easy. Then, as the weather cools again, IPAs and darker beers will re-enter the line-up.
At the time of writing, the Taphouse has been open for a few weeks and while the weather has not been particularly kind, Simon has been thrilled with the early response. ‘There’s been a lot of feedback from customers that it’s great to have Vale Ale back in the region,’ he says. ‘The thing that stands out the most is the customers coming in and having the ability to taste beer brewed on site.’
While it’s been a long hiatus, Vale Ale is back – and very happy to be here.
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Top: Head brewer, Jeff Wright. Bottom left: So many options. Right: Ready for service in the generous dining room with views.
Summer at the Strand Gallery
Summer at the Strand Gallery will be a celebration of light, lustre and pearlescence with illuminating works from Jo Eastaff, Halinka Harrison, John Lacey, Lorraine Lewitzka, Tom O’Callaghan, Joanna Poulson, Chris Summer and Peter Syndicas.
strandgallery.com.au
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A celebration of all that shimmers in summer
FOOD WINE GIN DISCOVERY 08
t
salopian.com.au
bookings@salopian.com.au mcmurtrie road mclaren vale corner main and south australia
Chris Summer’s ‘Immersion’.
8323 8769
@salopianinn /salopianinn
e
Drinkability
Wine reviews by Nick Stock
With spring seemingly bypassing us this year, the drinks dial is now set to summer as we prepare for warmer days, long afternoons and warm, balmy nights on the Fleurieu. This is a place that really shines in summer as our beaches, balconies and bunk beds fill to capacity.
Coriole
The original purveyors of Fleurieu lifestyle with wines to match, Coriole remains a reference point for all that happens in the region. Their latest wines are right up there in the quality stakes, and they trade equally on experience alongside evolution and inquisitiveness.
Brash Higgins
The new releases from Brad Hickey and Nicole Thorpe’s project continue their modern, relevant and delicious approach. With insightful blending and hand-made winemaking, this label has cleverly translated the innate qualities of the region.
Berg Herring
Chloe and Sam Dunleavy’s rustic little cellar door on Sellicks Beach Road has one of the most spectacular views across the nearby coastline. Their wines are turned out as fresh, early-drinking styles across the board. The vermentino is a particular star.
Coriole Piquepoul 2022
A relative newcomer to the region, Coriole pioneered piquepoul and continues to lead the way. This has attractive pear and lemon fruits with sweet florals and a fresh, easygoing palate. Bright crunchy texture and squeeze of citrus at the finish.
Coriole
Chenin Blanc 2022
This is such a well-honed style for Coriole and the stunning 2022 vintage has really supercharged the quality factor. Super fresh aromas of apple, lime zest, fresh pastry and sliced pear abound. The palate is cut crisp with gemstone-like clarity and brilliance. Could well be the best value white wine around this summer. Drink now.
Coriole Fiano 2022
Always satisfying and packed with juicy, fleshy fruit, this fiano is all sliced yellow orchard fruits, like peach and yellow plum, with some gently creamy notes. I just love the fleshy, mouth-filling quality of this wine and the ripe stone and citrus fruit flavours are so explosive and fresh. Drink now.
Dune El Beyda 2021
This is a special white to really savour. It’s a blend of predominantly grenache blanc with grenache gris, clairette and piquepoul and while there’s a fascinating range of fruits like apple, melon and pear, it’s really the textural smoothness and fluidity that make it unique. Some savoury bread and nutty flavours too. Drink over the next five years.
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FOOD & WINE
It’s a season of versatility in what we’re doing, how we’re living and what we’re eating – and the region is well-prepped with wines to cover all bases. This summer, celebrate the outstanding quality of the 2022 vintage wines while they’re in abundance. 2022 delivered such bountiful quality for the region across virtually all wine styles with intense flavours served up with freshness and approachability.
Brash Higgins Chenin Blanc 2022
One of the Fleurieu’s best chenin blanc wines, this harnesses fresh melon and apple fruits with a chamomile-like floral edge, as well as some light lemon citrus notes. The palate has rich fruit concentration balanced by very lively, fresh acidity. The result is mouth-watering! Really long flavours here. Drink or hold.
Brash Higgins Ripple 2022
Beautiful bright red and blue berry fruits with sweet florals on the nose make an attractive impression. The palate has such round mid-section flesh, flavours of black currant take centre stage and there’s an overall mouth-watering appeal. A blend of nero d’avola and cabernet sauvignon. Organic. Drink now.
Brash Higgins Nero d’Avola 2021
This is a medium-bodied red and so versatile and food-friendly through summer. It has a fresh and vibrant nose of violets and black currant, as well as raspberry and red currant and some leafy, dried herb notes. The palate is smoothly polished with salted liquorice and black currant flavours running fresh. Drink or hold.
Berg Herring Vermentino 2022
One of the best examples I’ve tasted from the whole region, this has such bracingly fresh and attractive lemon citrus and sweet-smelling florals on offer. The palate has real lemon zest punch delivered with a sleek and juicy feel. The flavours hold long, fresh and vibrant. A real thirst-quencher. Drink now.
Berg Herring Fiano 2022
This captures all the delicious, fresh peachy fruits that make this variety so appealing. There’s also a gentle spice and a little mineral edge that reminds me of fresh river-like purity and wet stones. The palate has all the flavour you’d expect with a stream of fresh peach and lemony citrus flavours that run long and fresh. Really juicy. Drink now.
Berg Herring Nero d’Avola 2022
A bright, lighter style of red that’s fine to serve lightly chilled. Plenty of fresh raspberry crush aromas here, some black currant too. There’s a clever floral edge to the nose thanks to nicely played winemaker tweaks and the palate drops tangy and crunchy raspberry and red toffee apple flavours with lip-smacking resolve. Silky smooth. So good! Drink now.
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A gift that lasts
Story
Ramon Elzinga and Shannon Dolman first met in high school. In the ensuing thirty years they’ve forged a lasting friendship through a love of good food, cooking and making things that last.
The Koi Knives story begins in Shannon’s father’s workshop, where he worked as a blacksmith specialising in making springs ‘for everything.’ Shannon started working in his father’s steel factory and with ready access to steel and machinery, Shannon and Ramon began making knives as a hobby. ‘We’d been tinkering around and wanted a few more machines and better steel and we had to sell a few of them [the knives] to support our hobby,’ says Ramon. ‘And it turned out there were a few people to buy them.’
Initially, Shannon continued working for his dad while Ramon worked in tech, knifemaking just ticking away in the background. However, things took on a more serious turn when Ramon had a health scare in 2018. While taking stock of what was important, he made the bold decision to make knifemaking his primary focus.
The Koi Knives story progressed from there. Together the pair continually upskilled while obsessing over every detail, always looking to make improvements to their design and technique. ‘There are always twice as many knives that are not available because we can’t help make new ones,’ says Ramon.
‘It’s like my son, he likes making Lego and if he makes an awesome truck one day, he wants to make a better one the next day. We’re the same. We’re never happy and as we have said to one another, the day we are happy we will retire, but I don’t really see that happening.
I mean, there are 14,000 different types of steel and that is even before you have thought about the handle or how you finish the steel.’
The finishes on Koi Knives’ steel are beautiful and each razor-sharp blade is balanced and perfected before being sent to their specialist handle-maker here on the Fleurieu. Their handles incorporate local materials including offcuts from old vines. Imperfections in the wood are filled with beautifully coloured resins and polished to a shine.
While Ramon and Shannon initially anticipated that their customer base would be chefs, they’ve been surprised by the number of their knives finding their way into the home kitchen. The backbone of their business has turned out to be people buying gifts for that someone who has everything, or the enthusiastic home cook.
Ramon was kind enough to leave a selection of the knives for us to try and each food cutting experience was a joy. The classic culinary challenges of cutting through bread and tomatoes became an effortless dream, even in novice hands. The skin slid off my kiwi in razor thin strips, creating no waste other than the flimsiest furry residue for the compost bin.
In 2022 their pursuit of excellence led them to the co-development of a ‘platter picker’, working alongside Kris Lloyd of Woodside Cheese Wrights. Together, the three endeavoured, over many shared platters and wines, to create a new product to solve that evergreen platter challenge – how to stab a pickle or olive with no release mechanism. While the platter picker is still in development, we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for it. An evening or afternoon spent with a delectable platter filled with fine Fleurieu produce can only be enhanced by the platter picker.
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Koi Knives are available at the Fleurieu Arthouse in McLaren Vale.
by Petra de Mooy. Photograph by Alejandro Carriel.
53 ESTD. 2005 BLD 248623 OLD | NEW | ECO 0409 286 135 billygoatbrickstone@hotmail.com
Stone wall and steps at Esca, Inman Valley by Billy Goat Brick & Stone.
En fleur
Foraged, farmed or tied neatly with string, the humble joy of a bunch of flowers is quite simply life-affirming. Markers of time, of season and of celebration, flowers quietly attend our ordinary experiences and witness our most meaningful days.
In celebration of the textures and tones of the Fleurieu, we brought together creative florists and botanical artists with a few of our local fashion favourites in Myponga’s new lofty studio spaces to create a day of colour and collaboration.
Hair styled by Dye Bird Hair
Makeup by YV Beauty
Photography by Jodi Nash on location at Milk Studios, Myponga
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Fashion from Elliot & Me, Port Elliot Kinney Erin Gingham Dress Elk, Sage Clare Amble Bucket Hat, Bree Summer Slide sandals, Elk Lova Earrings
Floral installation by Bonnie Blooms, Willunga
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Fashion from Miss Gladys on Sea, Aldinga MA Dainty Skirt Chartreuse, Neuw Denim Jonesy Crop White, London Rami White Leather Boots, Reality Twiggy Sunglasses Florals from the Rusty Rose flower farm, Aldinga
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Fashion from Elliot & Me, Port Elliot Kinney Eden Top, Elk Ven Jean, Kip&Co. Island Hopper Sandal, Floral arrangement by Pink Tulip, McLaren Vale
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Fashion from Miss Gladys on Sea, Aldinga Slideshow Polka Dot Dress Florals from the Rusty Rose flower farm, Aldinga
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Fashion from Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale Zoe Kratzmann Truce Dress, Makers & Providers Papaya Bag from Miss Gladys on Sea, Aldinga Floral arrangements by Pink Tulip, McLaren Vale
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Fashion from Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale Huntress Bow Top, Mirage Short, Sticks & Sparrow Sunglasses Floral installation by Bonnie Blooms, Willunga
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Fashion from Sound of White, Port Noarlunga
Isabella Two-piece set
Botanical installation created by Fera Flores, Fleurieu Peninsula
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Fashion from Sound of White, Port Noarlunga Jasmine Anglaise Maxi Dress, Boca Espadrille Slides, Chameleon Vegan Leather Bag, Panama Hat, Handmade Silver Turkish Earrings Botanical installation created by Fera Flores, Fleurieu Peninsula
63 DudleyWines Seeourextensive rangeofKangarooIslandwinesonline. Merchandiseandvouchersalso availableatwww.dudleywines.com.au Searchingfor theperfect Christmasgift? #justbuyki Inaworldwhereyou canbuyanywhere ...buylocal! Discoverover200localKangarooIsland products,servicesandexperiencesat authentickangarooisland.com.au WildernessBaby Babyswaddles inspiredbyAustralianNativeflorals. Madeofhighquality70%Bambooand 30%cotton,theyaredeliciouslysoftand breathable!www.wildernessbaby.com.au KangarooIslandShellfishandThe OysterFarmShop,providingthe Fleurieu’slocalOystertotheFleurieu www.oysterfarmshop.com.au orderkiwine onlineforChristmas giftfor newbaby oystersand shellfishfor Christmaslunch
202 Main Road McLaren Vale (in Hardys Tintara Winery) Meet artists in their studios · See an art exhibition · Buy a gift made by a local artisan · Enjoy a coffee surrounded by beautiful art fleurieuarthouse.com.au
Realism in focus
Story by Emma Masters.
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Tiny shells, sun-baked crab legs and gnarled pieces of driftwood are just some of the offerings Fleurieu artist Chris Summer finds left on the front porch of his beachside home.
They’re gifts from locals with an intimate knowledge of Chris and his art, a practice where he magnifies the intricate beauty of some of nature’s smallest objects in a monochromed layering of black charcoal and white ink.
‘I’ll turn up after going for a walk and there’ll be random new objects on the bench or doorstep outside,’ Chris explains. ‘I get feathers and lots of things – I love it.’
And there’s every chance these objects could end up immortalised by the 43-year-old artist. His recent works have included a sea urchin and a white feather in still-life depictions that draw attention to tiny detail.
Nature has been central to Chris’s work since he began his art journey as a self-taught wildlife artist more than a decade ago, but he’s keen to avoid being typecast. ‘I don’t want to make the statement that things can be easily overlooked, but it’s a bit of self discovery for me to study things around us. Nature is the medium I use to describe variance in detail and form, with light a big part of my work,’ he says. ‘I just really wanted to do each thing with more detail and to do this it has to be bigger. I’m a minimalist at heart and focusing solely on a single subject can be really powerful and inspire emotion.’
At first glance, his works look like expert macro photographs, but Chris reveals a detailed creative process that combines many mediums to create a hyperrealistic work. He begins by placing an object in a lightbox and taking a series of photos, methodically moving light sources around to highlight different sections.
‘Each subject takes me one to two hours to photograph and I’ll go through all those images and pick the best lighting for each section and end up with half a dozen images on a tablet, which I’ll reference, bringing them together to make an image which I think represents the subject at its best form,’ Chris explains. ‘Hyperrealism isn’t >
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Page left: Detail from ‘Gravity’. Above: Chris working on ‘Biometry’.
about making a copy of a photo, there needs to be room for creativity and interpretation. But I love the fact that people think it’s photography when they see my work.’
You’d be forgiven for thinking Chris has monk-like levels of patience, such is the time it takes to to draw and ink one piece. But he says it’s a combination of a deep love of the process and sitting at the easel every day.
‘I do get lost in the detail. It’s quite meditative so it doesn’t feel like patience. The value is the process of creating the work because I love drawing, painting and creating,’ he says. ‘Routine and discipline are a big part of spending so much time with one image. My calendar is the most ridiculous, detailed roster. I set my own targets for each week in terms of hours that I spend.’
With each work taking up to 200 hours, Chris doesn’t produce as many finished works as other artists throughout the year, but he never struggles for an image or an idea of what to draw next. He adds that after leaving the bustling metropolis of London, backpacking around Australia and eventually settling in Victor Harbor, he’s found the perfect conditions for his work.
‘My community in Victor is like a family – lovely people working hard, doing their thing and living good lives. People aren’t living crazy city lives. It’s such a beautiful, peaceful place where there’s space to create,’ he says. ‘When you live in a busier area, there’s so much
distraction but the community here has helped me find a balance between connection and the space to do my work.’
It also gives him room to experiment. When I visited his beachside home studio, he was testing a new approach, putting the charcoal and ink to one side and dabbling with paint. ‘I want to see if it offers me an opportunity to represent subjects in a different way. I don’t know if it’ll be different for the viewer, but the difference is my interaction with the work even when some of the process is the same – still the same paper, same image, same reference photography in black and white,’ he says. ‘It’s one picture to see how it goes, to see if I can learn something to either reintroduce to charcoal or move on.’
But one thing Chris doesn’t expect to change is his love of monochromatic images. ‘Never say never, but for all the things that I’ve changed – charcoal to paint, urchins to feathers – the one thing I haven’t changed is black and white,’ he says. ‘When you hear of people who lose their sight, their other senses are emphasised. For me, art is the same with colour.
‘We love having colour in our lives. But when you take colour away, composition, texture, detail, form, light are all emphasised. Every other aspect of a painting is highlighted because of the loss of colour,’ Chris says. ‘And I like that.’
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Chris’s work will be included in the Strand Gallery’s summer exhibition in Port Elliot celebrating light, lustre and pearlescence.
Top left: ‘Molecular’. Middle left: ‘Aqueous’. Bottom left: ‘Edificial’. Above right: Artist Chris Summer.
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WHO WE ARE: Jared Thomas
Yesterday, today, tomorrow
There’s a particular story that Nukunu man Dr Jared Thomas often tells in interviews like these. It’s a memory from when he was sixteen, a school boy visiting Adelaide from his Port Augusta home.
While Jared and his classmates were waiting outside a theatre to see a play, two Aboriginal men in the line ahead were approached first by a security guard and then police, who told them to move on, that ‘the pub was around the corner.’ When the Aboriginal men stood their ground, presenting their tickets, they were forced out of line by the police and out of sight of the other patrons.
Inside the theatre, the lights came up on those same two Aboriginal men standing on stage. ‘They said “Welcome to our town, we’re going to show you everything that happens here. Unfortunately you’ve already seen some of it out the front”,’ recalls Jared. ‘But then they said “Why didn’t you do anything? Why didn’t you say anything?” I was just sitting there like I’d been struck by lightning.’
The overt racism shown by the security guard and the police was nothing new to Jared. But the challenge issued by the two men on stage and what followed – a performance in which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people worked together to address racism – was. ‘And I was like: that’s it. That’s what I need to do,’ he says.
Jared retells this story via video call from a hotel room in Aeotearoa / New Zealand. He’s nearing the end of a seven-week trip that’s also taken him through Finland, Norway, Canada and the United States on a Churchill Fellowship. As the South Australian Museum and University of South Australia Research Fellow, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Material Culture and Arts, Jared took up the fellowship as a chance to find inspiration – both practical and philosophical – for his plans to revamp the permanent Aboriginal exhibits at the SA Museum. Finding himself in the role of museum curator was, at the time, an unexpected career move for Jared. But the path that sixteen-yearold Jared first stepped onto as he walked out of that theatre has led, inexorably, to this place; a path that’s paved with stories, both his own and those of others.
Jared started his career telling stories on the stage, writing two plays: Flash Red Ford and Love, Land and Money. Later, he turned to writing young adult fiction and children’s books, including Sweet Guy, Calypso Summer and My Spare Heart. His latest book for young readers, titled Uncle Xbox, is set on the Fleurieu and will be published in 2023.
At the same time, Jared worked to create space for other Aboriginal voices and stories. He spent two stints working at Arts South
Australia, bisected by a period spent lecturing and completing his PhD in creative writing.
Working at the SA Museum exposed Jared to a different challenge. He admits to feeling frustration with the form of the museum’s Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery. ‘When I look at those objects, the meaning behind them is so rich when you look at what they tell you about culture – a very sophisticated culture – and ingenuity, and Aboriginal people as scientists, and about the knowledge systems in place,’ he says.
But that’s not necessarily the story these objects communicate. ‘Because of how they’re presented, they make it seem like we’re in the stone age,’ Jared continues. He refers to a theorist who talks about Aboriginal people being being represented in museums as ‘over there’ and ‘back then people.’ ‘That’s how we’re represented in museums, rather than: we’re right here, now and we have a future. A big part of what I want to do is to facilitate Aboriginal people being front and centre of their own storytelling and to talk about how we’re still here and we’re future thinking.’
His experiences at overseas galleries offered insight into how other indigenous, black and minority ethnic stories are being centred in cultural institutions. Jared was struck by both the deep and terrible truths that the National Museum of African American History and Culture displayed alongside great hope and joy. It redoubled Jared’s own commitment to curating stories that reckon with the reality of shared history on this continent. ‘I want to tell positive stories,’ he says, ‘but you have to tell it all.’
As Jared imagines what could be created here, as part of the work he will do in a new role at Lot 14 in Adelaide, he envisages a place of shared pride that tells Indigenous stories of the past, present and future. He cites the Egyptian pyramids (which, for the record, were built around 4,500 years ago) as an example of how Aboriginal stories are marginalised. ‘In the mid-north of South Australia, in my great-grandmother’s country, Ngadjuri country, there’s petroglyphs that are 25,000 years old. They’re amongst the first forms of communication on the planet,’ Jared says. ‘Those stories aren’t told, we just have so far to go.’
After New Zealand, Jared will return home to Aldinga Beach with his wife Anita Nedosyko and baby daughter Banksia who have travelled with him for the full seven weeks. He’s also been joined by his older daughters Delilah and Tilly for this last leg. Being so close to the end of his trip, he can begin imagining the return home to the community they’ve found on Kaurna land on the mid-coast. And also the opportunities ahead to support the amplification of Aboriginal stories. To find new and meaningful ways to, as Jared puts it, ‘tell the greatest story never told.’
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WHO WE ARE
Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photograph by Jason Porter.
‘A big part of what I want to do is to facilitate Aboriginal people being front and centre of their own storytelling and to talk about how we’re still here and we’re future thinking.’
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Above: Jared Thomas, South Australian Museum and University of South Australia Research Fellow, Aboriginal Material Culture and Arts.
WHO WE ARE: Geoff Hayter and Tess Sapia
Competitive planting
On first meeting, you wouldn’t necessarily describe Geoff Hayter’s gentle manner as competitive. But it must be in there somewhere, because the co-founder of Biodiversity McLaren Vale (BMV) has shown a steely determination over the past fifteen years to outlast and outcompete some of the region’s most tenacious invaders. We’re talking weeds.
Geoff says it all started when his now partner Tess Sapia boarded a yacht in the Galapagos Islands in 2004. An environmental scientist from California, Tess hopped aboard the ‘Sorcerer II’ (owned by Dr Craig Venter who played a major role in sequencing the human genome) on the Pacific leg of its journey before disembarking in Australia. ‘We bumped into one another at a music festival,’ recalls Geoff, ‘and I happened to say to her, “if you get to Adelaide, look me up.” And here we are.’
Together they moved to a secluded property near Willunga. Fatefully, the property hosted a segment of the Willunga Creek, though it was hard to tell at the time so dense were the weeds choking its flow. ‘We decided we couldn’t live here on this property with a weed patch down the bottom there,’ says Geoff. So began fifteen years of work to restore this small segment of creek.
One of Geoff’s maxims is that a big job is a lot of little jobs. And this certainly rang true for the crusade he and Tess waged to wrench the invasive dog rose from the creek, cutting, pulling, untangling and then hauling away heap after heap. Geoff estimates they’ve removed 1000 cubic metres of dog rose and planted between six and seven thousand indigenous plants along 350 metres of creek.
Through the work on their property, they came to learn about other work happening around the district, including the Natural Resoures Management Board (then the NRM, now Landscape SA) and Bunti Pellen’s tireless work with Trees for Life. But they couldn’t help noticing how much was still to be done.
‘Eventually I called Jock Harvey because I kind of faintly knew him. And I said, what Tess and I are doing down here, we need to do on a bigger scale. And Jock was right into it, because that’s Jock Harvey. He’s a can-do man,’ says Geoff. ‘So we went and saw Dana Miles at the NRM and she was into it too and so I guess the three of us started this program.’
As the name suggests, BMV’s vision is about increasing biodiversity, particularly through removing olive trees and their old foe the dog rose. But its mission is true to the work that started on Geoff and Tess’s property – de-weeding and replanting the three main creek lines (Pedlar, Willunga and Maslin) in the district.
BMV started with the idea to ‘do more’ and so they started organising field days, weeding and planting depending on the season. Today, they draw between 60 and100 people on the first Sunday of the month, but in the early days they were lucky to get a handful of volunteers. They relied heavily on the commitment of a small number of people, including Dana Miles. ‘Frankly it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been there,’ says Geoff.
Through their field days, they’ve now worked on nearly sixty privately held sites across McLaren Vale, including Shingleback Winery, where they’ve planted over 15,000 plants, Pannell Enoteca and Dowie Doole. Of course, a sustainability initiative must itself be sustainable to really make a difference. ‘We’re not a free service, we don’t just come out and do stuff for nothing,’ explains Geoff. ‘It’s not a commercial deal, but there are responsiblities. They pay us money and the program runs for three years.’ Three years is enough to make a real difference, but, as Geoff repeats on several occasions, it’s not a matter of set and forget. Give olive trees an inch and they’ll take a mile.
As the organisation has matured, their thinking has turned from simply ‘do more’, to ‘do more, do better.’ They want to create long corridors of re-planted land, creating linkages between properties. They’re also aware that to truly leverage their efforts, they need to partner with other organisations and have begun talks with SA Power Networks, among others. Geoff really comes alive when he starts talking about, of all things, roadsides. ‘We could turn McLaren Vale into the world’s biggest insectary if we had all the roadsides cleaned up and planted with endemic species,’ he enthuses.
The effort Geoff and Tess have expended weeding and planting their own property is both an example of the tremendous challenge BMV faces, as well as the incredible payoffs. The individual frequencies of seven species of microbat have now been recorded on their property. ‘I feel like the whole ecology of the creek has fundamentally changed and it just shows up in every way when you’re down there,’ says Geoff. ‘I saw something out the front the other day, I don’t know what it was, a pardalote maybe? But it was the tiniest bird I have ever seen.’
Walking along their patch of creek, among the sheoaks now reaching several metres, the purple blooms of native violet and the whimsical drifts of spear grass, the transformation is astonishing. And then suddenly, Geoff stoops down and before you know it, he’s pulled a thin sapling out. Another olive tree bites the dust.
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WHO WE ARE
Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photograph by Jason Porter.
‘We decided we couldn’t live here on this property with a weed patch down the bottom there,’ says Geoff. So began fifteen years of work to restore this small segment of creek.’
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Above: Co-founder of Biodiversity McLaren Vale Jeff Hayter with partner Tess Sapia on their property, which hosts a cleared segment of Willunga Creek.
Summer reading recommendations
Selected by Sarah and Mark from the shelves at South Seas Books in Port Elliot.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (1956). The source material for The Durrells TV series, the famed naturalist writes about his eccentric family relocating to Corfu in the 1930s. Greene on Capri by Shirley Hazzard (2000). In this brief memoir, Hazzard recalls her challenging friendship with the mercurial Graham Greene from their summers together in the Greek Islands. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962). Wonderfully atmospheric dark fantasy set around a travelling carnival in the American Midwest. The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry (1966). A poignant story about stumbling to adulthood in a dead-end Texan town, later adapted into a memorable film. The Bird Artist by Howard Norman (1994). A painterly description of the consequences of love, lust, guilt and betrayal in Canada’s Maritimes in the early twentieth century. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (2021). An epic story set over three different time periods each of which demonstrates the importance of books to humanity. The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (2021). A sweeping novel that intricately weaves together the story of two women – one a vanished aviator, one a rebellious actress – across time and space. All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien (2022). A murder mystery set in the cultural nuances of the Vietnamese community in 1990’s Cabramatta. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (2022). Another wonderful read by this author about human connections and how they sustain us. Mammoth by Chris Flynn (2020). A blackly humorous novel narrated by a mammoth skeleton whose musings on the human world are both amusing and poignant.
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FEATURED EVENTS
Sgeidse (Sketch) - Exhibition*
3 December 2022 to 8 January 2023
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Mozart Recital - Letho Kostoglou
18 December 2022, 4pm
Centenary Hall, Goolwa
Off the Bridge Fireworks Goolwa*
31 December 2022
Goolwa Wharf Precinct
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John Tribute Show (The Flaming Sambucas)
11 February 2022, 7:30pm
Centenary Hall, Goolwa
For bookings, enquiries or to hear about more events call 1300 466 592 or visit *Free event
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28-30 April 2023
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PERSONAL AND CORPORATE GROWTH
A community for big dreams to grow
Story by Emma Masters .
20 years of the
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When artists Viv Newcombe and Barbara Powell first set eyes on the barren land that stretched from near Aldinga’s Old Coach Road toward Port Willunga, they were horrified. ‘There were hardly any leafy trees on it. There certainly wasn’t the babbling brook they’d hoped for, Willunga Creek was way down the hill, full of weeds and not flowing,’ retired Adelaide architect John Maitland says.
It was the late ‘90s and John had been helping the pioneering South Australian artist group find land to establish a holistic community of ecological homes. They imagined a place they could retire to, where they could share arts practices in common spaces and strive for a life that was in greater sync with nature. An idyllic idea, but the visit to the thirty-four hectare allotment was anything but that. ‘The land still had horses on it, it was just a disaster, and they were just thoroughly depressed,’ John adds.
Excited by a vision for an artists’ village on the Fleurieu Peninsula, John invited architectural colleague and mentor Albert Gillissen to
revisit the site with the group. ‘He was so energetic and eloquent they all fell in love with him and then the dirt. And that’s what turned the whole project into something possible,’ he says.
Many conversations later, the artists were joined by Steve Poole and his group who happened right then to be looking at the same land, to establish their permaculture community. ‘Permies’ see bare land as a planting opportunity, with a food forest vision, orchards, streets with fruit trees, indigenous plants, farm production, resource sharing and a culture of caring. It was a beautiful match.
Decades later that barren plot of land has become the renowned Aldinga Arts Eco-village, which features around 170 ecological homes for more than 300 residents. A community that this year celebrates its 20th anniversary as a world’s first eco-village established with an arts focus.
Taking a walking tour around the area under an azure, spring sky with residents Vanda Rounsefell and Mary Davies, it’s hard to imagine the bare paddock it once was. Now, cobble-detailed walking paths, lush, grassy nooks and quiet streets with blooming native gardens cover the once bare dirt. It’s even more difficult to comprehend when you walk into the adjacent permaculture farm. Fruit trees blossom alongside chickens and goats, and fertile community garden plots >
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Page left: The village’s new sign was a collaboration between resident artists Mark Timberlake and Margie Goodchild, among others. Above: A newer home in the village with beautifully designed gardens of hardy native plantings, vegetables and water-wise plants.
sit next to organic fruit and vegetable business Village Greens. The place is positively brimming with life.
‘The village has always had a strong focus on the cycle of life,’ Mary explains as we walk near the village wastewater pond, home to various ducks and geese. ‘All waste is treated on site, with the grey water used for watering trees and solid waste processed and reused in compost. There were concerns the pond would stink up the entire area, but we proved people wrong.’
As our tour moves to a quiet corner of the eco-village near a shady grove, Vanda outlines the in-depth work involved in establishing it as South Australia’s first natural burial ground. So far, three residents have been buried there. ‘This community has a strong history of ground-breaking work, of continually pushing for sustainable practices across the board,’ Vanda says.
This connection to nature’s cycles is something that Jon and Anne Scott relish about village life. They say it teaches their children Cassidy, nine, and Ione, five, the seasonality of fresh food and the importance of only taking what you can eat. That sense of caring for others in a community was a real drawcard for the couple. ‘The whole idea of intentional community and being challenged to live more closely with people and knowing we need to work together and that you don’t always get your own way, it really appealed,’ Anne says.
They explain the village has finely tuned its management structures over the years. They’ve developed an ecosystem of governance and responsibilities ranging from by-laws that offer clear guidelines on everything from building to pet management, to monthly working bees and annual meetings that determine major projects and expenditure, such as the ‘Sharing Shed’ (the village’s community hall). ‘People have
learnt lessons about how to make decisions and workshop ideas, but conflict naturally still comes up. Like everything, there’s always an element of compromise,’ Jon explains.
There’s also a changing demographic emerging in the village as children begin to outnumber those aged 70 and above. ‘On face value it looks like it could be a retirement village, but it’s deliberately set up as multi-generational. There’s a great benefit of having people of different ages and skill sets that can contribute in different ways,’ Jon adds. ‘I sometimes joke that it’s like a big caravan park because there’s no fences and kids are always around on bikes and enjoying the outdoors, they feel safe, like a traditional childhood.’
The Scotts also reflect on the role the eco-village plays in the region. ‘The Fleurieu Peninsula is a beautiful place to live so it attracts people who are interested in the environment and community,’ Jon says. ‘Many people from the village are involved in the Willunga Market, SA’s earliest farmers’ market, which is about local produce being shared with less food miles. And then there’s others who dedicate their time to lobbying for better development in the region with housing that’s more eco-friendly with sensible design and open spaces.’
‘There’s lots of people in the village who get involved in environmental groups, like Biodiversity McLaren Vale, the Willunga Environment Centre and Trees for Life,’ Anne adds. ‘We’re also very close to the Willunga Waldorf School and there’s a large contingent of Waldorf families in the village as well.’
Could it be that the Fleurieu naturally attracts alternative thinkers or is it that alternative thinkers are actively helping to shape the village and beyond? I reckon it could be a bit of both.
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Top left: It is hard to imagine that the village was once a somewhat barren paddock now that it is full of inspirational gardens. Top right: Village Greens of Willunga Creek grows organic produce on the village farm. Bottom left: Ballast stone features throughout the village and creates continuity in the design of the landscape throughout. Above right: The newly built sharing shed is available to villagers for meetings, workshops, shared meals and events.
77 IMMERSIVE AND BESPOKE INTERIORS John Lacey’s Studio & Green Tank Gallery 41 Woodcone Rd, Mt Compass m: 0419 823 708 Open most days 11am - 5pm. www.johnlacey.com.au follow me @johnlaceyartist W I N E S O F P L A C E 1 7 H I G H S T W I L L U N G A
From little things
A sunny Saturday morning on the Fleurieu calls for one thing: a visit to the Willunga Farmers Market. It’s a fitting backdrop to meet community-lover Lauren Jew and conversation and smiles flow in a fine display of unity as Lauren talks me through her journey.
Director of Community Innovation and Participation at Aldinga Payinthi College, Lauren is no stranger to uniting folk. ‘What draws me to the south is the sense of community, abundance of resources and people, and the environment and opportunities where people come together,’ Lauren tells me as we dodge a barefoot game of market chasey.
When you love a place, it makes sense to do what you can to see it grow. Community outreach shapes Lauren’s identity in an admirable way, and volunteering has always been at the heart of her involvement.
From setting up the Southern Deadly Fun Run through the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, advocating for Fred’s Van and starting her Tenx9 Fleurieu project (where nine people gather to tell a story based on a particular topic for ten minutes), to volunteering for the Rotary Club of Seaford and establishing the Onkaparinga region’s first edible garden, it’s likely Lauren’s path has crossed yours at some stage. The Giving Garden on Aldinga’s Evans Street allows the local community to take what they need and leave what they can. ‘It bothers me that community and environment are often the things that go in government budgets. These are the things that matter and what we need for our future,’ Lauren says, her passion to create change shining through.
Playing sport and having a mum who was heavily involved in coaching state netball meant community participation was ingrained in Lauren from a young age. However, the current South Coast Ward candidate admits her former high school teachers at Cardijn College probably wouldn’t have picked her as one to run for local council.
‘My economics teacher, Mr Burrows, once told me that I could do anything, but I just needed to follow through,’ says Lauren, reminiscing on her school days as a less-than-ideal student. Perhaps it was a certain determination to prove Chris Burrows right, or a special talking-to from the school’s deputy principal at the time, Judith Ratican, that changed Lauren’s trajectory.
‘I was always getting in trouble and one day Ms Ratican asked me if I realised I was getting other kids in trouble too, so I don’t think she liked me very much,’ Lauren says. It takes a special teacher to spot leadership within students, which is exactly the direction Ms Ratican steered Lauren on that day.
‘Despite being in trouble, she suggested I apply for the National Youth Roundtable,’ Lauren says. ‘Though I knew I had community at heart, that conversation made me realise I could give it a go,’ she says.
At the impressionable age of 14, Lauren was on the Australian Youth Forum and National Youth Roundtable, where she started to see that young voices matter. ‘Having those really early opportunities allowed me to realise that we can influence the world around us,’ she remembers.
As a keen-spirited youngster, Lauren poured her blossoming leadership skills into an Onkaparinga Council graffiti project with young offenders, which was eventually picked up and rolled out over other council areas across the state and country.
From there, one thing led to another and Lauren took an opportunity to work on a project with an Aboriginal man from North-East Arnhem Land, where she lived for a year and a half learning language.
‘It was an eye opener to realise there are people who have always lived in Australia, whose third or fifth language is English,’ Lauren recalled. ‘I always had a strong sense of social justice, but it was then I started to understand the significant disparity in outcomes for people,’ she says.
Now in her role at Aldinga Payinthi College, Lauren activates the uniquely shared space in a way that makes sure it delivers what the community wants. From arts through to sport and local meetings, the school has housed 1,044 hours of community use and connected over 7,000 different people in its first three terms.
This leadership story proves that from little things, big things grow. It’s safe to say Lauren is thriving in a role that doesn’t exist in any other school across the state. ‘It’s really nice being able to forge your own path,’ Lauren reflects.
Proof that you can fit oodles of good into fifteen years of community service, Lauren circles back to her pivotal Cardijn days and fondly reflects on how the school’s ‘See, Judge, Act’ motto has continued to stick with her throughout years of community outreach. ‘Just this idea of seeing something, considering it and doing something about it is always what I want to stay true to.’
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ALUMNI JOURNEY
Story by Zoë Kassiotis. Photograph by Jason Porter.
‘Community outreach shapes Lauren’s identity in an admirable way, and volunteering has always been at the heart of her involvement.’
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Above: Lauren Jew, Director of Community Innovation and Participation at Aldinga Payinthi College.
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When
20 years and still growing
Story
and
recipe by Andrea Ball.
As the Willunga Farmers Market completes its 20th birthday celebrations this year, Lisa McCarthy from McCarthy’s Orchard shares her thoughts about the early days of the market and how a new generation of market-goers is embodying shopping locally and organically.
Today, Lisa and her husband Mark live and work on their 11-hectare McLaren Vale farm where they grow a range of produce from apples, asparagus and avocados through to figs, stone fruit and grapes.
But back to 2005, when Lisa was the farmers’ market manager, and there were only a handful of stallholders, she rang Mark McCarthy from Merbein in Sunraysia, asking him to have a guest stall selling his fruit and nuts. He liked the sound of Lisa’s voice, so thought he’d give it a go. And the rest, as they say, is history.
During this time, some of the market’s original stallholders, Ray and Lois Seidel, were preparing to sell their property, McLaren Vale Orchards. When Lisa and Mark married and began a family they became the new custodians of Ray and Lois’s farm, which would become the McCarthy’s Orchard that market shoppers know and love today.
The couple has further developed the orchard, transitioning to fully organic farming and their approach has gained the McCarthys a solid following. ‘People know that everything’s handmade with love,’ says Lisa.
Andrea Reggiani, originally from Modena, Italy, joined the extended McCarthy family in 2017 and sees the enormous benefits of selling through the farmers’ market, where he has become the face of McCarthy’s. ‘I loved the farmers’ market straight away,’ says Andrea. ‘It reminds me of going to the market with my mum and grandma in Italy ... The market has grown so much. A lot of people have started being more aware of buying local, and it’s an attraction now.
The McCarthys are encouraged by the evolution they have seen in farmers’ market shoppers, with the market attracting more young people from a wider area, and where parents share their love of minimal intervention produce with their children. Andrea recalls a conversation he recently heard between a father and son: ‘There was an apple that was marked and the father said, “That’s been bitten by some bugs, so that’s fine – that’s what we want”.’
‘It’s very encouraging,’ muses Andrea. ‘These kids know that bugs are good, so when they see a perfect, shiny apple in the supermarket, they question what’s wrong with it! That’s just fantastic.’
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Lisa and Mark McCarthy in their apple orchard. Photograph by Josie Withers.
Charred corn, black bean and farro salad with orchard fruits
Serves 4 as a light meal or 6 – 8 as a side salad
Smoky charred corn, nutty farro, crunchy pepitas, creamy avocados and a zesty dressing fill this salad with a fabulous range of flavours and textures. But the real star of the show is the McCarthy’s Orchard fruit.
We’ve used the first of summer’s nectarines here – but try apples or pears, plums or grapes.
You can mix up the grains, veggies, legumes and seeds in this salad too. For a gluten-free option, try red rice or quinoa instead of the farro.
This makes the perfect lunchtime salad bowl or a side to grilled fish.
What you’ll need
½ cup (110g) farro, or your preferred grain, soaked in water
overnight, drained
250ml McCarthy’s Orchard Apple Cider
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cobs fresh sweet corn, kernels removed with a knife
1 x 400g can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
3 firm-ripe nectarines or peaches, halved and cut into thin wedges, lightly chargrilled if you like
1½ cups mixed soft herbs – chives, mint, basil, dill, oregano, coriander and parsley are all good
2-3 firm ripe avocados, halved and stones removed (we used McCarthy’s Orchard’s)
2 large handfuls salad leaves
150g feta, broken into rough pieces (we used Buff Love’s)
Large handful toasted pepitas
Lime wedges, to serve
For the dressing
1 rounded teaspoon each cumin seeds and coriander seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
1-2 canned chipotle chillies, finely chopped
5 tablespoons (75 ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons McCarthy’s Orchard Apple Cider Vinegar
Zest and juice of 1 large lime
1-2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
What to do
For the dressing, place the cumin and coriander seeds in a small bowl with the chipotle chillies and mash to form a rough paste. Whisk in all the remaining dressing ingredients and season well.To make the salad, place the farro, apple cider and stock into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes, adding extra water if needed, until the farro is cooked through, then drain.
Heat a cast iron pan over high heat. Add the corn kernels and cook for a couple of minutes so they char on both sides (be careful, the corn will pop). Lower the heat, add the black beans, and stir for a minute or so, just to warm them through.
Tip the sweetcorn and black beans into a large bowl, stir through the cooked farro, and season with a little salt and a splash of olive oil. Gently stir through the fruit along with most of the herbs and most of the dressing. Line a serving platter with the salad leaves that you’ve tossed lightly with olive oil, vinegar and salt, and then pile on the farro, corn and fruit mixture. Cut the avocado halves into chunks with a butter knife, stopping just before you reach the skin. Use a dessertspoon to scoop the halves out, still intact. Nestle these into the salad, and drizzle each with the remaining dressing. Scatter with the feta, pepitas and reserved herbs, and serve with lime wedges on the side.
Watch a live demo of this recipe with The Green Gourmet (@thegreengourmetco) at the Willunga Farmers Market on Saturday 28 January at 9.30 am
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Faces and places
Barry Green (aka The KI Cat Man) at Feral’s End, American River, Kangaroo Island Lover of native wildlife, environmentalist, artist
Barry Green prides himself on trapping and killing feral cats to protect Kangaroo Island’s native species. At current count he has trapped 1515 cats ‘including the ones people bring me,’ he says. His creative enterprise – making art and objects from the cats’ hides is impressive and vast. Photo by Sean McGowan.
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Shaking things up
Words and recipes by Jacob Barter. Photography by Jason Porter on location at Noori Bar, Port Noarlunga.
The Fleurieu may be known for its cellar doors, but locally distilled spirits – and the drinking holes and hideouts serving them up – are beginning to demand their share of attention. We checked out Port Noarlunga’s Noori, and asked owner and head
Gordi Sour
Tiny Friday Gordito
Cool people making a product with good intent – glorious. Gordito is a spirit inspired by Chilean pisco (of Pisco Sour fame). Here we have the Gordi Sour. It’s to the point. It’s easy to make. It’s the best way to consume Tiny Friday Gordito, so much so the creators printed the recipe on the bottle.
Ingredients:
60ml Tiny Friday Gordito
30ml lemon juice
20ml simple syrup
One egg white
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake for a silky-smooth, foamy finish. Top with a wedge of fresh or dried lemon to make it look pretty. This is for when the party shoes come out.
Missus Collins
Spring Seed Wine Co. 2022 Morning Bride Rosé
After a long lunch or decadent dinner, this cocktail is not only refreshing but may also help to relax your stomach.
The Morning Bride Rosé has a beautiful and delicate aromatic profile of blossom, white flower and strawberries and is kept alive in this cocktail by the equally aromatic bergamot, present in the Italicus. With an electric charge from the lemon and some broadening with the simple syrup, all that’s needed is soda to stretch and you’re good to lay down in the sun.
Ingredients:
30ml Spring Seed Wine Co. 2022 Morning Bride Rosé
Squeeze of lemon
Simple sugar syrup to taste
15ml Italicus
Soda to stretch
Simply add ingredients over ice, top your glass with soda then give it a stir. Garnish with edible flowers.
Ginger & Orange Garibaldi
Prohibition Blood Orange Cello
Top of the list of bars I’m desperate to visit is Dantes in New York, which came to fame with a simple mix of fluffy OJ and Campari called the Garibaldi. This is our take, substituting Campari with Prohibition’s cello which features the intense colour and flavour that only a blood orange can deliver.
Ingredients:
100ml strained and shaken orange juice (to make it fluffy)
25ml ginger syrup (equal parts fresh ginger and sugar)
45ml Prohibition Blood Orange Cello
Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake. Serve over ice. Delish.
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barkeeper Jacob Barter to create summer-in-a-glass featuring six different producers. With a confident nod and his mind already ticking, he got down to business. We then tried our hardest not to drink them all during work hours.
Brothers Leask
(Named for Malcolm and Richard – the owners of Hither & Yon and reigning Bushing Monarchs of McLaren Vale.)
Hither & Yon 2022 Tempranillo
When the weather is hot but you still like your wine rouge, give this tempranillo from Hither & Yon a light lift to enjoy through summer. Extra delicious if you have fresh summer mulberries at your disposal.
Ingredients:
30 ml Roselle – a sweet, berry-focused bitter amaro (think a cross between Aperol and Campari)
45ml Hither & Yon 2022 Tempranillo
Lemonade
Fresh berries to garnish
Add the Roselle and Tempranillo to a glass and stir. Add ice then top with lemonade and fresh berries to make it beautiful and extra sweet.
Pear and Almond Bellini
Main & Cherry Prosecco
A twist on the classic Italian cocktail, this is a great bubbly idea for the festive season and a seriously great drink no matter how it’s made. The lingering flavour of almond hums on the palette and would go really well with some fine dark chocolate.
Ingredients:
One ripe pear
Orgeat syrup
Main & Cherry Prosecco
First make a pear and almond syrup. Grab some Orgeat syrup (available from your local Asian or Italian supermarket and made with almonds, sugar and either rose water or orange flower), throw it in a food processor together with a ripe pear and mix the two together at a 1:1 ratio.
Place 45ml of the pear and almond syrup in a flute.
Top with Main & Cherry Prosecco, give it a stir and live your best life.
Single Malt Whisky
The McLaren Vale Distillery Single Malt Whisky
No shaking or stirring. Just a good whisky glass and a quiet corner somewhere. Mix is simple as this is a premium product: a single malt aged in Geoff Hardy shiraz casks and finished in fortified muscat barrels. Drink neat or with a cube of ice or some of those fancy whisky stones. Enjoy while the kids are busy outside.
Ingredients:
45ml The McLaren Vale Distillery Single Malt Whisky
Pour into glass. Close your eyes and sip slowly.
Cocktail accouterments and fine glassware courtesy of Kookery, Willunga and Old Noarlunga. All other glassware from Jacob’s cabinet.
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Fleurieu Film Festival
Saturday 4th February 2023
Returning for its seventh year, the Fleurieu Film Festival is the gift that keeps on giving!
The Gala Screening and Awards night will be held on Saturday 4 February on the lawns of the McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Coast Visitor Centre. Food and wine by local producers, and music by The Yearlings and the Onkaparinga Concert Band will stimulate the senses before the awardwinning short films are screened at dusk.
T
his year’s theme is ‘gift’, with each shortlisted film offering their take on the physical or metaphorical gifts we give and receive through life. There will be an entertaining blend of comedies, dramas and documentaries that have been selected by industry experts who will also join the audience and filmmakers on the night.
T
The Festival’s second day will be a film-making workshop. Last year, event organisers introduced participants to some special Fleurieu locations and
helped them film short promotional videos which were later screened at the Meeting Place in McLaren Vale.
This year, Ngarrindjeri elder Mark Koolmatrie, who provides Indigenous tourism experiences around the Fleurieu, will guide a small bus-load of beginner filmmakers through selected Ngarrindjeri and Peramangk sites around the region, sharing the stories and significance of these chosen locations. The participants will then be supported by the accompanying expert tutors to capture the essence and spirit of these stories, against the backdrop of place and the Indigenous lore shared by Mark. The edited short films will be screened in autumn.
Gala Screening and Awards Night
Saturday 4 February 2023, from 6.30pm at McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Coast Visitor Centre
Filming Country Workshop, Sunday 5 February 2023, departure location to be announced.
Tickets are on sale for both events though the website: fleurieufilmfestival.com.au
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Above: Stills from last years Fleurieu Film Festival. Top: Last Lullaby. Bottom left: Castle in the air. Bottom right: Coda Chroma.
89 Esplanade, Aldinga · (08) 7120 7119 · sicilypizza.com.au SCREENINGANDAWARDSNIGHT www.fleurieufilmfestival.com.au TICKETSAVAILABLEFROM SATURDAY4THFEBRUARY2023 McLarenVale&FleurieuCoast VisitorsCentre,McLarenVale
What to buy, where to buy it
It’s the season of giving. For old and young, connoisseur and casual. For beachside getaways or home entertaining. Just for you or just because. Good things come to those who shop local. Photographed
.
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RETAIL THERAPY
by Jason Porter. Styled by Liza Reynolds
Hurley Daisy shirt $89.99; Hurley Daisy hat $39.99; Volcom Mod Platter Scallop short $60.00; Sun Bum skin care products, prices vary – Surf Esteem, Aldinga Central. Art Cards by John Lacey, $8 each – Elliot & Me and The Strand Gallery, Port Elliot as well as Green Tank Gallery, Mount Compass. Foolproof Picnic $24.95 – Kookery, Willunga. Stoneman boxer $39.90 – South Seas Trading, Port Elliot. Linden Haus ceramic vase $180.00; Koi Knifes $200-300 – Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale. Gift baskets customised for you – pictured are Angus & Celeste Milk-Wash Mugs $29; Tiny Belly Basket with ‘Fairy Castle Cactus’ $17.95; Leif Desert Lime Body Lotion $25; Black Blaze Wide Column Pillar Candle $28; Swan Coastal Press card $6 – Charlie & Jack, Victor Harbor.
Selections sourced from Surf Esteem, Elliot & Me, The Strand Gallery, Green Tank Gallery, Kookery, South Seas Trading, Fleurieu Arthouse, Charlie & Jack,
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Bev’s Remnant House and Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards.
Rip Curl one piece bathers $99.99 – Surf Esteem, Aldinga Central. Long sleeve pink shirt $59.00; Blue slip-on shoes with tassel $29.50; Tanora natural raffia bag $145.00 – Bev’s Remnant House, Willunga. Handmade glass sculptures by Meg Caslake and David Pedler, prices vary –Fleurieu Arthouse. Elk Necklaces, prices vary – Elliot & Me, Port Elliot. Loom Designs 100% organic cotton towel $79.95 – Kookery, Willunga.
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RETAIL THERAPY
Clinq hammered copper glasses $59.95; Clinq copper champagne flutes $59.95 – Kookery, Willunga. Roxy Bikini $49.99 – Surf Esteem, Aldinga Central. Kollab picnic mat $109; Kip & Co Candles $49; Kip & Co Toiletry bag $69 – Elliot & Me, Port Elliot. Wattle Cove blue leather bag $249.00 – Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale. Dusky Robin mustard purse $111; The Dreamer Label shirt $249 – South Seas Trading, Port Elliot. FLM’s summer selection – Vermentino, Fiano and Chica Mecia Rosé $28.00 each – Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards, McLaren Vale.
93 LOCAL Touch, GLOBAL Reach CHRISTIE DOWNS NOARLUNGA ALDINGA A RECEPTION TO YEAR 12 CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN THE MARIST TRADITION Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens. Get ready to be surprised. PH. (08) 8327 3356 info@adelaideoutdoorkitchens.com.au ADELAIDEOUTDOORKITCHENS.COM.AU BRING THE INSIDE, OUT. An outdoor kitchen custom made from Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens will transform the way you live. To discover more of the good life visit us online today.
We
are very pleased to present the third
FLM portraiture series
‘Coffee’
I took this photo out in a café in Myponga. It was just a family sitting together enjoying a coffee. I like photography for the fact that it reminds me to look around and find the beauty in things. The dim, warm lighting just supports the humbleness of this moment. I appreciate how calm and joyful this photo makes winter look – the knitted jumpers and sitting just to drink a warm coffee – it almost makes me think that winter actually isn’t that bad.
‘Surrealism’
Each image was photographed in different conditions with specific lighting in order to best express the story. Inspiration came from friends and family. Many friends have an interest in photography, each with their own artistic flair. This encouraged me to find the specific style I most enjoyed. This is how I found surrealism. I ensured that the images had a sense of meaning and vulnerability to connect to the audience through emotion.
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Jemimah Althorp, 17, Encounter Lutheran College
Alexander Brunton, 17, Tatachilla Lutheran College
We asked senior students from a selection of Fleurieu schools to submit photographic portraits that capture an emotion, a story or create a document of a place and time.
‘Naheem’
Looking up at someone, admiration, affirmation. The markings of the bamboo are like a symbol of rebellion, like tattoos but not on the skin.
Mia
‘Lina’
This image captures my cousin, Lina, enjoying the sunshine. I specifically chose Lina as my subject, as she is a very happy and funny person, who likes colour, the sun and her red shirt. The photo is shot at a high angle to capture the texture, contrast and emotion of the scene, and draw the viewer into the image. >
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Tom Hicks, 18, Willunga Waldorf School
Krause, 16, Investigator College
Their interpretations never cease to inspire us. Through their choice of subject, style, backdrop and lighting, their images give us some insight into the minds and creative vision of our younger locals.
I used my school’s environment to produce this photograph. The texture and framing of the dark green foliage creates a sad mood combined with the models pose. Her pose emphasises sadness by the way her hands rest together and the way she looks away from the camera into the distance.
Looking to the future, facing toward the light. The branches are like an external neural pathway, mimicking the thoughts and the inner world. The headphones contain the thoughts, but the tree is an external expression of that.
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Brendan Russell, 15, Cardijn College ‘Sadness’
Sam Stafford, 18, Willunga Waldorf School ‘Patrick’
Action shot, playing with movement, strong figure, central in frame, very prepared, headstrong, defiant. Subject moving towards camera while shooting.
My theme for my photograph is life. I was aiming to show a close up of my friend’s face with nature surrounding him. I used the shallow depth of field technique by making his face in focus and the bush around his face slightly out of focus. An element of art that I think looks effective in this image is texture as even though the plant life is out of focus, it is clear enough to still see the rough texture of the leaves and bark. >
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Rafferty Summers, 18, Willunga Waldorf School ‘Oscar’
Tiana Tassone, 14, Cardijn College ‘Life’
I chose my cousin for this composition to investigate and reflect his endless love for nature, which also met my desire to capture and experience the intimacy and beauty that nature abundantly offers all around us. This pleasing composition draws on the subject’s positioning to conjure feelings of hope and wonder, which act as a platform for how we can each nurture nature.
Della Williss, 16, Investigator College
I chose to use my younger cousin because he loves having his photo taken and playing outside on my family’s farm, feeding the animals, and getting dirty. The concept was to try to capture unstaged moments of him in his element running through puddles and feeding lambs. I captured these moments close up to show the expressions on his face to show emotion and capture a story.
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Tom Terry, 18, Tatachilla Lutheran College ‘Nature’
‘Cousin’
High quality relaxed dining. Serving visitors and locals alike for more than 40 years. Coffee, quality cakes, gelati and full al a carte lunch, dinner and pizza menu.
17 Albert Place Victor Harbor (opposite Crown Hotel) Ph 8552 3501 • Open 7 days 5.00pm till late. www.ninoscafe.com.au
Whether you need a kick in the butt or a gentle support, here at AAHA we’ve got your back. With multiple modalities and a collaborative approach, we support you with all your growing pains and celebrations.
We’re in this for life … yours and ours.
4/8 Old Coach Road Aldinga Book online: allabouthealthaldinga.com.au
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MASSAGE · ACUPUNCTURE · OSTEOPATHY · NATUROPATHY CHIROPRACTIC · COUNSELLING
Full steam
Story by Hollie Connery.
Ships and icebergs have an uncomfortable history, yet they also share a common peculiarity. Just as an iceberg hides its bulk beneath the waterline, so too does a ship. Indeed the sheer size and magnitude of a vessel can only be fully appreciated when on slip or in dry docks.
In this way, the sheer enormity of the project to restore the Paddle Steamer Oscar W was revealed. The task was laid bare to anyone who journeyed out to Coorong Quays on Hindmarsh Island to see the magnificent and historical gem of South Australia up on dry docks these last months.
Measuring just over 31 metres in length, with a beam of 6 metres, the Oscar W weighs in at 84.3 tonnes. It’s monstrous to say the least. ‘When the Oscar is cruising, she’s got her own heartbeat. She’s got the thump of her engine. She’s got her whistle. She’s got the steam. She’s got the blow downs. So it’s like a huge living monster that’s coming along,’ longtime volunteer Christina Somervaille explains.
Surveys happen on the vessel biannually and the renovations this year were spread across 1300 hours shared by a dedicated and hardworking team of Alexandrina Council volunteers. Thirteen timber panels were replaced, and fresh cork seals were renewed – a maritime
process that leans on traditional wooden boat-building skills that are rare in 2022.
The undertaking of the year-round roster of volunteers from the Goolwa community is a tight ship run by president of the Oscar W Friends Incorporated, George Kaiser. Alexandrina Council own the vessel and fund the repairs carried out by contractors, as well as facilitating training for the skilled volunteers. But it’s truly the labour and dedication of the Friends of Oscar W group that keeps her engine firing, and the gangplank readied for passengers to step aboard.
They also oversee the mammoth task of ensuring the wood yard is handsomely stocked to keep tours running. ‘It starts off with a phone call. Someone will say ‘I’ve had a tree fall down on my property’,’ explains George. ‘It’s quite a process. From the time we’ve seen the first piece of wood lying in some farmer’s paddock, we’ve probably handled it 14 or 15 times before it makes it to the fire box to steam the engine along.’
There’s something about having a living, working relic of the past that draws admirers from all over. Celebrating her 114th birthday this year in October, the PS Oscar W boasts a tremendous richness of cultural heritage and is a legend of the Murray River.
The paddle steamer runs regular tours out of the Goolwa Wharf and guests are encouraged to mingle with the volunteers and learn about this magnificent vessel.
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Above: The Oscar W paddle steamer. Photo courtesy of Alexandrina Council and taken by Click Films.
101 Beachfront Bar & Dining + Events Norman Road, Silver Sands Beach. Bookings via www.silversandsbeachclub.com.au Amazing food. Amazing wine. Amazing view. kookery.com.au @kookerystore 18c High Street Willunga (Down the lane) 48 Patapinda Rd Old Noarlunga #ichosebeaumonts tile.com.au 246 Port Elliot Rd Ph: 8552 5108 Victor Harbor Locally owned & operated
Fleurieu weddings
Matty Myhill married Ashleigh Krzysh at Mt Beare Station, Mt Compass on Friday 28 October 2022. Photography by Evan Bailey.
Matty and Ashleigh chose Mt Beare for their wedding after being instantly mesmerised by the vibe and vista of the venue. The barn offered the perfect blank canvas for the couple to create their dream wedding. With the support of Mt Beare owners, Ian and Jane, and
their daughter Billie, catering by Sprout, a gin bar stocked by Never Never and bespoke wine list from Vinteloper, Matty and Ash’s day was everything they’d hoped for. Special thanks from Matty and Ashleigh to all their guests and suppliers.
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beautiful | ethical | unique The Strand, Port Elliot 0428 797 942 elliotandme.com.au
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Selections
Whether indoors or out, make your home both liveable and stylish with these great selections from some of our local designer showrooms, galleries and online shops.
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THERAPY
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01 Indoor/outdoor terrazzo dining table with an Australian oak base. Can be made as a custom orders in a variety of colours and finishes. Cost and sizes vary. Table pictured is $3990. Available at Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens, Seaford.
02. Looking for the perfect tile for your new build or renovation? Check out these selections. Available at Beaumont Tiles, Victor Harbor.
03. Ceramic bud vases, various colours and shapes, from $17.95
04. Wave glass in blue, $79.95 per set of 2 (also available in amber) Batch handmade ceramic pouring bowl, available to order, $39.95 each. Available online at littleroad.com.au
05. Luxaflex – Nordic Design Folding Arm Awning
A quality, European-style awning with sleek finishes. Its versatile design can work in a variety of spaces to create an oasis from the summer sun, projecting out four metres and up to seven metres wide. Prices vary. Available at BQ Curtains and Blinds, Victor Harbor.
Across The Bay Middleton – 101 x 101 cms
Oil on canvas $6200. Available through The Strand Gallery, Port Elliot and on display at South Coast Construction’s Ashton Show Home, Hayborough.
07. Leather sofa chair, from $2,599 Available online at littleroad.com.au
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06. Original artwork by John Lacey
106 MT BEARE STATION Inspections welcome by appointment 0411 104 442 · ianandjane@mtbeare.com.au · @mtbeare_station Award Winning Wedding & Events Venue Shop 1/165 Main Rd McLaren Vale. 08 83237405 · gorgeoussoles.com.au
LAKE BREEZE WINES
lunch + tastings + events + weddings bed + breakfast
Step Road Langhorne Creek | 8537 3017 | lakebreeze.com.au
LARC designs
Residential Interiors
Retail Spaces
Hospitality Environments
Commercial Interiors
Styling
Contact Liza Reynolds 0419 909 364 liza@larcdesigns.com.au larcdesigns.com.au
Let
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us treat you like a VIP
Mad Dash Willunga
On November 6 a cheering crowd joined the fun at the inaugural Mad Dash Willunga to watch customised billy carts careen down the High Street with colour and flair. Organisers wanted a non-competitive day of fun and silliness. And so it was. We’re already looking forward to year two.
Persia Brokensha Band launch at Barn1890
On November 20 friends and fans braved the elements to attend the launch event of the Persia Brokensha Band at Barn1890. The blues band headed up by the award-winning Persia Brokensha also features veteran musicians, Brett Stafford (guitar), Shaun Duncan (bass) and Peter Matzick (drums).
108 SOCIAL PAGES
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01. Judges Charles Manning and Ron Logan. 02. ‘The Irreducibles’ team led by Jean-Phillippe Le Denmat. 03. ‘Where in Willunga is Wally’ team vehicle from Detmold Packaging. 04. ‘Flying Fleurieus’ team, led by Jed Masters. 05. ‘When bananas go bad’ team, led by Chris Blacker. 06. ‘Bad School Run’ team comprising children from Southern Montessori school and Anthony Dyer as the cross old school teacher. 07. Persia Brokensha. 08. The Persia Brokensha Band. 09. Lee Widdison, Lisa Duffield, Ray O’Donnell, Anya Newman and Tian Pretorius. 10. Gerard Maung, Jarnine Beltsos and Andy Thompson. 11. Cathy and Ted Milowski with Anne-Marie Gray.
109 For a unique and relaxing getaway at Port Elliot: jimmysmithsdairy.com.au Ph: 0409 690 342 Mentone Road East, Port Elliot, SA (via Brickyard Road.) jimmy smith’s dairy style guide change. needs to be over and over again. If logo is suddenly represented in different way (for example, red logo suddenly becomes blue) the audience becomes confused and the strength of Repetition and consistency is the key. This style guide is reference for your logo, and will outline Jimmy Smith’s Dairy Jimmy Smith’s Dairy All ages, all levels, all time fun! P: 0412 950 087 surfcultureaustralia.com.au Learn to Surf 0431 616 544 Floral design for every occasion. Paying tribute to occasion, style and architecture. I: @feraflores_flowers E: info@feraflores.com.au W: feraflores.com.au Restaurant / Cocktail Bar / Art Gallery / Live Music Open Wed – Sun 9am to 5pm Twilight summer sessions / Live music Saturdays from 5pm 190 McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale 8323 8994 / 0417814695 redpoles@redpoles.com.au | www.redpoles.com.au Discover the fine mix of food, wine, art and cocktails! The Sound of White is much more than a store, they offer a sensory experience that leaves each customer feeling like a Goddess. 7 Gawler St, Port Noarlunga (08) 7200 3499 soundofwhite.com.au Services include: Makeup Application Waxing & Tinting Lash Lifts Spray Tans Facials Massage Body Treatments Spa Pedicures Pamper/Makeup workshops + tutorials Gift Vouchers yvbeauty.com.au Welcome to a world of beautifully empowered women
My Fleurieu: What the locals love about Fleurieu life
01. Bec Smith and India Giles – Pink Tulip Flowers, McLaren Vale Bec and India agree that what makes the Fleurieu so perfect for them is the inclusivity and acceptance they’ve experienced from the community. They feel like they’ve been embraced as relative newcomers to Main Road in McLaren Vale.
02. Morgan Lyall – Naturopath, Aldinga
Morgan loves the people on the Fleurieu Peninsula and their stories, the community and how the region produces such nutritious food – all of which she believes deserve to be celebrated.
03. Elle Brown – Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale
Seeing how the community and other businesses support each other is the highlight for Elle. She also likes the semi-rural locale, while still being close to the city. And as a fashion retailer, she appreciates how the people are relaxed but stylish.
04. Abbi Webber – Elliot & Me, Port Elliot Abbi loves the opportunities and positivity the Fleurieu and its businesses have to offer. She feels there’s endless opportunity – and that’s exciting.
05. Tam Hart – Valley of Yore, Myponga
For Tam, the comfort within the community comes from knowing everyone and connecting with people similar and different to yourself. She loves how relaxed the Fleurieu lifestyle really is: ‘Like being on holiday at home.’
06. John Lacey – Artist, Mount Compass
Serenity, light and inspirational were all words John used to describe his experience of living on the Fleurieu. John also mentioned his love for the fresh and pure feeling in the air.
07. Jack Webb – Barista, Willunga General Store
Jack is all about the community connections he makes slinging coffees on the main street of Willunga. He’s never lived anywhere else, and proudly states he has ‘no desire to move.’ An avid fan of cafe culture, when he’s not working in one, he’s catching up with friends for coffee or heading down to Port Willunga beach.
08. Amy Palmer-Millin – Owner, Kookery stores, Willunga and Old Noarlunga.
Since Amy moved over from Melbourne, her foodie dreams have come true in Willunga. She wanted to be of service to the community and feels that moving to Willunga is like living in a village, and she loves the community’s commitment to shopping local.
09. Alyssa Harris – Barista, de Rose Kitchen, Willunga
With a beaming smile, Alyssa says she loves that everyone who comes into de Rose is ‘just so chirpy and happy to chat.’ On her days off, she enjoys exploring all the hidden gems in the Fleurieu’s ‘nooks and crannies.’
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INDOOR PLANTS · CERAMICS · BASKETS · PLANTERS · HOMEWARES · BEAUTY PRODUCTS · JEWELLERY GIFT VOUCHERS · CARDS · SELECT GARDENING PRODUCTS
Planning Approvals Land Division & Rezoning. Commercial / Residential Call Adam Mrotek on 0402 859 027 www.mrotektownplanning.com.au
charlieandjack.com.au · Victor Harbor
A treasure chest of bespoke accents for the home.
Now at their new location in the Temperance Precinct Old Coach Road , Aldinga
BEV’S REMNANT HOUSE SUMMER HOURS Mon - Sat 10am - 4pm. 30 High St, Willunga.
FLY THE FLEURIEU
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO www.fly-the-fleurieu.com
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Taken an amazing photo on the Fleurieu lately? Tag us on Instagram and you could see your handiwork in print. Each issue we’ll choose an image to publish right here in the pages of FLM. @fleurieulivingmagazine This image ‘Life on the ocean’ capturing a jetski doing a 360° circle along a stretch of Aldinga Beach took some precise timing and patience above the water. By Todd Martin @todd_mart
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We believe in being yourself. We celebrate your differences. We embrace change.
We, like you, are one of a kind.
Let us design and make your space. SA’s Kitchen Designer of the year 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. spacecraftjoinery.com.au
Build your dream home – in your dream location | southcoastconstructions.com.au 37 Victoria Street, Victor Harbor, South Australia 5211 Telephone: 08 8552 4444 Email: admin@scconstruct.com.au When every detail matters ... Make sure you choose the right builder. We design and build award winning homes.