Fleurieu Living Magazine Winter 2022 by Fleurieu Living Pty Ltd

The AuntyAshtonEllen Trevorrow: Weaving cultural connection Healthy homes are no mirage Get your winter glow on Full circle: Reuse, recycle, re-cork AU WINTER$9.952022 Art · Design · Food · Wine · Fashion · Photography · People · Destinations FLEURIEU LIVING THE BEST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S FLEURIEU PENINSULA AND KANGAROO ISLAND

IslandBONUS ACCOMMODATION OFFERS BOOK NOW Call 13 13 01, visit sealink.com.au or see your travel agent Kangaroo Island has it allbeautiful beaches, iconic wildlife, award-winning cellar doors and distilleries, local produce, action packed activities and so much more! Book an accommodation package and receive a bonus offer - you could get a night’s accommodation free of charge, complimentary daily breakfast or a free ‘Under the Stars’ tour! Stay 3 nights for the price of 2!* *Conditions apply. Other offers available. See website for details.

Kangaroo

If like most of us, your body is feeling the chill, while your mind is dreaming of warm sunny days, now is the best time to start turning dreams into reality. Our display homes are open and waiting to show you they’re perfect for summer holidays in the Fleurieu. They’re designed to include generous living areas and expansive decking. Brilliant spaces for entertaining or just relaxing! Boutique wide-opening sliding doors and full-length windows provide easy access, wonderful coastal views and sunlight. We have a new range of 1 and 2 storey home designs, and one is waiting to be a special part of your lifestyle, year after year. Yes, today is a cool time to start planning for warm summers ahead.

Because winter is a cool time to plan for summer holidays... Sarah Homes today.

purposes only.

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Our display homes are located at Victor Harbor, Old Noarlunga, Mile End and Pooraka and 3 new displays now open at Murray Bridge. Visit our website for details. illustration

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Key Personnel

STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS

Holly Wyatt A self-described ‘city-escapee,’ Holly moved to the Fleurieu chasing wide-open spaces and the spoils of semi-rural life. Those spoils include a good coffee in the morning, a glass of wine in the evening and a bountiful supply of inspiration for her art, music and work.

Levi Deliveyne

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.

Levi is an undergraduate student at the University of South Australia, studying a Bachelor of Communications and Media. Levi has travelled around Australia in his van and overseas but always returns to the Fleurieu Peninsula where he grew up. Currently working as an intern at FLM, Levi is gaining experience in feature writing, photography and design, areas which he is passionate about. When Levi isn’t writing he’s out surfing, pouring coffees at Goodness Coffee Co, or serving drinks at festivals all over Adelaide. Hollie Connery When she was 19, Hollie hitched a ride from a pub in Darwin on a rickety racing yacht, sailing across the Arafura Sea to New Guinea, and from there she never really stopped. After over a decade at sea and traversing some of the world’s wildest places, Hollie has resurfaced back home on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula. With a diverse repertoire of experience in both creative and primary industries, her path travelled to date has allowed her to appreciate and search for pockets of people living life well, in connection to land, community and culture.

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.

FLM

Featured Contributors

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.

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ISSN PUBLISHING2200-4033EDITOR AND MANAGING DIRECTOR

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 forests and controlled sources using environmentally friendly vegetable-based inks.

Other contributing writers, photographers and stylists: Ryan Cantwell, Meg Carr, Luke Field, Poppy Fitzpatrick, Kelly Golding, Zoë Kassiotis, Mark Laurie, Sam Marchetti, Emma Masters, Francois Maritz, Izzy McMillan and Liza Reynolds.

Yvette Victoria Yvette channels her passion for makeup, beauty and supporting women to feel beautiful in their own skin into her work as a beauty therapist and makeup artist. After starting her first salon on Kangaroo Island, Yvette moved back to the city to work for a leading cosmetic company before opening YV

Pty Ltd unless otherwise stated.

Petra de GRAPHICpetra@fleurieuliving.com.auMooyDESIGNERAND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Beauty in Aldinga Beach – a beauty salon featuring her own makeup line and offering spa and beauty treatments, makeup workshops and 1:1 tutorials. After landing here with her young family, she now calls the Fleurieu her home.

Jason POPOSTALpetra@fleurieuliving.com.auPetraALLDigital:Print:SUBSCRIPTIONSWrapawayDISTRIBUTIONNewstylePRINTERhollie@fleurieuliving.com.auHollieholly@fleurieuliving.com.auHollyADVERTISINGKateEDITORjason@fleurieuliving.com.auPorterLeGallezSALESWyattConneryPrintisubscribe.com.auzinio.comENQUIRIESdeMooyADDRESSBox111,Aldinga,South Australia 5173.

FleurieuPUBLISHERLiving Magazine is published four times a year by Fleurieu Living Pty Ltd.

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SouthSouthCoastCoast

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 6 16 24 Contents COVERTheFEATUREAshton. FRONT COVER PHOTO by Jason Porter. ARTIST FEATURE Aunty Ellen Trevorrow: Weaving cultural connection, stitch by stitch. FOOD, WINE & SPIRITS 84 Uncorked: Racy, crunchy, brooding and velvety wines 96 Willunga Farmers Market Producer Profile: Starlight Springs 62 Lunch box biscuits – Not-so-naughty and really nice 92 Lovely Valley Truffles 28 Full Circle: Orbis Wines FACES & PLACES 60 Rachel McMillan of McMillan & Drew PENINSULA PEOPLE 70 Who we are: Rob Edwards, musician 74 Who we are: Lou Nicholson: An independent push 72 Who we are: Mia Stocks: Arts and cultural facilitator 88 Sabrina Davis: Our island sanctuary and home 94 Steed Carter: Return to Tatachilla THIS ISSUE HEALTH & WELLBEING 102 Cold water community

7 46 HOME FEATURE Healthy homes: It’s no mirage. ARTIST FEATURE Francois Maritz: An island love affair. FASHIONWinterFEATUREglow. BOOKS & WORDS 66 Winter book reviews from South Seas Books 50 BEING SOCIAL 112 Southern Surf Festival – Middleton 111 Out and about: My Victor WEDDING 108 Jared and April Wilson 5-6 February 2011 FESTIVALS & EVENTS 12 Diary dates to keep you busy this winter 106 Umbrella Festival 104 Wilderness Escape Outdoor Adventure 78 ART & DESIGN 32 Artist: Lesley Redgate 76 What’s on in the arts 42 Fleurieu fitouts: Anton Talladira 78 Francois Maritz: An island love affair 98 The home glow-up 36 Life in colour 86 Photo from a reader 110 Fly the Fleurieu

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.

Just like no two people are the same, no two homes built by Mirage are the same. We specialise in building homes unique to you, your lifestyle, your wants and needs. Where sustainability and design live in perfect harmony, to ensure you do. The result is the creation of unique personalised homes that reflect you and your dreams.

mirage-homes.com.au FLEURIEU PENINSULA DESIGN & BUILD CLIMATE RESPONSIVE HOMES Create Fleurieuyourhaven with a mirage.

DATES

Port Elliot Market Lakala Reserve, Port Elliot First and third Saturday of every month, 9am – 2pm

Willunga High School

Soak up the ambience and variety of wares both you and your dogs can enjoy.

Browse through an eclectic mix of wares ranging from secondhand tools to plants and crafts.

Winter Diary Dates

With baked goods, preserves, coffee, plants, seasonal produce and locally made arts and crafts, this market is a great place to experience Kangaroo Island wares.

Grosvenor Gardens, Victor Harbor Every Saturday, 8am – 12.30pm

Goolwa Wharf Market

Willunga Artisans and Handmade Market

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.

Kingscote Farmers & Artisan Market Kingscote Wharf, Kangaroo Island Second and fourth Sunday of each month, 10am – 2pm

Meadows Market Meadows Memorial Hall Second Sunday of every month, mornings until 1pm

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.

Browse a range of stalls, including art, books, ceramics, toys, records and collectables. There’s also a variety of local food choices including baked goods and plants.

A quaint, country-style market with bric-a-brac, local produce and condiments, crafts, plants, jewelry and much more.

Yankalilla Craft and Produce Market Agricultural Hall, Yankalilla Third Saturday of every month, 9am – 1pm This lesser-known market is a surprising gem offering homemade jams and preserves, delicious sweet treats, locally grown fruits and vegetables, plus craftwork, trinkets and unique gifts.

Hosting a variety of local stalls offering baked goods, hair accessories, art and crafts, cards, candles, jewellery, photography and much more.

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 a unique, handmade gift made from high quality materials.

DIARY

A market focused on promoting community. Returning after Covid closure in 2020, the Meadows Market has something for everyone including plants, food, bric-a-brac and much more.

Adjacent to the Willunga Oval Second Saturday of each month, 9am – 1pm

Strathalbyn Markets High Street, Strathalbyn Third Sunday of every month, 8am – 3pm

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 community atmosphere every week.

Willunga Farmers Market

MARKETS:

Goolwa Wharf First and third Sunday of every month, 9am – 3pm

Moana Market Pioneers Hall, Moana Second Sunday of each month, 9am – 1.30pm

Myponga Markets Old Myponga Cheese Factory Saturdays, Sundays and most public holidays, 9.30am – 4pm

A classic country market with plenty of fresh local produce, plants, bric-a-brac, books, fishing gear, and even a two-dollar stall.

Willunga Quarry Market

Victor Harbor Farmers Market

Julie Schofield displays a series of coastal landscape paintings titled ‘Coastal Elements’ and the textiles market ‘Beanies to Berets’ will be held on June 25. >

Adelaide Hills Chamber Players – 2022 Winter Music Festival Centenary Hall, Goolwa 15 June, 7.30pm A delightful program suited to fine-music lovers of all ages.

Yankalilla Show Grounds

Third Saturday of each month, 7 – 11pm

215 Douglas Gully Road, McLaren Flat 11 – 13 June

Left: Enjoy a song and dance spectacular bringing together the extraordinary talents of the legendary Gene Kelly and Judy Garland at Gene & Judy, Centenary Hall, Goolwa on 19 June.

Exhibitions at the Onkaparinga Arts Centre Old Institute Building, Port Noarlunga Check the website for various events throughout winter Various exhibitions will feature on the walls of Port Nourlunga’s old institute building including, ‘The Art of Reconciliation’, an exhibition of portraiture, photography and digital storytelling by eight Aboriginal people paired with eight non-Aboriginal artists. Each pairing results in a unique representation of individual stories, exploring the themes of Aboriginal identity and reconciliation.

Bookings via www.adelaidehillschamberplayers.com Day Dance Simon Hackett Winery, Paxton Winery, Coriole Winery and Woodstock Winery 12 June, 10.30am – 5pm A collaboration between Simon Hackett, Woodstock and the newly added Paxton and Coriole wineries, Daydance is offering four uniquely different tours. Four different itineraries lead you on four potential different paths between the wineries but all involve getting your feet moving to multiple sets of live music and DJs.

Part of the Yankalilla District Community Cultural Arts Network Incorporate, featuring folk, blues, roots, country and more! The acoustic music rule is: if the power stops, the music doesn’t. Instruments must be playable without electricity. Entry is by gold coin donation per person. Free camping is available. Bring your own drinks and nibbles.

For the June long weekend, Woodstock are hosting three full days of food, wine and live music, complete with an all-weather outdoor dance floor! Woodstock’s new head chef and kitchen team will be preparing the food using local and kitchen garden produce, including curries, flammekueche and spiced squid. Wines by Woodstock, including some cellar door exclusives and back vintages, plus local beers and gin. Visit woodstockwine.com.au for tickets and times.

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS:

JUNE Dark Disco De Groot Coffee, Factory 9, Port Elliot 11 June, 6pm – late (Y)our disco needs YOU…! It needs you to have fun while raising funds for the Flinders Medical Centre Neonatal Unit. Disco theme dress up is recommended (and strongly encouraged!) Tickets available at events.humanitix.com/darkdisco

June Long Weekend at Woodstock Winery

Yankalilla Acoustic Evening

Gene & Judy Centenary Hall, Goolwa 19 June, 2pm Enjoy a song and dance spectacular bringing together the extraordinary talents of the legendary Gene Kelly and Judy Garland in a spellbinding concert paying tribute to these magnificent stars of the golden age of musicals. Bookings via events.alexandrina.com.au

Town Hall and High Street, Strathalbyn 20 August, 10am – 5pm, 21 August, 10am – 4pm This event showcases a wide variety of stall holders and their treasures. Find antiques, glassware, furniture, textiles, ceramics, toys and more at the Town Hall and other venues across the weekend. With a giant treasure market at the Showgrounds Oval on Sunday, there’s all sorts of bargains to be found!

AUGUST SALA Festival

Oliver’s Taranga Porchetta Party 246 Seaview Road, McLaren Vale 31 July, 12 – 4pm Enjoy a four-course Italian-style lunch, with wine and porchetta pairings. $150pp all inclusive, bookings via the Oliver’s Taranga website. Willunga Almond Blossom Festival Willunga Recreation Park 30 July, 11am – 9pm and 31 July, 10am – 4pm Enjoy rides, games and more during the day, then settle in for the Fleurieu’s oldest fireworks display under the stars from 7pm on Saturday night. Fill up on a delicious range of food and sample local wine and beer. Whether you want to indulge in some classic ‘carnie’ grub, wood-fired pizza, burgers, simple healthy snacks or Asian dishes, this festival has it all. Adults: $10; Concession/Students: $5; Family Pass (up to 4 children): $25; Children under 5: free entry.

The SALA Festival is the largest and most innovative communitybased, visual arts festival in Australia. Thousands of artists exhibit in hundreds of venues throughout metropolitan and regional South Australia, and you can immerse yourself in their talent at a range of Fleurieu events. Check the website for details and page 58 of the program for details of all the Fleurieu-based events. salafestival.com

See our special feature arts listing on page 76. Various venues across the Fleurieu and SA 1 – 31 August

Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa 4 June – 4 July A print-based exhibition curated by Bittondi Printmakers. The Bigger Picture is a South Australian perspective on the Overwintering Project, an Australia-wide series of exhibitions and regional activities that celebrate the miraculous journeys of migratory shore birds.

Below: Peninsula Providore Plated Provenance Long Lunch last year. This event will again be part of the Fleurieu Food Festival from 1 – 31 August.

Fleurieu Ruah South Coast Regional Arts Centre, Goolwa 18 – 24 July Fleurieu Ruah explores the ghosting of landscapes with the instability of memory, and the use of painting and drawing to harness those qualities to particular places. Enquiries: jaw@alexandrina.sa.gov.au

The Fleurieu Food Festival aims to showcase the breadth and depth of food and beverage producers and food businesses on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Experience fine dining in vineyards or olive groves, foraging experiences, farm tours and presentations or cooking classes. Visit the multi-award-winning Willunga Farmers Market for special presentations throughout the month, or to bump shoulders with the farmers that bring you their fabulous produce year round. There’s something for fleurieufood.com.au/festivaleveryone.

Oliver’s Taranga Paella Party 246 Seaview Rd, McLaren Vale 26 June, 12 – 4pm Enjoy a four-course Spanish-style lunch, including paella matched with Oliver’s Taranga wines. $150pp all inclusive, bookings via the Oliver’s Taranga website.

The Overwintering Project – The Bigger Picture

JULY Adelaide Guitar Festival – Kangaroo Island The Shearing Shed, Eleanor Downs 17 AfterJulyhuge success in 2021, the Adelaide Guitar Festival on the Road is coming back to Kangaroo Island in 2022 – this time to The Shearing Shed at Eleanor Downs.

Fleurieu Food Festival 1 – 31 August

Strathalbyn Antique Fair and Treasure Market

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

16Sitting in the outdoor entertaining area of The Ashton – South Coast Constructions’ (SCC) latest display home – on a perfect autumn afternoon, one can easily understand why the home sold before SCC had even finished building it.

Story by Petra de Mooy. Photography by Jason Porter Styling by Liza Reynolds.

The Ashton

When a decent-sized block on the outer edges of the Beyond Today development at Hayborough came up for sale last year, SCC building designer Matt Parker saw a good opportunity to build a modern home that would take full advantage of the orientation and semi-rural setting.

It was also a chance to realise the Scandinavian barn-style home Matt had first envisioned over five years ago. And so, the company set about purchasing the land and began planning The Ashton. SCC works with a lot of clients looking to build holiday homes on the Fleurieu. ‘They really want the outside and inside spaces to be connected, and they want the kitchen as the heart of the home so that it opens up to both the living space and outdoor space,’ explains Matt. ‘So that it can be used all year around.’

One of the biggest investments a builder can make, and one of their most effective marketing tools, is building a display or ‘spec’ home. It comes at significant cost in both time and money, but it gives the builder the opportunity to flex their design skills and to showcase the quality of their finishes. ‘For clients, before they sign up with us, they want to touch, feel, have a look through and see the quality and what we are capable of,’ says SCC Managing Director Jamie Knott. ‘You wouldn’t typically build a display home with the property market being as hot as it is, but our display homes are a huge help to get projects over the line.’

All of these features are maximised in The Ashton. A pared-back kitchen design is absolutely the beating heart of this spacious home, with the main storage space hidden discreetly away in an extra-large butler’s pantry. Large benchtops offer a luxurious surface area for food preparation as well as views through glazed sliding doors to the outdoor living area and beyond to the hills.

Both living areas open out to a sheltered outdoor entertainment area with salvaged wood decking adding character and warmth. The orientation is due north allowing the winter sun to stream in, while an outdoor fireplace will warm up those chilly nights. In summer, the

The18 adjacent living and dining areas are lofty spaces with expansive double-glazed windows and the French-lay travertine floors throughout give a luxe finish. Beyond the generous entrance hallway, the master bedroom suite completes the home’s main pavilion. A second pavilion includes two more bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry, as well as an additional living area boasting a wine store room. A perfect space to enjoy sharing a drink and good times with family and friends.

The Beyond development encourages sustainability at all levels of the design and build process, so selections have been made taking into account their beauty and utility as well as their eco-credentials. The Ashton highlights this approach through the use of recycled decking and spotted gum from responsibly managed forests on the exterior eaves. Local company, and long-time SCC collaborators, Innovative Kitchens were tasked with the exterior kitchen design as well as the main kitchen, the bathrooms and all of the built-in cabinetry. Their selections enhance the home’s sustainability profile

Above: The Ashton display home at the Beyond Development. Bottom left: The perpetual fountain at the entryway. Right: Metal sculptures by Blue Temper Ironworks are filled with neptune balls gathered on the shores of local beaches.

Vergola shade system will shield the sun’s harshest rays. Recycled red bricks on the exterior paved areas complement the native plantings and decking.

Top: The large open plan living / dining and kitchen areas open to two outdoor seating areas. Above left: The impressive wine store room. Above right: For the duration of the display home being open, artwork from the Strand Gallery will be on permanent display. In this image – three paintings by artist and Fleurieu local, John Lacey.

As the building was taking shape, Matt and Jamie were surprised (or perhaps not surprised?) when the home sold before the building was complete. The new owners were happy with the selections made >

The project offered SCC and each of their collaborators the opportunity to explore beautiful materials. ‘The high quality finish of SCC homes makes us proud to have played a part in building with them for decades,’ says Tayla from Innovative Kitchens. ‘A lot of time and effort was put into making sure the joinery in the display home was just right, as would be the case with all aspects of an SCC job – and it has been so worthwhile. The use of texture, natural timbers, lighting and curated features make the space warm and inviting and will provide inspiration for many visitors.’

– even the benchtops, which are often made from unsustainable materials, have been chosen with care from Cosentino, a company that’s making great progress in sustainability and the use of recycled materials, including through their carbon-neutral Dekton surfaces. American oak natural timber features in both the kitchen and bathrooms, offering continuity throughout the overall design. The ‘his and hers’ walk-in closet in the main bedroom suite is a clothes hoarder’s dream, with a mirror and dressing table to make the room more than just storage. Cabinets fill the walls all the way to the ceiling (three metres high!) to make use of all the available space as well as creating a feeling of grandeur and scale.

Page left: The sleek, functional kitchen in American oak complemented by greys and blacks, was designed and fabricated by Innovative Kitchens. Above: The en suite bathroom with its’ freestanding bath and textured feature tiles, pendant lights and natural light. Sweet dreams are made of this.

Another agreement with the new owners was that SCC would still get to realise the plan to open The Ashton as a display home for at least six months. The home is now open to visitors, complete with furnishings and artwork.

‘It was an opportunity to present my work in a well-lit domestic setting very much like that in which many of my paintings are destined to be hung. Sonya Hender from the Strand Galley had asked if I could produce work with a Fleurieu flavour and fortunately I had a number of pieces nearing completion which would meet >

SCC collaborated with the Strand Gallery Port Elliot to curate the artworks for the space during its display home phase. The Strand’s Sonya and Ron approached long-time Fleurieu artist John Lacey about supplying the paintings, considering the luxe home’s light-filled interiors would offer a perfect backdrop for John’s abstract landscapes.

21 by SCC and they love the design and location, which offers access to the beach via a tunnel under the main road, as well as walking trails and close proximity to Port Elliot. They were happy to put their trust in SCC to finish it to the teams’ specifications. ‘They loved it straight away. They were just wonderful, really. They did their research though – checked out our work and talked to some past clients so they didn’t come in blind – they knew a lot about us,’ says Jamie.

‘The use of texture, natural timbers, lighting and curated features make the space warm and inviting and will provide inspiration for many visitors.’

brief and I could retrieve some paintings from interstate galleries which were of a palette that would be consistent with this work and enhance the walls of this home,’ says John. ‘Bringing these together in my Mount Compass studio I was able to select the right works for each of the walls we had looked at. The paintings stand alone and have not had to consider furnishings and décor. Size, shape and colour, however, all needed to be considered in order to choose the best work for each location.’ Ron Langman’s black and white landscape photographs are also on display in the bedrooms and artist Jane Smeets has a wonderful painting of galahs in the dining area. For the exterior, SCC commissioned Chris Murphy of Blue Temper Ironworks to create sculptures in rusted steel filled with neptune balls (a uniquely Middleton beach find). The sculptures are positioned at the front and back of the entryways to create visual interest and draw the eye out along the north-south orientation of the large entryway. The exterior entry space is finished with a beautiful perpetually moving fountain flowing over river stones. It’s a moving welcome to a wellmade home.

this22

Top:The master bedroom with it’s plush wool rug, decorative wallpaper and views of the hills to the north. Photography by Ron Langman on the wall depicts nearby Horseshoe Bay. Above left: A window seat in the master bedroom with views to the hills. Above right: The mezzanine gives a bird’s eye view of the landscape and provides a great little reading retreat or office. Note: Many of the pillows, throws and accessories were sourced form Living by Design in Victor Harbor.

Weaving Story by Emma Masters.

cultural connection, stitch by stitch

The percentage of non-Aboriginals that’ve been here is big, and there’s all different cultures that have come through here, and they’re carrying their culture to us as well. It created work for our community. It was good.’

After three decades of successful operation, Camp Coorong was forced to close in 2017 due to a lack of funding. However, Aunty Ellen along with family, friends and the backing of some business groups are working to get it back up and running again. ‘We just want to keep it going and especially with our young ones, that we’re leaving something behind for them,’ she says. ‘It was a big change emotionally and an obstacle in my way, but it didn’t stop me from weaving, so that healed me and continues to heal me.’ >

For renowned Ngarrindjeri artist and Elder Ellen Trevorrow, the intricate weaving of dried, freshwater rushes collected from around the Coorong isn’t just about making beautiful, sculptural pieces she exhibits in galleries around the globe. To the woman known by most as Aunty Ellen, it’s also about sharing her knowledge of the ancient practice and passing it on to younger generations.

‘It was very, very important that Aunty Dorrie revived the weaving. So to have it going again was brilliant and from that day on I really thank her for bringing that back to us. From then it became my main aim in life to keep it going.’ And Aunty Ellen wasted no time. Within a year of the seminal workshop, she and her sister began teaching weaving to students at the local Meningie Area School. By 1986, a family group including Ellen’s husband, Ngarrindjeri leader Tom Trevorrow, had established a place they called Camp Coorong, where people could gather to listen and learn about local culture and heritage. They also built a museum to hold important artifacts, photos and stories.

‘We’ve had big groups through here and then you also see the young ones bringing their family back when they visit the area.

Learning how to weave in her late twenties was an experience that changed Ellen’s life and mission. ‘I was taught to weave by Elder Aunty Dorrie Kartinyeri at a special workshop back in 1982,’ Aunty Ellen says. ‘I’d watched my grandmother weave until I was eleven and then came to live at the Coorong fringe camp here, so from eleven to twenty-seven years old, that’s the time that weaving wasn’t around.’

‘That’s what Camp Coorong was all about – sharing and bringing people together,’ Aunty Ellen explains as we sit in the main camp hall. ‘We’d always work weekends with the uni groups and have full schools during the week.’

‘That one went from my kitchen into my lounge room, so I ate and slept and everything around it,’ she says. ‘It was a ten to thirteen hour a day job for a long time, a lot of commitment. One day I’m watching my son working on it and I’m thinking to myself, am I gonna be able to finish this in time? It is huge. Both my sliding doors had to come off to get it out of the house.’

Aunty Ellen says her work has always involved her children and family, from her earlier years to current times. ‘It’s my healing, it’s my therapy and I do a lot of thinking, and I’ve always got children around me,’ she says. ‘They always like when I’m weaving, they’ll come and pick up the piece and do some weaving themselves if I put it down. And so I leave them in that part of the piece that I’ve been working on.

In recent years, Aunty Ellen, her family and longtime friend and artistic colleague Dr Jelina Haines have undertaken weaving projects that have grown in size and scale. In 2018 they created and exhibited a woven sculpture of kondoli, a four-metre long whale that’s an important Ngarrindjeri ngartji, or totem. ‘A lot of freshwater rushes went into that kondoli,’ she tells me with a smile. ‘It was in the South Australian Maritime Museum first, but now it’s gone to the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre, France. And we’ve got another kondoli in the South Australian Museum and that one’s diving from the second to the first floor.’ Aunty Ellen has also created a monster-sized Murray cod, or pondi, which is Aunty Ellen’s totem and another important ngartji to the Ngarrindjeri. The five-metre long fish, which spans four-metres in width, will be on display in the South Australian Maritime Museum from June this year.

‘We’re letting them know that they’re a part of that, they’ve had their hands on this weaving, that they’ve touched it, and we’re keeping it going within them. When you’re weaving, you’re creating. Stitch by stitch you’re making a connection. So there’s that connection and it’s bringing people together.’

Top: Aunty Ellen at Camp Coorong holding an early weaving work. Above left: Ngarrindjeri woven sister basket and carry basket, by Ellen Trevorrow, 2017.

Note: All artworks are collaborative pieces, with Aunty Ellen as the senior cultural weaver, Dr Jelina Haines, who is taught by Aunty Ellen’s knowledge of Ngarrindjeri weaving/cultural stories, Bruce Trevorrow, who makes the metal framework, and family and friends who added their stitches onto the woven work.

Photo: Johanis Lyons-Reid . ©2022 Change Media. Above right: Nanggi (sun) yailparar (rays) lakun (weaving) created as a collaborative artwork between Dr Jelina Haines, Aunty Millie Rigney and Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, commissioned by the Uniting Communities with support from Guildhouse.

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Story by Megan Carr by Jason Porter

Lauren has been busy working in organic and biodynamic wineries and vineyards for the past fifteen years throughout Australia and New Zealand. A passionate Kiwi, she cares deeply about creating good wine using regenerative practices. It made her a natural fit with earthfriendly Orbis Wines. Orbis is relatively new to the wine world. The winery was founded in 2018 by Brad Moyes and Kendall Grey, who dreamed of an off-grid workspace built on sustainability and self sufficiency. Their logo, a circular snake eating its tail – the ouroboros – was used in ancient Egyptian times to symbolise life and rebirth. ‘For us, it’s a part of our sustainability goals. We’re a closed circle not impacting on others, working within our circle,’ Lauren explains. As we trek into the crisp vineyard, Ernie, a spunky black lab, chews my hand affectionately, only too happy for the company on this quiet autumn day. Ahead, the road is lined by raw timber end posts that vary in shape and size, salvaged from a nearby woodlot of diseased trees. Some have been milled to create shelters and structures within the winery, and others used to replace the standard treated pine end posts. ‘Treated posts use arsenic as one of the ingredients, that’s why things don’t eat it, and there’s research into the leaching of that,’ says Lauren. They’ve been replacing the arsenic-laced posts, but there’s still the issue of what to do with them after removal as you can’t burn them or take them to the dump. ‘It’s a huge problem,’ Lauren trails off, the solution remaining elusive. >

Lauren Langfield bustles outside to greet me as I step out into the peaceful car park at Orbis. She’s dressed in the trademark winemaker’s uniform of work boots, jeans and a wool jumper. Her blonde hair is down and she appears surprisingly relaxed, considering they have only just completed a busy vintage. It’s mid-April and entering the co-op winery is a squeeze. Barrels are stacked tightly behind the door and seem to be occupying every nook of the small space, apart from Lauren’s ‘office’: a trestle table-cumdesk stationed among wine equipment and a solitary laptop. Not that she spends much time there. Being head winemaker at Orbis while running her eponymous wine label Lauren Langfield doesn’t leave much time to sit down.

There’s a picture postcard quality to the view out over McLaren Vale’s Orbis Wines. The rolling vineyard is lush and alive with activity, the vine leaves still clinging to their stems ahead of the autumn drop. There’s a living soundtrack of buzzing bees and magpies chattering. Ahead, a flock of sheep roam the green pasture and chickens tenaciously scratch for insects. The air feels crisp and cool, and the musky smell of earth fills your nose.

Page left: Two of the Orbis Wines sheep hard at work. Above: A birdseye view of Orbis Wines’ vineyards.

Top left: Lauren Langfield in her element. Top right: Helpful vineyard pup Ernie. Above: Wood salvaged from a nearby woodlot of diseased trees are used to create shelters and structures within the winery as well as replace the standard treated pine end posts.

‘They’re really good at turning soil and getting into the weeds,’ Lauren explains. ‘And they love to eat snails.’ Snails are also a constant problem, and ducks will form the main line of defence once an exclusion fence is built to keep pesky foxes and kangaroos out.

This30 timber supports the 26 hectares under vine. Shiraz predominates but the plantings include many emerging varietals chosen for their heat and drought tolerance, such as cinsault, albariño and trousseau.

‘Which makes it fun for making wine, but also, other wineries we sell to want other varieties as well,’ Lauren tells me.

Lauren walks briskly, peering under the tall rows searching for the resident babydoll sheep. The staff have begun to train the vine cordons higher, eventually allowing the miniature sheep to graze year-round without damaging the fruit. Their voracious appetites keep down the weeds, reducing the need for tractors and ultimately avoiding soil compaction, while their excretions add nitrogen, carbon and good bacteria back into the soil.

Another point of difference among bottles of Orbis wine is – they’re bottled under cork. It’s a curious move considering the shift towards screw caps, favoured for their ability to reduce the risk of cork taint and oxidation. ‘Aluminum screw caps are great, but people can’t cut the necks off them, so it goes to the recycling, and if it’s still on there, the end process is that it can’t be recycled,’ Lauren explains. Cork – a naturally made product – also sequesters carbon when reintroduced to the soil, with the added bonus of helping to keep the bottles from landfill. Recycling as much farm waste as possible back into the earth is an essential component of regenerative agriculture. Next to the car park, a henhouse is filled with grape marc (the leftover skins, stalks and seeds from winemaking). Chooks cluck and scratch at the ground.

There are thirteen sheep in total, with a breeding trial underway to hopefully augment the population. A ram watches us with trepidation – he’s been chosen to sire based on his shorter stature and is fastened with a chalk-filled chest harness. Three ewes are sporting red spots on their backsides, a telltale sign the stud has been doing his part, with hopefully many baby lambs born into the pasture this spring. These types of sustainable farming measures align Orbis with many other growers in the region, with McLaren Vale boasting the highest percentage (38%) of certified biodynamic and organic vineyards in Australia. ‘There’s a lot of like-minded people,’ Lauren says. As much as Lauren loves contributing to the planet’s health, she also loves the finished result. ‘You feel healthy, and you like to drink the product you’re making,’ she says, her enthusiasm contagious. ‘It’s about actually enjoying the wines you’re making and getting involved in.’

A love for the landscape

Story by Petra de Mooy

‘It’s always been a bit of a juggle working and making a living as an artist, so it wasn’t until 2014 that I made that big step of stopping > Page left: Wheatbin Salute. Above: Twilight on Justs Farm.

In the late 1970s and early 80s, Lesley began participating in both group and solo exhibitions. An early career acquisition into the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria was a highlight for the young artist. While holding down a job teaching art in public schools and later at TAFE, Lesley managed to raise her children while continuing her art practice participating in numerous exhibitions.

Born in London, Lesley moved to South Australia in the late 1960s and later began her painting career at the South Australian School of Art. After graduating in 1976, she developed relationships with some formidable South Australian painters. ‘I was very fortunate to have painted plein air with Geoff Wilson, David Dridan and Dave Dallwitz and I learned a lot,’ she says, grateful both for their shared friendship and the time spent in common purpose. Lesley also cites early Australian artists like Dorrit Black, Grace Crowley and Grace Cossington Smith as influences. ‘When I visit the art gallery I always go to the room that houses their paintings,’ she says.

We arrive at Lesley Redgate’s home studio in Willunga on a crisp autumn morning. I always enjoy the sense of discovery when visiting a new property, and Lesley’s State Heritage-listed, two-storey miner’s cottage is a real treat. Over the thirty-five plus years that Lesley has lived there, she’s carefully restored the home and created a beautiful garden that she now tends with her partner Rob. The garden is resplendent with fruit trees, native plants and hardy cottage-garden plants growing side-byside, winding around and down to her purpose-built, rammed-earth studio at the back of the property.

Inside, the studio is unmistakably an artist’s domain. The space is full of Lesley’s original artworks, found objects, ephemera, brushes, and a work-in-progress. With a small kitchen, large work table and potbelly stove, it’s a comforting and inspiring space for Lesley to paint and teach in.

She revisits the same location time and time again, taking photos in different light and during different seasons. She appreciates and observes the way light plays with the colours and shapes of the landscape: a pink cloud, sweet light on the side of a shed, the golden hills of summer giving way to the greener landscapes of winter.

‘There is a connection,’ she says. ‘You see the seasons and you see the place changing over time and even when you’re driving around, suddenly the light shines on something or the fresh rain brings up the grass and you think, ‘wow, that looks good!’ and there will be a painting in that.’

Top left: Hillside, Kay Bros. Top right: Rogers Road Barns. Above left: Artist Lesley Redgate at work in her studio. Above right: Half Light Second Valley.

34work in education,’ Lesley explains. She continues to enjoy the social connection and gratification of teaching via a small group of adults she instructs weekly in her studio which is ‘perfect’. She’s never looked Lesley’sback.landscapes are still and peaceful – depicting the evolving seasonal change. ‘It’s about both history and the present and the patterns in the landscape that change over time,’ she says. This diligent observation connects Lesley to where she lives and she finds the process relaxing. When we meet, she’s busy producing work for three upcoming exhibitions during SALA this August and September – a solo show at the Stationmaster’s Gallery in Strathalbyn and a group show at the Port Noarlunga Arts Centre. She will also have her studio open on Saturdays throughout the festival. Though Lesley does do a bit of portraiture, landscapes are her preferred subject matter. She travels the back roads, stopping to take photos of sheds, pastoral lands dotted with sheep and cows, farming machinery, a rural vista or a beachscape. ‘I spend a lot of time planning a painting before I start,’ she says, pouring time and thought into composition, colour and design.

Lesley paints the landscapes she lives in and it’s a delight to see her renderings of recognisable Fleurieu landscapes.

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Life in colour

Colour can be used in interior design in almost as many ways as there are shades of blue. A stripped back neutral interior with pops of colour introduced through chosen artworks can draw the eye. The natural austerity of stone, wood and metal can be warmed up with rich-hued fabrics. Or a designer may choose a subtle palette, consciously creating a serene space with little visual contrast to make a spectacular view the hero of the room. Colours can affect mood, cognitive function or productivity. They can make a bold statement or whisper softly. In this feature, we look at how South Australian designers are using colour for inspiring visual effect.

SpaceCraft have always positioned themselves as doing things a bit differently, pushing boundaries and having a design language that appeals to their clientele who they say are often creatives themselves. All of this shines through in all of the details of their new office, workshop and soon-to-be showroom and we say congratulations on this new step up for your business. >

Page left: The recently completed office of Nathan and Ellen Wundersitz at their new workshop / showrooms in Strathalbyn showcases their beautiful use of colour, design and detailing. Above: The office bathroom in red, pink and rust tones is super stylish and fun.

Ellen and her husband and co-owner Nathan have finished their new office in a beautiful, warm tone of sage green accented by an American walnut desk, the timber carried through into the shelving and handles. The unique detailing on the corners of the doors adds another subtle flourish. This is where SpaceCraft shines – in the craftsmanship, details and unique design elements. And how it all marries together through their use of colour. The office bathroom is beautiful in red tones of burgundy and rust, complemented by blackwood. ‘It was kind of a combination of tiles that work well together and the paint choices kind of followed,’ says Ellen. ‘But at the same time it was about making it fun.’ The soft light through the frosted glass of the pendant light gives an inviting glow and the tiles are just that – fun.

Co-owner Ellen Wundersitz and designer Bre Tarca cheerily greet us in the unfinished but undeniably grand entrance to their new offices adjacent to the workshop. The detailing in the ceilings and polished concrete floors promise good things as the stage for their new kitchen showroom – still a work in progress.

Earlier this year, we popped past the new home of designer and maker SpaceCraft Joinery in Strathalbyn. The curlicued letters spelling out their name spread across the sliding doors of their new big, black shed space which, when finished, will incorporate their offices, a large state-of-the-art workshop and showroom.

SpaceCraft

Hillenvale

At the junction of the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale lies Hillenvale, the 1859 coach house that now offers boutique accommodation. The modernised interiors have been beautifully and carefully curated to ensure the cottage retains all of its nineteenth-century charm. The design brief for the interiors, realised by Kate Harry of Fabrikate, had one simple directive: to honour the building and the surroundings and create a ‘beautiful destination’ for guests. Kate says, ‘true to Fabrikate and our palette of choice – nature – we were inspired by and wanted to work with the soft hues of the sweeping valley views and open skies that are endless from the windows of the coach house. There is definitely a sense of connection to the setting of the Kangarilla Valley.’ In the kitchen, a soft palette of greens and blues are complemented by oak furniture and whitewashed floorboards. In the living room, Kate and her team chose darker, more dramatic colours creating a cocoon-like vibe for the fireside reading space (possibly accompanied by a lovely local red too!) Hillenvale can be booked by guests seeking seclusion and intimacy in a 100-acre setting.

Page left and above: The boutique accommodation at Hillenvale offers a stylish home-away-from-home setting. A great place to relax with a bottle of red wine and fireside chat. Photos by Jonathan VDK.

Above: Danielle Williams of Pyramid Hill Interiors fell in love with this mustard hue and used it at home in the master bedroom and her daughter’s room. The soft furnishings and decorative elements are offset beautifully with this backdrop and the splendid rural setting.

40 Pyramid Hill Interiors Danielle Williams is the creative mind behind Fleurieu Peninsula-based interior design, styling and decorating business, Pyramid Hill Interiors.

Danielle’s clients are attracted to the eclecticism of her style –marrying vintage treasures such as family heirlooms with modern and minimal finishes. Her Instagram page shows an individual aesthetic that doesn’t shy away from the colourful and the bold for her interior

inspiration. Not to mention an appreciation for well-designed women’s shoes in a similar style. Following a philosophy of all or nothing, Danielle aims for saturation of colour and layering, which she says is reflected in her own home. She loves gathering eclectic pieces often from local labels, including wall art and ceramics. Pictured here is Danielle’s own bedroom, which makes her prized Amy Wright original artwork a focal point, while her daughter’s room was designed around her love for mustard hues. Danielle’s room hangs in the balance of bright and colourful, yet warm and comforting, while the bathroom is a pared-back whiteon-white with an unexpected hit of peach in the grouting and vibrant, angular colour courtesy of LEGO® flowers made by Danielle and her daughter.

Challenged with meeting a variety of aesthetic briefs, Danielle draws on natural colours, textures, and the landscape surrounding each property for her inspiration. Her latest project, renovating an Adelaide Hills kitchen, exemplifies her approach with sage green cabinetry and natural stone bench tops incorporating the colours which surround the house, effectively bringing the outside in.

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Story by Levi Deliveyne Photography by Connor Gurr

Fleurieu Fitouts

There’s no doubt the Fleurieu Peninsula is seeing more vans on its roads, some sticking to the slow lane, others testing people’s patience.

Come summer, beach car parks fill up with these vans. Their number plates herald their arrival from across the country, while a glance inside shows they’re fitted out for the journey, with a bed or kitchen secreted inside.

The space exhibits a unique aesthetic – a duality of form and function that’s both an extension of Anton and a memorial to what came before him.

Forced to take a mandatory break from overseas travel for the last couple of years, many have found new joy in travelling their own backyard, feeding their wanderlust by driving their accommodation around Australia. A sharp turn off Main South Road only a few minutes out of the Aldinga township led me to Anton Talladira, the 21-year-old craftsman behind Fleurieu Fit Outs. Working out of an old heritage-listed olive and almond processing barn from 1853, Anton offers bespoke, custom fitouts for cars and vans, gearing people up to travel around Australia in style. I caught Anton while he was painting the interior wood panelling of a bright red Ford Transit van, its intensity juxtaposed against the surrounding autumn colours. Next to his client’s car was his own, a

Page left: Anton Talladira in his workshop, a transformed historic almond processing barn. Above: Anton will soon be reworking his 1981 HJ47 troop carrier with a pop-top, kitchenette and sleeping quarters with dreams of shipping it to Spain to travel freely around their coastal areas.

spectacular mustard-coloured HJ47 1981 troop carrier. Naturally, I didn’t know where to look first but I opted for a look inside the barn while he finished painting. He assures me the barn didn’t always look the way it does now, having apparently been claimed by the local birdlife for their toilet. ‘They didn’t even live here, they just crapped here,’ Anton adds. Having made way for all his tools and materials, the only thing to remain in the barn is an old almond processing machine, which is simply too heavy to remove. Anton’s work is now injecting new life into the heritage-listed building, paying homage to its history as a place of hands-on work and reimagining its value for a new clientele.

On one side of the barn hangs a surfboard, another object crafted by Anton’s own hands. Hanging, as it does, in two pieces, the board serves as a reminder of a long and unconventional paddle back into shore. On the other side sits the car seats of an old Datsun, repurposed as a couch. The entire workshop is filled with light entering from the opening at the top of the building, the beams dancing off the miscellaneous bits of fencing wedged there to keep the birds out. The space exhibits a unique aesthetic – a duality of form and function that’s both an extension of Anton and a memorial to what came before him. Perhaps the pleasing aesthetic of the place can simply be credited to Anton’s minimal disturbance to the building’s beautiful original state. Or maybe it’s got something to do with the golden sandstone walls and Anton’s matching curls. >

Anton has done six uniquely different fitouts, including a couple of Toyota HiAce vans, a Commuter, a Volkswagen T4 and a ridiculously stylish Troopy called Zeus. Talking to Anton, it’s quickly evident that he doesn’t cut corners and attention to detail and quality materials are at the forefront of his work. I see echoes of Scandinavian design in his use of timber and the clean white lines of his built-in cabinetry. Perhaps it isn’t Scandinavian though, but rather a new wave of Fleurieu design. Afterall, his finished work seems to fit in so perfectly on this coastline, the natural tones reminiscent of the peninsula and the lifestyle enjoyed by so many who call it home. Without knowing Anton, you might presume he has a pretty impressive set-up himself – which he did, up until recently anyway. He has parted ways with his 96 Volkswagen T4 van to focus on his new Troop Carrier.

Anton’s travel locations are dictated by where the surf consistently breaks. And as many Fleurieu surfers can attest, after surfing waves along Australia’s eastern and western coastlines, the offerings of the mid coast upon return can make you plan your next trip without delay.

One44 look at Anton’s work on his Instagram page answers the question of why people come to him for business, but I asked him anyway. In response, he mentions the South Australian Tourism Commission’s recent push to get people to travel around South Australia. But perhaps more important is the newly discovered (or rediscovered) balance of comfort and movability offered by the humble converted car in contrast to its slightly frumpier cousins, the motorhome or camper trailer.

With this comes the motivation to do the next trip better than the one that came before. With a Fleurieu Fit Out on board, you can be sure your next trip will be more comfortable and stylish than your last, no matter what you seek in your travels.

He’s setting the bar even higher for this new project both in its physical fitout and the adventures it will enable. Anton talks of installing a poptop, which would allow him to stand up inside and harbours ambitions of shipping it to Spain and travelling Europe’s coastlines.

To contact Anton, head over to his website fleurieufitouts.com, message him on his Instagram @fleurieu.fitouts or catch him cruising around in his troopy. I guarantee you won’t see another like it and if there’s a Hungarian Vizsla puppy on the passenger seat you can be sure it’s him.

Above: Anton’s workshop, a repurposed heritage-listed almond and olive processing barn built in 1853.

presents

45 11 Commerce Cres Victor Harbor. Phone: 8552 2090 Email: info@innovativekitchens.com.au Contact us today about your dream kitchen.

The Strand Gallery Art

of the Fleurieu in a domestic setting

The Strand Gallery, in conjunction with Fleurieu Living Magazine has been invited to exhibit art in a stunning new display home by South Coast Constructions. This is a rare opportunity to see beautiful Fleurieu art just as you might see it in your own home. The home is in Brickyard Road just across from Mitre 10 at Port Elliot and is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons, See work from John Lacey, Jane Smeets and Ron Langman. The main gallery in The Strand at Port Elliot continues to be open weekends 10am until 4pm. For more, call Sonya Hender on 0419 501 648.

Healthy homes – it’s Story by Emma Masters. Photography by Jason Porter.

no mirage

When Stephen and Kaye Burton returned to Australia after spending much of their working lives in Asia and the UK, the stunning, southern Fleurieu Peninsula claimed top spot on their list of perfect places to retire. But it wasn’t just the chance to live walking distance from a pristine stretch of beach, or the close proximity to Port Elliot’s well-known charms that led them to build their dream home in the region.

Stephen says his experience as a career engineer was an advantage in developing its design. ‘Like many, we’re concerned about climate change and we wanted to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as set ourselves up for the future by incorporating features that keep our bills low,’ he says.

Page left: The front entrance with beautifully crafted rammed earth walls by local company Stabilised Earth. Top and above left: The home is built with wide eaves and a flat roof housing a large solar array. All windows face north, maximising views to the wetland and harnessing winter sun. Above right: The couples collections from their travels are carefully curated into the space.

Moving through two large, ancient Chinese wooden doors into a foyer that offers floor-to-ceiling views of a vast wetlands backyard, it’s immediately obvious you’re in a home whose owners have chosen a life that embraces the environment. And the couple have taken their love of nature a step further, building a sustainable, off the grid home.

The home is separated into two distinct living quarters or pods. One area features the main dining and living area, kitchen, a study, master bedroom, bathroom and walk-in robe. The other offers three more bedrooms, a bathroom, small kitchenette and garage.

‘There’s something wonderful about running off power that you’ve made and water that you’ve collected. I researched many technologies and overtime had a wishlist of features and we worked collaboratively with architects and builders to incorporate them into the Standinghouse.’on the foyer’s deck made of recycled hardwood from an abandoned bridge, another green architectural feature is revealed.

‘The house is zoned so you can concentrate heating and cooling in certain parts of the house,’ Stephen explains. ‘When we’re by ourselves we can just live in one pod and not worry about servicing the other, but we can open it up when visitors stay.’

The house also collects its greywater and reuses it on the garden, which includes newly planted fruit trees that the couple hope will feed and delight visiting family and friends in years to come. There are also plans to landscape the extensive area around the entire home with native plants and trees to match the surrounding bushland and minimise water consumption.

‘They came to us with a design produced by another architect and they needed us to bring the home to budget while keeping in line with theirs and Beyond’s requirements,’ Michael says. ‘We facilitated their desire for material choice and building heights while incorporating the roof area requirements to a design they were happy with.’

it’s also what you don’t see that really takes this four-bedroom Port Elliot home off the grid. Hidden under the burnished floors, inside the insulated ceilings and walls of its minimal, classy exterior lies a complex system of sustainable technologies that help the couple to take care of their own power, water and sewerage alongside cooling, heating and air filtration.

Mirage Homes’ Michael Villis says in addition to the management of power and water, there were special considerations to regulate the home’s temperature and manage its air quality and humidity.

Meanwhile, it isn’t just the extensive green features embedded in the architecture that set this coastal property apart from others. The interior of the house holds myriad antique furnishings and ornaments

There’s also an old English barometer Kaye gave Stephen as a special gift, which was used under scientist and captain Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy. ‘FitzRoy was appointed as the captain on the Beagle with Charles Darwin and when he returned to the UK he was put in charge of looking after the fleet in Portsmouth,’ Stephen says.

Stephen added the flat roof was specially designed to capture water and solar power, based on key predictions from the local council.

‘We feel elements of sustainable homes should be the standard for all building projects and not just saved for the people who feel a responsibility to build a better home,’ he says.

Above left: An old English barometer Kaye gave Stephen as a special gift, which was used under scientist and captain Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy. Right: The kitchen, dining and living areas also maximise views to the north.

Stephen and Kaye called on Mirage Homes to construct the home on the Beyond estate between Port Elliot and Victor Harbor. Mirage is known as a specialist in sustainable homes, but its owner and director Michael Villis says the couple were a driving force behind the home’s green credentials.

‘The opportunity to use new materials specified by the owner was a great experience for our team and delivering the final product to the level of finish we expect from ourselves was very rewarding.’

‘The client had an air tightness target to reach so their mechanical ventilation system would work at an optimum and the home would perform at their desired level,’ he says.

‘We worked out that in twenty years’ time with changes in rainfall patterns, I needed 540 square metres of roof to capture enough water to live in the house. I lost count of how many roof designs we went through, but the flat roof provides a real point of difference.’

Stephen and Kaye collected during their time overseas, including beautiful silk rugs, a detailed Tibetan chest, 15th century Moorish tiles set into a pedestal table and a terracotta statue from China.

Michael says he hopes sustainable features incorporated in homes like Stephen and Kaye’s will be adopted more readily into the future.

‘Providing an avenue to a better, healthy home brings benefit to not only the owners but to the wider community. With considered design, quality building methods and materials, homes of character and performance can be produced. It is simply a shift in expectation of what a new home can be.’

‘We picked up lots of knick knacks as we were moving and travelling, and we have lots of historic pieces,’ Stephen says. ‘The terracotta statue is about thirty-odd years old. I was working in China when they first opened up and the only people making the casts was the Qin Terracottaa Warrior Museum.’

As much as the interior gives a nod to their life abroad, the couple’s love of Australia is celebrated through the home’s design. Large double and triple-glazed picture windows invite the outside bushland into each room, and key feature rammed-earth walls are a wave of earthy colours.

‘Alexandrina Council has done a long-term master plan over the next fifty years of what’s going to happen to rainfall, what’s going to happen to temperatures and so those things we factored into the design of the house,’ he says.

‘He was revolutionary at the time using barometers to measure pressure and he saved the British fleet in Portsmouth by predicting there was going to be severe storms around the late 1880s. Got himself a promotion too.’

‘Its tones – it’s sort of a bit of Australia,’ Stephen says of the feature walls. ‘You’ve got a beachy sand, you’ve got the clay soil and you’ve got the red centre. We plan to enjoy our home in this special part of the world for years to come.’

But48

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Step out in style on your next trip to the Vale. Sip fine wines at one of these exceptional locations and get your winter glow on. Hair: Charlotte at Half Cut, McLaren Vale Makeup: Yvette Victoria Beauty Studio Photography: Jason Porter Model: Georgia-Bess Photographed on location at a new destination – watch this space. Clothing styled by Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale Wearing: Morrison Celina long-sleeve maxi-dress, Alfie & Evie Kady white rubber boots, eb&ive Astor drop earring, Palas Prosperity pearl bracelet, Vestirsi Vanessa bag.

Winter glow

52 Photographed on location at Samson Tall, McLaren Vale. Clothing styled by Canopy Homefashion, Vicinity Colonnades FATE + BECKER Lust for Life top, brave+true Trinity skirt, Departure hat, Top End Auston toffee microsuede boots from Miss Gladys on Sea, Aldinga.

53 Photographed on location at Shirvington Wines, McLaren Vale. Clothing styled by Elliot & Me, Port Elliot ELK Odense shirt, Italian Star button-up jeans, ELK Knast leather earrings, Bueno black leather boots.

54 Photographed on location at Samson Tall, McLaren Vale. Clothing styled by Canopy Homefashion, Vicinity Colonnades. ELK Agna sweater. Brave+True Skeeter pant. Pilot scarf, Departure hat, Alfie & Evie Kady white rubber boots from Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale

55 Photographed on location at The Vine Shed, McLaren Vale. Clothing styled by Miss Gladys on Sea, Aldinga. ELK Lenkki shirt dress, Top End Auston mulberry microsuede boots, Mulberry hat.

Clothing styled by Gorgeous Soles, McLaren Vale. Huntress Ruffle Bib blouse, Raw by Raw tan leather pants, SKIN Saylor boots, eb&ive Trilby cuff.

57 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 matt@4lifeconstructions.com.au04084life_constructions4lifeconstructions4lifeconstructions.com.au894178 Award winning custom home builders specialising in architectural homes, custom homes, extensions, renovations and outdoor living spaces. 2021 HIA Award Winner and 2020 HIA Highly Commended Award recipients.

RETAIL THERAPY

This page left to right: Kip & Co Chai & Blue tassel throw $269, Sage x Clare punch needle cushion $159 and Kip & Co French linen napkins $79 (Elliot & Me), Original abstract paintings by Christina Cuthill $350 – $375 (Fleurieu Arthouse), The Banished Fortified Grenache $50 (Oliver’s Taranga), Moreton Eco Cone candles $10.95 – $16.95 (Canopy homefashion), The Absconder Grenache $70 (Wirra Wirra), Lanka Food by O Tam Carey $55 and The Life Eclectic by Alexander Breeze $60 (South Seas Trading), Classic 3 part serve stick $24.95, Artemis amber wine glass $12.95 each, Isadora scarf $49.95 (Canopy homefashion), Cheese paddle $129.95, Clinq cheese knife set copper & marble $49.95, Wine bag $10, Loom hand towel $29.95, Cheese Illustrated $37.95 (Kookery), Elizabeth Piro cotton canvas pillow with wood embroidery $100 (Fleurieu Arthouse)

What to buy, where to buy it

Winter is a time for cosiness and comfort. A time to relish the warm glow of a candle or the crackle of a fire. To relax with a sweet or savoury tipple in a snuggly jumper, or step out for a drink with friends in the softest beanie and boots. Whether you’re looking for something to read, something for the home or the perfect something for a loved one, our Fleurieu retailers have it all.

Selections sourced from: Beaches, Vicinity Colonnades; Canopy homefashion, Vicinity Colonnades; Fleurieu Arthouse, McLaren Vale; Kookery, Willunga; Morocco by Mish, Willunga; Oliver’s Taranga, McLaren Vale; Sage House, Aldinga; South Seas Trading, Port Elliot; Wirra Wirra, McLaren Vale. Photographed by Jason Porter. Styled by Liza Reynolds

This page left to right: Kip & Co Bananarama raincoat $109 (Elliot & Me), Billabong Everly pants – toast $99.99, Nike Chron – sulphur $100 (Beaches), Frank Green ceramic reusable bottle $49.95 and cup $44.95 (Sage House), Roxy knit top $99.99 (Beaches), Skyla bag $169.95 (Canopy homefashion), Uimi hat and gloves $65 each (South Seas Trading), Quicksilver Burners hat $59.99 (Beaches), Baraka handbag $240 (Morocco by Mish), Fleeci stuffed toy $26 and Jellycat bear $59.95 (Sage House), Ilse Jacobsen short rubber boot – otter $187 (South Seas Trading), Travel the Mind by Marie Sulda (Sage House), Woven leather pillow covers $75 (Morocco by Mish)

Faces and places Rachel McMillan McMillan & Drew Collective

Native and edible flower grower · Native landscaper · Garden designer After decades in the food industry, Rachel is back in the garden growing and supplying native foods, rare herbs and edible flowers to some of South Australia’s best restaurants. Working in partnership with Sarah Drew, the two also grow, cultivate and design gardens for discerning business owners and private clients who want a beautiful yet low-maintenance garden that will please not only the eyes but the taste buds too. Photo by Jason Porter.

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Biscuits baked by Luke Field. Photography by Jason Porter.

Let’s not kid ourselves. When making a traditional biscuit, you can’t go too far wrong with the butter, sugar, egg, flour and vanilla combo (if mixed together in the right proportions that is ...).

But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate a little bit of nutrition as well.

Lunch box biscuits

Not-so-naughty and really nice

Page left: Ricciarelli – almond deliciousness. Above: Our Cranberry and pepita shortbread. Styling accoutrements sourced from Kookery, Willunga.

Preheat the oven to 180º or 160º fan-forced. Line two trays with baking Combinepaper.dryingredients, zest and almond extract in a bowl. Whisk together until zest and almond extract is evenly distributed. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer or a whisk to beat the egg whites and honey to soft peaks. Fold the beaten egg whites gently into the almond mixture. You will seemingly knock most of the air out of the meringue (that’s ok! you actually haven’t).

Forming and coating biscuits: Place extra egg white in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until foamy. Place flaked almonds in another Formbowl. the biscuit dough into 2.5cm balls – we don’t need perfect balls Tosshere. each ball first in the foamy egg whites, then in the flaked Pressalmonds.the almonds into the dough to cover as completely as you can. Don’t worry if you get some double layers or pieces sticking out – no need to be neat or thorough here! Place on the prepared tray 2.5cm apart. Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes to be sure the nuts aren’t burning! Transfer to rack to cool completely.

We asked French patisserie student Luke Field @fleurieubakes to help us test and develop some biscuit recipes that are both scrumptious and satiating. Together, we’ve come up with three cracking recipes that meet the brief, with traditional ingredients teamed with some healthy additions like oats, nuts and seeds to boost your intake of beneficial minerals like zinc, magnesium, good fats, fibre and antioxidants. All rolled up into some still fairly decadent goodness.

ForRicciarellithegluten free among us, the classic Ricciarelli (almond biscuit) is a delicious choice and it comes with the added benefit of being a fantastic source of antioxidants, thanks to all those almonds.

Ingredients 2 cups almond meal 1/2 cup caster sugar 2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 teaspoon natural almond extract 1/8 teaspoon salt ½ cup dried cherries (optional) 2 egg whites, at room temperature (from 2 large eggs) 2 teaspoons honey Almond coating: 1 egg white 1 1/2 cups flaked almonds Yield: 3 dozen Method

My oatmeal choc chip

Ingredients

Note: Be inventive with this one. You can substitute any kind of nut or dried fruit – we tried sesame, chia and goji and they were delicious.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, then remove from tray to wire rack to cool completely.

1 egg / 1/4 cup apple puree (for vegan)

Cranberry and pepita shortbread

3/4 cup butter / 3/4 cup coconut oil (for vegan), softened 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Inspired by a similar biscuit we had at De Groot coffee in Port Elliot made by @lilysoven Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Good grating nutmeg Big pinch fine sea salt 1 large egg 1 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted 2 tablespoons pepitas, toasted Yield: 2 dozen Method Preheat oven to 170º or 150º fan forced. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Toss a tablespoon or so in with the fruit and nuts and toss around. Gradually add the remaining dry mixture to the wet mixture. Fold in the cranberries, pepitas, and almonds. There are a variety of ways to form the dough ... roll into a log, chill and cut into 10mm discs, drop a spoonful or roll balls and flatten with a fork. For the pictured variation Luke pushed the dough into a round cookie cutter to the brim making a nice cake-like biscuit. Bake for ten minutes or until lightly toasted.

1 cup chocolate chips / 1 cup vegan dark chocolate bar roughly chopped

Traditional and vegan Everytime I make these biscuits (the butter and egg style), friends ask for the recipe, so here it is for all and sundry. The below recipe has both vegan and traditional options – thanks to Luke!

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups self-raising flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Yield: 2-3 dozen, depending on your spoon size.

Note: If you like a biscuit with a deeper, darker edge, try swapping the light brown sugar to dark brown sugar and enjoy the richness of the higher molasses content. You can also substitute the chocolate with chopped dates or sultanas if you prefer. Did you know: coconut is said to strengthen your connective tissues (skin, ligaments, bones, and tendons), promote brain function, help lower your blood-cholesterol levels and assist in preventing anemia.

Method Preheat oven to 175º or 155º fan forced. In a large bowl, cream together butter (coconut oil) and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg (apple puree) and vanilla until fluffy. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat the dry mix into the wet mix. Stir in oats and choc chips. Drop teaspoonfuls onto a baking paper-lined tray.

Above: My oatmeal choc chip – and by ‘my’, we now mean you. Styling accoutrements sourced from Kookery, Willunga. Small bowls from Bramble Pottery.

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WE’VE TURNED UP THE HEAT. At Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens we love raising expectations. That’s why we’re sticklers for innovative design and quality materials like our durable signature polished concrete that you’ll instantly warm to. Visit our website, Instagram or Facebook to find out more or ask for a free quote today. I’m the Elders Insurance representative for Southern Fleurieu. I live in Aldinga Beach with my wife and two girls. Each day I jump in my car and head south to the beautiful Southern Fleurieu Peninsula. I am located at our Victor Harbor and Normanville offices, where I meet with clients to assist them, in person, with anything that requires my experience, care and attention. And when I’m not in the office, I’m out meeting clients in theirs. This may be in the paddock, a vineyard, at their work, or around their kitchen table. I’m grateful to be able to drive around this area, taking in the Fleurieu landscape and helping the incredible people that live here.

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French linguist arrive on a remote, lightly populated Irish island. Each escaping their broken family and seeking to transform their professional fortune with studies of this little-known, less-visited place. Profoundly antagonistic towards one another, the islanders are forced to make adjustments for peace, adding to the burden of accommodating the two men with their burgeoning needs and demands. The islanders do so resourcefully and equably, in stark contrast to the escalating Troubles on the mainland, as Republicans and Loyalists murder each other ceaselessly. This thoughtful novel, adorned with painterly descriptions and a dialogue flowing effortlessly in twin English and Irish streams, has much to say about human relations at personal and political levels. Drawing from the long anthropological tradition of islands as cultural petri dishes, the author engages the seemingly unresolvable dialectics which have marked this literary tradition, between Winter book reviews by Mark Laurie of South Seas Books, Port Elliot.

BOOKS & WORDS

The Colony by Audrey Magee Published by Faber & Faber ISBN An$29.999780571367603Englishartistanda

The Lessons by John Purcell Published by Fourth Estate, an imprint of Harper Collins ISBN John$32.999781460756997Purcell’slatestnovel leads with the idea that innocence is short lived and provides both storyline and character studies in support. Ardent teenage love flares in 1960s England, a sort of Blue

The pages turned quickly and easily, the plot line was pacey, and the characters were both interesting and well-developed. In the end though, the titular ‘lessons’ amounted rather less to a moral code and rather more to swimming in Jay Gatsby’s pool, in the shallow end where all that was beautiful might be seen from the surface.

nature and civilisation, simplicity and sophistication, community and individual, marking the vast distance to the great ‘Other’ of the outside world. In doing so, the author employs islanders aware of the lines drawn in our politics and religions, the results of our ‘believ(ing) what we want to believe’, and easily avoids the tropes of lost islands and last tribes. Despite this agency however, the book suggests that the colonial experiment did not end in the aftermath of world war. While less violent, quieter and ostensibly more reasonable, it persists unchecked and insidious; the new colonisers always taking much more than they give.

Lagoon story conducted, perhaps slightly less picturesquely, in gumboots in the byres of rural Kent. The fervent relationship between Daisy and Harry is challenged by differences in class, education and life expectations, along with some malevolent family members unwilling or unable to bridge those differences, prising the young lovers apart. Daisy is sent to live with her aunt, a successful author, and travels with her wealthy set to the French Riviera where she grows up…fast. As with the author’s previous novel, there are plenty of literary references leavened with smatterings of wry self-parody to ensure nothing is taken too seriously. The fictional novel from which the book’s title is taken is described by a reviewer as ‘a woman’s view of a man’s world’, and the opposite might well apply here. F. Scott Fitzgerald is the most obvious reference point, adapted to those very English preoccupations with class and sex while looking over their shoulder towards the French.

We learn of the genesis of Winn’s writing career, born from a desire to arrest Moth’s loss of memory and to maintain the healing power of their long walk and wild camping experience, before it launches successfully, changing their lives and others. It is her book which provides their next pathway, an opportunity to rewild and rejuvenate an overgrazed and badly degraded farm.

success of her debut The Salt Path, Raynor Winn fleshes out her story, both returning to her past as she deals with the death of her mother and the memories it invokes, and taking us forward into the years immediately following her inspiring journey along England’s South West Coast Path.

tenancy and its manifest challenges. Despite the inevitable pressures following such a successful debut, there remains much to enjoy in this sequel. An eye and ear for nature, capturing and conjuring the small but significant influences which direct our lives, together with an ability to inspire, make Winn’s books a lasting joy.

ISBN Building$22.999780143136422fromtheextraordinary

The author brings considerable research skills, background reading and storytelling flair to this, her second book, providing us with a series of truly fascinating, multilayered place studies. Immediately attractive to anyone who has enjoyed reading or watching I Am Legend, who thrills to the apocalyptic, it will appeal equally to those familiar with the thoughts of James Lovelock and E. O. Wilson, interested in more radical environmentalism and rewilding at ‘landscape scale’. Its greatest value and most profound act though, is to provide us with evidence that nature can and might recover in our absence, despite us and our interventions.

The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn Published by Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Books

ISBN This$27.999780008329808thoroughlymodern

Settling in a small town in Cornwall for her husband Moth to study, the couple struggle with a new life and his decline from the rare terminal illness with which he’s afflicted.

Abandonment:of Life in the byLandscapePost-Human

take on humanity’s urge for exploration circles back to places thoroughly colonised and then thoroughly abandoned, after war or disaster, nuclear meltdown, profound environmental degradation or contamination, political, economic or social collapse. The author visits places as diverse as Detroit and Verdun, Cyprus and Chernobyl, Swona and the Salton Sea, explaining their evacuation and describing all that remains. The ‘islands’ here are both actual and metaphorical, the latter varying between ‘razed urban prairie’, grand-scale mining wastes, ordinance-laden war zones, and swathes of dispossession, unified in having been lost to us, largely through our own actions.

Cal Flyn Published by William Collins (an imprint of Harper Collins)

Non-denominational hymns to landscape and memory, they reinforce nature’s healing power, the durable importance of literature, and the kindness living quietly among us and on foot. It more closely resembles the retreat-literature style of Walden, transposed a century later from Thoreau’s pond to a vastly different space and scale, mixing adventure and anecdote with natural history, geology, high art, philosophy and environmental activism.

Drawing from an obscure literary reference read many years before, and facing an otherwise uncertain future, they accept the Islands

There is something deeply soothing about stories evidencing ‘new life springing from the wreckage of the old,’ of reforestation and ecological diversity in such unpromising spaces. No free pass to a continuation of our reckless and profligate past and present, such narratives of redemption provide small, bright lights of resilience and hope to those willing and able to look beyond anthropocentric constraint. Highly recommended.

Abbey rails against the arrogance of anthropocentricity, revelling in nature’s ‘implacable indifference’ to ‘the little world of men.’ One beautiful chapter describes a trip on the Colorado River through a magical Glen Canyon, capturing the existential distress and collective impoverishment of its impending loss to submersion under Lake Powell, a boating playground. Were he alive today, Abbey’s anarchic nature would be enjoying Lake Powell’s recreational demise to drought resulting from human-induced climate change, and Glen Canyon’s steady re-emergence.

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The Edwards family relocated to South Australia, eventually finding their piece of Hindmarsh Valley paradise, backing onto Mount Billy Conservation Park. ‘Having a base bordering Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna Country has been so incredible; it’s become such an integral space for me to create and heal,’ he says. As with many artists, Rob first went down the university path, studying to become a paramedic. Many may think ‘chalk and cheese’ when it comes to music and the ambulance service, but there’s a thread that ties the two professions together: care. Whether it be on station, or six years later when leaving the ambos to relocate to Byron in his van, music has always found a soul friend in Rob. ‘Whether it’s a profession or a hobby it’s always going to be there for me to confide in, express and share,’ Rob explains of his natural transition from paramedic to full-time musician. Four pivotal years on the east coast brought Rob to every musician’s worst nightmare: 2020. Cancelled gigs forced a move to Hindmarsh Valley, where he now lives nestled at the base of Mount Billy in the twentytwo foot caravan he inherited from his grandmother. ‘I’ve evolved hugely since coming to the Fleurieu. It’s a paradise for birds, nature, and for me as well,’ Rob says.

Story by Zoë Kassiotis. Photograph by Jason Porter.

It’s dark and cold until the sun rises behind Mount Billy in Hindmarsh Valley. This is the magic moment when kookaburras –nature’s laughing alarm – start to sing. And everything, right down to the morning dew in tree-top spiderwebs, glistens.

With two EPs on the horizon – one to be produced by Rob in his valley studio – we can expect lofty things from the multi-talented musician, who admits it’s hard to sit still musically. ‘I’m excited to keep growing while playing and travelling as much as possible, knowing that I now have a consistent base,’ he says. As the autumn sun dissipates from Hindmarsh Valley, kookaburras call to establish territory among family groups. It’s poetic and Rob tells me it’s this time each evening when the birds encircle his studio, prompting him and his two dogs to retire to his hammock and call back with soul and blues.

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE: Rob Edwards

Bird Song

There are two types of people in this world: sunrise or sunset, dawn or dusk. Local singer/songwriter Rob Edwards, unusually, is both. If Rob was an animal, he’d likely be a kookaburra: wise, driven, cheeky and filled with song. Like many animals, kookaburras are creatures of habit and so is Rob. Each morning starts the same way for the thirty-yearold muso, whose devotion to his dawn coffee-making practice can be likened to a moving meditation that carries him into his Hindmarsh Valley home studio to create jazz, soul and blues-inspired music. Rob is still depleted from what was a wildly mad March, but his smile says he wouldn’t change a thing: ‘I gave my all, shared my heart and am so fulfilled by the whole experience.’ With a residency at The Stag Public House, Fringe Garden Sessions, Sanaa festival and a sneaky premier of his new song via the HEXADECA art experience at WOMADelaide, it seems Rob might need a manager before next festival season. As a First Nations Arrernte man whose lyrics focus on mental health, Aboriginality and sharing his own family’s story of the Stolen Generations, Rob finds great purpose in storytelling. ‘We still haven’t found our family, but the story we have and the effects of it is something that so many identify with,’ he says. It wasn’t until Rob toured remote Western Australia that he realised sharing his family’s disconnection is important. ‘Music is a vessel that allows me to bring conversation and awareness into this space and touring is a way for me to connect with the Country I’m on,’ he reflects. For Rob, the magic lies in post-performance connection, when First Nations children come up and thank him with a gutsy high five, while others linger to share their own stories. Rob grew up as an only child in country Victoria, where he first started morphing his six-year-old fingers into clumsy shapes to make songs on his dad’s guitar. ‘It would’ve sounded atrocious, but I remember it being pure joy, I could feel it then and it’s definitely still there now,’ he reminisces. Raised to the sounds of Stevie Wonder by a mum who sings and plays piano, and a dad who took him to see Tommy Emmanuel at age ten, music was rooted early and deeply in his gentle soul.

‘In the age of slowing down I’m all about sustaining my music,’ he says. ‘I want to do this for a long, long time.’

Above: Local singer/songwriter Rob Edwards with his dogs at his Hindmarsh Valley home.

Story by Kelly Golding.

Originally from the west coast of the United States, Mia came to Australia in 1999 as a nineteen year old to work for an NGO in Townsville called Youth With A Mission. It was during this time that she came across the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Centre, and turned her focus toward fighting against human trafficking. This took her all over Australia, South-East Asia and into Europe. When her Mum passed away in 2010, Mia realised she needed to care for herself as well as others. She relocated to Melbourne, working for Urbanlife as the Community Development Manager, overseeing projects from soup kitchens to developing the Maroondah Art Trail.

Right now, she’s focused on the transformation happening in Victor Harbor. ‘It’s exciting to see where Victor Harbor is heading right now. We’ve been peeling back the gyprock on the walls, exposing the most beautiful aspects of historic buildings like The Goods Shed,’ says Mia. ‘Removing the facades so the true soul of the town can be revealed.’

‘It was seven years ago that I moved to SA with my three daughters and then-husband to start a business with friends called Happy People Company. I fell in love with the place and haven’t wanted to leave. I feel my best self here. I can breathe, think and create, and that’s made me feel at home. It’s my pocket of the world,’ she says. The move was accompanied by a certain amount of serendipity that’s slowly unfurled over time. One particular ‘woo-woo’ moment, as Mia calls it, came when she first met local Ramindjeri/Ngarrindjeri artist Cedric Varcoe and a Native American woman at a basket weaving workshop in Adelaide. Mia is Native American on her mother’s side, and it was something she was in the process of coming to terms with at the time.

‘The woman barely said hello then asked what tribe I was from. We then went outside and spoke for four hours as she told me a story

Prior to her role with the Victor Harbor Council, Mia was the Local Engagement Officer for Community Bank Fleurieu, overseeing grants and helping to activate the new business hub Connect Victor. This local business is committed to making banking more relevant to the local community, giving eighty percent of profits back to the people through a range of projects that have included supporting the South Coast Choral and Arts Society, sports clubs, a reprint of the Ngarrindjeri dictionary, as well as Indigenous singing group The Deadly Nannas, enabling them to run dance workshops for kids to keep them connected to their culture.

WHO WE ARE

WHO WE ARE: Mia Stocks Mia Stocks has worked in creative industries and community development for most of her life. She started out cooking for the neighbourhood kids when she was just a kid herself, and later helped out providing meals for the homeless and working on blanket drives in her teenage years.

Photograph by Jason Porter.

‘I had a pretty traumatic childhood and we all have different ways of responding to this,’ Mia says. ‘I chose to be aware of those around me and to live for more than just my own needs. I believe everyone deserves to rise from the ashes.’

Connecting with the community has been a consistent driving force for Mia, from her ‘cold gang’ who she meets everyday for an ocean swim, to dear friends and the local business community, through to the projects she works on to contribute to creative and sustainable development. It’s this community that helped her through the toughest moment of her life: being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. ‘The only way I can describe my experience with cancer and going through treatment was a complete shedding of my skin, like a rebirth of my soul. After cancer, I decided I would find my truth and live it onehundred percent,’ says Mia. And she certainly has.

shared by both the local Ngarrindjeri people and Alaskan natives – a story where the northern whale and the southern right whale have an underwater trail in the ocean where they meet. The underwater trail runs from Alaska and ends at Basham Beach,’ Mia recalls.

Personally, she’s bringing a long-dreamed-of project to life with Mama Happy, which brings people together to share stories and connect over food.

‘I’ve always been a “yes” person,’ Mia says. ‘Every opportunity has led to the next.’ Her latest ‘next’ is working for the City of Victor Harbor as the Arts and Cultural Facilitator in partnership with Country Arts SA. So how did this intrepid optimist wind up on the Fleurieu?

To Mia, the story felt simultaneously incredibly significant and deeply mysterious. She has come to believe her soul and ancestors are connected to this place, which is why she feels so at peace on the peninsula. She attributes that connection to the local Aboriginal community and is grateful for it.

The intrepid optimist

It would be hard to miss the similarities between Mia’s story and that of Victor Harbor, a town in a state of profound and lasting transition. Like many others who share a love of the Fleurieu, Mia’s spirit and commitment to community is bringing a positive new energy to this beautiful pocket of South Australia.

Above: Arts and Cultural Facilitator, Mia Stocks, at Railway Plaza, Victor Harbor.

But that’s just what Goolwa mum of three and small-business owner Lou Nicholson did. And when South Australians went to the polls in March, she managed to achieve what many have only ever dreamed. Lou came within 343 votes of winning the seat of Finnis, an electorate that’s been considered safe, blue ribbon Liberal territory since the 1940s.

WHO WE ARE: Lou Nicholson

‘My voice was shaking, my knees were knocking and for all of the ninety seconds I did not breathe, so by the end I was speaking like I’d just sucked in a helium balloon. Then a gentleman came up to me afterwards and said, “Fantastic, I’d like to help”.’

Lou says she’s waiting for the dust to settle before making future plans. ‘I’m deciding on what’s the best way to stay engaged with the community and be able to keep participating and contributing to some of those issues that were raised such as health, housing affordability and climate action,’ she says. ‘My passion for our community and the issues here and for state parliament have certainly only grown.’

‘It just started a conversation and she began encouraging me to run,’ Lou continues. ‘That was probably the real turning point where I really switched from ‘we need someone’, to ‘I could do it’.’

An independent push for the region

‘It was fantastic to get the results where I was in the lead, we were cheering and celebrating,’ Lou laughs. ‘But we were very aware that we’d have to see what happened with the pre-poll.’

Buoyed by the support of a seasoned political advocate, Lou launched her campaign on 19 March 2021, exactly one year before the state election. She said the first time she publicly announced her intention to run was nerve-wracking. ‘It was a palliative care community forum and it took all of my courage to find the right moment to stand up and announce to a rather large audience that I’m pretty much coming out of the blue and letting you know I’m running as an independent,’ Lou says.

The counting took days to finalise and eventually the Liberal Party won another term in Finnis, but Lou says the intense fight was worth it. ‘My analogy is that of a basketball hoop that’s so far you can’t possibly imagine getting a goal but you throw that ball with all your might and I managed to get it sort of spinning around the ring,’ she says. ‘From the get-go we were told it was impossible so I’m really pleased to get so close. And if you’re going to come second, to do it in such spectacular fashion is the best you could hope for.’

Lou spent election night with her family and team at the Middleton tavern, with the crowd growing louder as the results started rolling in.

It wasn’t long before Lou had gathered a team of ten volunteers who’d meet fortnightly to assist her campaign. Meanwhile, she went to as many events as possible to listen and talk to people and build a platform based on issues she was hearing in the community. She knew it would be a busy year, but never quite expected her push for a seat in parliament would take over her life.

Originally an occupational therapist taking leave to raise her young family of children (now aged two, four and six) Lou had also been following the passage of legislation through parliament and felt disappointed about the lack of informed debate. With these issues in mind, she decided to support someone to run in the state election. But then a post on social media caught her eye. The post was from a South Australian consultancy who support women to enter politics. ‘It was talking about women running for parliament and how we might not always take the most conventional path into politics, but what a positive difference we can make,’ Lou says. ‘My interest was obviously piqued, so I sent the founder Chelsey Potter an email telling her I loved the message.’

It’s no small feat to jump into the pressure cooker of political life, let alone decide to tackle a state election as an independent, stepping into the fray without the resources of a major party and its wealth of connections.

‘Just getting in my little car by myself and having a real, wavery moment of thinking, wow, it’s done,’ she recalls. ‘Just feeling relief, really proud, a real moment of clarity about what we’d just done and the team’s incredible effort. They really do a lot and you need them to do a lot.’

It was only after polls closed that she was able to stop and reflect.

Story by Emma Masters Photograph by Jason Porter

The newly-minted independent said her political spark first ignited as she was making her rounds delivering boxes of organic fruit and vegetables to residents around the Goolwa region. ‘My little business had about fifty to sixty customers a week and I got to talk to a lot of people,’ Lou explains. ‘A lot of the concerns people were raising were around not feeling heard or represented.’

WHO WE ARE

Above: Lou Nicholson

at The Joinery, Factory 9, Port Elliot.

Coral Street Art Space Victor Harbor Site works commenced at the end of May to install Victor Harbor’s first permanent exhibition space for Ramindjeri/Ngarrindjeri creatives, plus two studio pods that will be for lease. The opening will coincide with NAIDOC week from 3 July. And during SALA, Gallery two will host two exhibitions: a group exhibition with Barb Pettigrew and a solo exhibition by Leith Semmens from Tripod Gallery.

What’s on in the arts

Victor Harbor Arts Society hosts The Collective: St Augustine’s Church Victor Harbor 13 – 21 August

The Strand Gallery Port Elliot Scott Hartshorne: Natural World: Realism and Abstraction From 11 June Scott’s paintings are inspired by the natural world, specifically Australia’s wild environment. He’s fascinated with recurring themes of pattern and structured form found in nature, in an exploration of chaos versus order. He classifies himself as a realist, but his over-scale studies of native flora, sprigs, flowers, shells and found objects are as much about composition and the shadows that fall behind them, as they are about the lifelike quality of the subject matter.

Top left: Windfall by Scott Hartshorne will be at the Strand Gallery. Top right and bottom left: Landscapes by Roe Gartelman will be at the Fleurieu Arthouse. Bottom row centre: Pastoral series #4 by Althea Holmes will be at St Augustine’s Church. Bottom right: Estrangement by Christobel Kelly will be at the South Coast Regional Arts Centre.

Fleurieu Arthouse McLaren Vale 11 June – 26 July Roe Gartelmann and Lyn Robins: Closer to Home For many years, Lyn Robins and Roe Gartelmann have captured majestic outback landscapes often in the Flinders Ranges. In this exhibition they’ve decided to paint closer to home, depicting their local area – right up to their own backyards and kitchens.

South Australian Living Artist Festival The Arthouse will have a full month of art happenings during the SALA Festival with art workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations and ‘meet the artist’ sessions on their studio days.

Winter76 is a time for art lovers to relish, as the SALA Festival transforms everyday spaces into art galleries for the month of August. Cafes, community spaces and your local shop – even toilets! – become places of artistic inspiration. And of course our galleries continue to showcase new and interesting works to excite and challenge. Come on in, it’s warm inside!

With a history going back sixty years, the Victor Harbor Art Society is celebrating the Fleurieu and its many artists during SALA with ‘The Collective’, an exhibition of fifty artists and some one-hundred works. The exhibition showcases impressions of the southern Fleurieu Peninsula, like Pastoral Series #4 by local artist Althea Holmes, which depicts a typical summer day in the area, something you may see walking through the country in the morning sun.

30 July – 29 August

South Coast Regional Arts Centre Goolwa 18 – 24 Exhibition:JulyFleurieu Ruah Fleurieu Ruah explores the ghosting of landscapes with the instability of memory, and the use of painting and drawing to harness those qualities to particular TheProfessionalplaces.artistsStrandGallery is now planning its exhibition programme for 2023/24. If you are a professional artist and are interested in exhibiting, please email sonya.hender@hender.com for an information pack.

77 Shop1/165 Main Rd McLaren Vale. 08 83237405 · gorgeoussoles.com.au 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

. Photography

Story by Petra de Mooy by Francois Maritz

An island love affair

There is a quietness to the images. There is beauty and loss as well as hope and regeneration. Images of the ominous sky, the fireground, endless textures of grey, black and brown. Animals, birds, regrowth.

We’re moved by the beautiful and reverent storytelling that is revealed with each turn of a page. But when we look to find the photographer’s name it’s not on the front nor on the inside pages. Finally we see it, there on the back cover at the bottom: Francois Maritz.

People often wonder how we source stories for FLM. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of keeping your eyes, and your heart, open. A few weeks prior to going to print with this issue of FLM, our outgoing advertising manager Holly and I wandered into Goodness Coffee at Aldinga – as we so often do. On the front table was a big, square book with an eye-catchingly minimal cover design that read simply: Textures of That Summer. The book opens with an image awash with the bright blue of the sky and the azure blue sea below. It depicts a group of young jetty jumpers at Kingscote Wharf on Kangaroo Island (KI) – an optimistic

It’s an achingly beautiful document.

and fun moment, frozen in time. As we continue to leaf through, we find the book documents the Kangaroo Island bushfires of 2020 – the first image standing in stark contrast to what was to come – before, during and after.

> Page left: Fire front 1 Summer 2019/20. Above: New Holland Honeyeater and bee.

The images are abstract but very real. An overhead shot portrays tracks in the landscape: white on black on grey. We later learn these tracks were made by the firetrucks repetitively moving in and out to one of the many fire-fronts as they attempted to save property.

Alice connects me with Alison, and when we eventually speak by phone, I’m gratified that they are happy for us to publish some of Francois’ images, with Alison acting as Francois’ agent. Unlike many career artists, Francois isn’t hungry for exposure but is happy to have Alison act on his behalf. While he’s now in the enviable position of being able to pursue his art without the pressures of financial gain (‘he does it to please himself,’ says Alison), this wasn’t always the case. For decades prior to moving to KI, Francois worked as a commercial photographer in South Africa and New Zealand before eventually landing in Ceduna with Alison and their two children. Despite experiencing success, including winning a prestigious Cleo award, in 2003 Francois put away his photography equipment as life took him in another direction. Originally from Namibia, his family required his support on their game farm. Dutiful and committed, Francois and his family spent years ‘commuting’ back and forth between Australia and Namibia to ensure the survival of the farm. During that time Francois fully relinquished the career he’d successfully built up in photography. But despite this sacrifice, he was very content in his deep love for his country of birth.

Page left top: Fire front 2 Summer 2019/20 Bottom: Night Harvest. Above: Two weeks after the fire, yucca rebirth.

Back in the office, I Google the photographer’s name and find that there’s a new-ish bookstore on the island called Big Quince Print. They have the book. I call the owner, Alice Teasdale, and she enthusiastically fills me in on the details. The book is self-published by Francois’ wife, Alison Higgs. Francois took the images during the fires as well as in the regenerative period afterwards.

Francois had no intention that the images would go further than his desktop computer, but Alison and Alice felt they should be seen. So, they designed the book and had a small quantity printed. Holly and I immediately order one each.

Above: Cutting Hay. Bottom: Nepean Bay.

Then82 came an opportunity for Alison to take up a job as a midwife on KI. They took the plunge, moving from the desert-like environs of Ceduna to the natural paradise of KI. It was this move that inspired Francois’ return to photography. Alison says it was love at first sight as she recalls the day Francois landed on KI. He found himself immediately fumbling around in his packed car to find his camera and hasn’t stopped documenting the island from his unique perspective ever since. Since that time, Francois’s photography has been published in Textures of That Summer as well as another book simply titled Kangaroo Island

‘Locals who have lived there forever will look at the book and say “Where is that?” or “I have never seen it that way before”,’ says

Alison, speaking of Francois’ knack for finding an artist’s perspective on both the iconic and hidden treasures of KI. His commitment to photographing the island represents hours and hours of seeking, looking and waiting for a symbiosis between the conditions and the landscape to reveal itself for long enough to be captured by his Francoiscamera.says, ‘An image is an expression of a journey and a comment of a moment.’ He’s drawn into the environment and creates images of arresting, wild beauty. We count ourselves forever lucky to be able to see KI through his unique lens and to share his work here.

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But words used to describe wine are just ordinary words. Certain varieties often evoke certain flavours (see: sav blanc and cut grass). While other descriptors describe the sensory experience of the wine in a more precise way. You can already start to imagine the taste and smell of wines described as pretty, zesty or vigorous before you taste a drop.

Crunchy Old Jarvie 2019 The Saviour Grenache Mataro Touriga Crunch is not a characteristic one might usually associate with a liquid –smooth, yes; crunchy, no. Here, a familiar sensory experience is used as shorthand to describe a wine’s acidic balance. It’s not only the snap of the There’s nothing inherently special about the words used to describe wine. Take ‘toasty’, ‘earthy’ or ‘meaty’ for example. All normal, everyday words. But when wielded as ‘wine speak’, these same words can drop like a bomb into the conversation, provoking a snigger or eye-roll, especially when someone catches a whiff of petrol, old saddle leather or lead pencil.

Charlotte Dalton 2018 Ærkeengel Semillon Vigourous, lively, spirited – being racy is all about a self-assured zest for life. When it comes to wine, racy usually describes white wines that sparkle with acidity and dazzle with their fresh, food-friendly character. These wines deliver a lively little punch on the palate, often enhanced by hits of citrus.

acid that it captures, but also the enjoyment that comes from the tension that precedes any good crunch, like the first bite of a tart granny smith apple. Crunchy wines are often whites, but reds can also deliver that crackle of acidity. Take The Saviour, produced by Hither & Yon. Their blend of grenache, mataro and touriga balances festively spiced dark berry and plum flavours with an acidic crunch. The result is a delicious medium-bodied wine that will happily pal up with a Mediterranean-inspired meal.

The84 disconnect between our everyday experiences of these words and how they’re used in relation to wine is perhaps what gives wine speak its bad reputation. Most people know the smell of a freshly mown lawn, but it can seem somehow ostentatious to swirl a wine glass, put it to your nose and declare you detect a hint of cut grass in your sav blanc.

Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood’s Mataro delivers a deliciously brooding wine that is all depth of flavour without any of the gloom. Full-flavoured and beautifully balanced, the dark fruits are all aboard the tannin train giving the wine lovely length. Bernice and Julian suggest serving it with meat, we’d drink it with … everything.

Wine reviews by Kate Le Gallez

Made with Blewitt Springs fruit, the deep halocene sands over yellow clay and schist introduce tannin and graphite elements into this wine, taking it towards the darker end of the fruit spectrum, with touches of cocoa and spice. A shiraz that’s sleek and smooth, rippling with elegance like the soft flow and fold of – you guessed it – velvet.

Charlotte Hardy has created one such bright young thing with her 2018 Ærkeengel Semillon. Named in honour of her late mum’s Danish heritage, the wine is crisp, clean and pure with a tang of lemon curd and added texture coming from time spent in French oak barriques. It’s totally delicious and as stylish as a Danish design fair.

Velvety In Praise of Shadows 2020 Shiraz Like crunchy, ‘velvety’ is a sensory descriptor and while a wine’s crunch relates to acid, describing a wine as velvety is about its tannic structure. Just like the fabric, these wines are soft but rich, supple but strong. They’re wines you want to relax into and enjoy, alone with your feet up or with friends and excellent conversation.

To describe something, or more often someone, as ‘brooding’, you’re invoking a capital-M Mood. The sort of mood that results in angsty poetry or goes well with a walk in the rain. A brooding wine captures this intensity in its dark, rich flavours like blue and black berries and concentrated colour.

FOOD & WINE

Brooding Ministry Of Clouds 2020 McLaren Vale Mataro

Here, we wanted to explore four particular terms – racy, crunchy, brooding and velvety – and how four Fleurieu wines bring these descriptors to life. Because tasting wine should be fun and finding the words to describe that feeling is part of sharing the joy.

Racy

Uncorked

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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 of Yankalilla Bay, captured from the rolling hills of Second Valley, was shot by William Godward.

@godwardphotograpy

87 LOCAL Touch, GLOBAL Reach  CHRISTIE DOWNS  NOARLUNGA  ALDINGA A RECEPTION TO YEAR 12 CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN THE MARIST TRADITION Half Cut Mclaren Vale offers some of the best cuts and colour on the Fleurieu. They now also offer unique Hair and Scalp Spa services led by Emma Bayly WTS a certified Trichologist. During a Trichology Consultation Emma will discuss hair loss and scalp conditions. Treat yourself to a Japanese Scalp Spa with Hydrobrasion and infuse nutrients great for scalp balancing and hair growth. Find out more at www.halfcut.com.au | 150a Main Road, McLaren Vale | Ph 0414319185

Story by Sabrina Davis

88 Our island sanctuary and home

After having only twenty-five square metres to ourselves over that time, this family of four finally moved into a new house just a couple of days before Easter this year. Struggling mentally the entire time, I started a range of purposeful projects to connect and uplift my community and give myself a reason to get out of bed each day.

Looking back at the craziness Kangaroo Island (KI) has experienced over the past twenty-eight months – with the whole world also thrown into chaos – it’s almost unfathomable how much has been achieved on our road to recovery from the Black Summer fires.

Over two years have now passed. Yes, fences, sheds and houses have been built, but with a shortage of builders, tradies, timber and way too much Covid-19 around, getting fire-affected families back into their homes has ended up being a much longer journey than anticipated.

After escaping the fire ground on 3 January 2020, my husband shared the sad news. ‘Hunny, we lost everything, including the house.’

Page left: The feral Tasmanian blue gum wildlings in the western districts of KI are considered weeds and need to be pulled before they seed. Photo by Francois Maritz. Above: Church Road dunnart capture – Kangaroo Island. Photo courtesy of Land for Wildlife.

By sharing over a hundred stories of locals, Humans of Kangaroo Island raised over $81,000 for the community and won me ‘Community Champion’ at the SA Woman Awards in 2021. A book, a film festival and a documentary film later, other accolades such as the SA Honour Roll and KI Council’s ‘Project of the Year’ were all fantastic distractions from the mental health issues I am still facing. And I’m not the only one. At a recent Barn Yarn BBQ I organised with SA Mental Health Commissioner John Mannion, many of the resilient KI locals in attendance admitted they’re only just starting to face their demons. Nightmares are still an ongoing issue for way too many, and as exhaustion and burnout are beginning to settle in deep, the time has come to rebuild ourselves. With houses popping up everywhere and green shoots outgrowing the blackened branches, the island’s western end is slowly returning to its former glory. KI’s Southern Ocean Lodge owners are investing fifty million dollars into the lodge’s rebuild, which is expected to re-open around mid2023. The luxury accommodation will add to the island’s offerings as much as the highly anticipated rebuild of the Flinders Chase National Park Visitor Information Centre. KI National Parks and Wildlife Manager Mike Greig is happy to share that the designs for the new centre are close to being finalised and will result in an amazing contemporary building to welcome park visitors.

‘Tasmanian blue gums are fast growing,’ shares Trees for Life CEO Natasha Davis. ‘Some of the seedlings are now up to five metres in height.’ The blue gum threat must be addressed within the next two to three years before they flower and set seed themselves, but funds will run out soon. ‘To avoid an ecological disaster in the western districts of the island, an urgent injection of funding is required,’ Natasha pleads, ‘as this is a multimillion-dollar recovery effort which has dire consequences if not properly addressed.’

We Kangaroo Islanders are good at recovery – picking ourselves up, brushing off the dust (or ash), rolling up the sleeves and going again. But incredible challenges still remain for the nature, wildlife and humans of KI, and the need for external financial support is ongoing. Let’s hope our combined efforts and strength will soon bring a more carefree future to South Australia’s island sanctuary and our home.

The KI Tourism Alliance utilises Federal Government Recovery for regional tourism grants, and Pierre reports that ‘things are looking positive.’ He’s proud that our local businesses are dedicated and resilient, even though they’ve been doing it tough.

Basket weaving, gardening workshops with Sophie Thomson, first aid training by the Red Cross, a fun school holiday program run by the local community centre, and business development courses hosted by the Kingscote Business Hub – the island’s schedule is brimming. These sorts of opportunities are appreciated on this oftensecluded island. They help us stay connected and teach us new skills. And they also give us hope that we haven’t been forgotten.

The same can be said for the fight against the feral Tasmanian blue gum wildlings, which, following the fires, have germinated in remnant vegetation within plantation land, national parks and roadside vegetation. Trees for Life volunteers have worked tirelessly with local organisations to remove the wildlings as they are slowly outcompeting the native plants.

‘Like the community trauma, the environmental impact of this catastrophic event will be felt by our biodiversity for a very long time,’ says Caroline Paterson, and how right she is. She’s just one of the people working at the forefront of KI’s wildlife recovery as the Kangaroo Island Bushfire Recovery Project Officer for Birdlife Australia. Some species lost up to eighty per cent of their habitat, and despite positive indications for some, it will be many years until we see the long-term impacts Black Summer has had on our bush birds. Caroline tells me, ‘Ongoing monitoring over many years with community support is needed and will give them their best chance to maintain or recover viable populations.’

Sheep90

Above left: The blue gum threat must be addressed within the next two to three years before they flower and set seed themselves, says Trees for Life CEO Natasha Davis. Right: Sabrina Davis on her Kangaroo Island property. Photographs by Francois Maritz.

Pierre Gregor, deputy chairman of the Kangaroo Island Tourism Alliance, tells me that KI experienced a double-digit decline in visitation numbers following the fires and with the arrival of Covid-19, but ‘there was a considerable improvement in 2021, and we are currently doing well.’

The hard work of many groups has helped our wildlife bounce back. With National Parks’ staff working side-by-side with local contractors, ecologists, volunteers and researchers, the rebuilding work continues and it’s fantastic to see some infrastructure like the boardwalk at Remarkable Rocks already back up and running.

‘Bird life, and wildlife, are all active in the parks again,’ says Mike Greig. ‘The fires were a big knock for wildlife, but it’s amazing how they can recover.’

Land for Wildlife’s Heidi Groffen and her team have caught juvenile dunnarts on many private properties and seen a rise in pygmy possum numbers. She credits the intensive efforts post-fire compared to before. Madly writing funding applications to support their projects, Heidi explains how bushfire funding has guaranteed intensive feral cat and pig control in the west end landscape, giving the threatened species a chance of survival. Heidi says, ‘It all seems like a waste to lose the funding and stop those efforts now, only to lose the juveniles to pests again.’

farmers are restocking, agriculture is on the up, and the

tourists have certainly kept the island busy recently.

Greg and Jayne started out truffle growing as a hobby, albeit one that required a level of commitment. They hand-planted their first fifty trees at Lovely Valley Truffles in 2012, a mixture of English oak, French oak and hazelnut trees, their roots inoculated with French black truffle fungi. ‘The first two years of their life I hand-watered the trees with rainwater, ten litres per tree, twice a week over summer,’ recalls Jayne. Allowed to grow naturally, the trees have climbed to a healthy three metres. ‘Truffles like really hot summers and cold winters and Myponga definitely supplies that,’ laughs Greg. Greg kept researching, patiently waiting for the right time to search for truffles. ‘I heard about Adelaide Hills Truffle Dogs in 2019 and made an appointment for them to come out with their dogs to have a sniff around. I had gone out to meet them carrying a small sandwich bag hoping we may get one or two truffles. After 10 minutes I turned to Jayne and said “I think you had better go and get a bucket”,’ he says.

Jayne remembers asking the truffle dog handlers Warren Rogers and Dean Poletta what their dogs would do if they found a truffle. ‘The dogs would first sniff around a tree, sit by the tree if they smelt truffle and then

‘You couldn’t find two more lovely down-to-earth people than Jayne and Greg,’ comments Dean. ‘Our first search with them was a unique experience with unexplored established trees. We started the hunt with low expectations and ended up with an unbelievable harvest. We were all surprised as on that day we dug up the largest amount of truffles we had ever found in one farm at one time.’ Jayne and Greg didn’t try truffle until bringing their own truffles into their kitchen. ‘Our first taste was with scrambled eggs. We experimented with a toasted cheese truffle sandwich, and it was beautiful. The most expensive toasted sandwich going around but it was delicious,’ says Jayne. The truffles from their first harvest were delicately flavoured, but as the trees have continued to mature, the flavours have become stronger and deeper.

Striking black gold

start digging. And at the second tree that’s exactly what happened! It was so exciting! We collected just over two kilos of truffles at that first hunt,’ says Jayne.

Story by Samantha Marchetti. Photography by Ben Macmahon.

Above: Truffle farmer Greg Hughes with some of his freshly unearthed ‘bounty’.

What92 do you do when you have a spare paddock, smack bang in the middle of Myponga’s cattle and sheep country, that’s only ever been grazed by kangaroos? This was the question bouncing between Jayne Jacques and Greg Hughes ten years ago when a friend suggested they try to grow truffles. ‘Truffles? We didn’t know what truffles were!’ laughs Jayne. As their truffle research began, Greg and Jayne found themselves at a meeting in Mt Compass where locals were keen to learn how to grow truffles. ‘There’s a fair bit of secrecy amongst the truffle growers worldwide,’ laments Greg. ‘We are mostly self-taught in every aspect of growing and collecting truffles and even after a decade are still learning all the time.’

Not long after that first hunt, a family friend told Blewitt Springs chef Amanda Geddes that there were truffles being found on the Fleurieu. ‘I was elated. I’m a flavour taster, whether it be in wine or in food. And truffles offer such a unique flavour that cannot be replicated. It was such a heart-warming moment of being able to find truffles in our own backyard,’ says Amanda. A firm friendship developed between the trio and Amanda shared the news of locally grown truffles with other South Australian chefs. ‘For the first few hunts we found customers were excited but cautious, even skeptical,’ says Jayne. ‘Now the demand for Lovely Valley Truffles is not only growing locally, but also globally as we are receiving pre-orders from overseas.’

As interest in truffles – the black gold of cuisine – from the Fleurieu Peninsula grows, Lovely Valley Truffles will be hosting selected tours this winter in collaboration with Tailor Tours and Adelaide Hills Truffle Dogs. ‘We can’t wait to share our story with others and see the look of joy on people’s faces when they find their first truffle,’ says Greg. ‘Truffle growing isn’t a get-rich-quick venture. It’s all about passion and patience rather than profit. And once you find truffles, you also find you make a lot more friends.’

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Despite changing direction, Steed seems to have landed on his feet in a job that harmoniously combines his interest in psychology with his love of people, while providing a unique space to explore his Ngarrindjeri heritage and local Kaurna culture. Taking class groups on walks through the Eco Classroom’s Kaurna Tapa trail to highlight traditional uses of bush foods and medicines, Steed has slowly been able to expand his own knowledge of the Country upon which Tatachilla is built.

Despite the importance of representation, Steed acknowledges the pressure that can come with expecting First Nations students to be cultural spokespeople. It’s a responsibility he hopes current students will only need to fulfil if they choose to.

‘Most of your development comes from the things you do outside of high school, so that’s the main focus for me in my position now,’ he says. ‘When I went to Canberra, I think I grew more in those three months than the rest of my life combined.’

‘Identity was always a massive thing for me,’ Steed says. ‘You spend so much of your life putting on a character, but after a while you wonder if that’s really you or how you want people to see you, which I started to really struggle with in year eleven and twelve.’

‘Reconciliation is a job that’s never finished, there’s always something else to do,’ Steed says. ‘It’s great to be proud of how far we’ve come, but why stop there when we know we can do better?’

As a result, Steed has begun nurturing connections in the broader community, such as with local elder Aunty Ellen Trevorrow from whom he’s learning weaving techniques to pass on in school workshops.

Steed’s new role also involves advising on the school’s Reconciliation Action Plan, which he looks forward to building on once community meetings are able to resume. In the meantime, he’s been exploring ways to incorporate cultural learning into all areas of the curriculum.

While he navigates his new path as Tatachilla’s only First Nations Support Officer, Steed’s main goal remains simple but earnest: to constantly inspire discourse and growth around reconciliation, while ensuring First Nations students have consistent access to whatever support they need. He’s proud to be part of a school community who’ve often been strides ahead in reconciliation action, but he’s determined to avoid simply ‘ticking boxes’.

Learning while leading

While helping students navigate their personal and cultural identities, it seems Steed is making important discoveries of his own, both within his Ngarrindjeri ancestry and beyond.

While still a student at Tatachilla, Steed found positive guidance through a mentorship with Ngarrindjeri man Justin Wilkey, facilitated by SA Independent Schools Association. The pair connected once a term and Steed was encouraged to pursue a Bachelor of Science Psychology at ANU in Canberra. The move to Canberra was challenging, but also transformative for Steed as he found himself set adrift from his previous support networks. His experience identified the gaps in resources that currently exist for First Nations students, who are often highly focused on getting through school and into university and less on what comes next.

By encouraging active engagement in reconciliation throughout the whole school – from parents, to science teachers, to groundskeepers – Steed hopes the community will continue to grow in knowledge and acceptance.

Story by Poppy Fitzpatrick Photograph by Jason Porter

As a 2020 graduate from Tatachilla Lutheran College, Steed Carter wasn’t long out of high school before returning to fill a new role as First Nations Support Officer in November 2021. Yet, barely a year of ‘real world’ experience has equipped Steed with profound wisdom and a humble sense of leadership well beyond his years.

As a First Nations student beginning at Tatachilla in year seven, Steed sometimes experienced a disconnect between his level of cultural knowledge and what was assumed by the broader community.

ALUMNI JOURNEY

‘I just want First Nations students to be seen as students first and that’s it. Anything extra is stuff that they offer,’ Steed says. In his new role, Steed is focused on helping to create a safe space for current students to follow their own path towards self-discovery, whether they’re connecting with their cultural identities or exploring their sense of self in a broader context.

Above: Steed Carter, First Nations Support Officer at the Tatachilla Lutheran College Eco Classroom.

Fresh local produce including fruit, veg, meat, olive oil, cheese, wine and all your weekly essentials can be found every Saturday morning in Willunga. We look forward to welcoming you Support your local Farmers & Producers willungafarmersmarket.com.au

Saturdays 8am – 12.00pm Willunga High School

Ian96

New Location : Willunga High 1km north of Town Square

Fresh local produce including fruit, veg, meat, olive oil, cheese, wine and all your weekly essentials can be found every Saturday morning in Willunga. We look forward to welcoming you.

Support your local farmers and producers

After fourteen years of supplying their produce to the weekly market, the couple decided to take a well-deserved break. ‘It was just the two of us working twelve hours a day, seven days a week on our hands and knees across seven acres. We continued to supply some local businesses but on a smaller scale, including Gut Feeling Fermentation who set up their commercial kitchen on our property. We took some time out to focus on other areas of our lives,’ says Colleen. Ian and Colleen decided earlier this year that it might be time to return to market life. With now only three acres being worked, still organically with no chemicals, the summer crops went well this year but the earth at Myponga really shows its strength and bounty with brassicas and cooler season crops. Expect plenty of broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbage, brussel sprouts and carrots at the Starlight Springs stall this winter. ‘It’s been fantastic, we are really happy to be back. We weren’t prepared for the demand and all the new customers,’ Ian says. ‘And we are thrilled that all our old customers have all come back to shop and chat with us.’

Saturdays 8am until 12noon Willunga High School

Attending Willunga High School, Ian convinced the agricultural science teacher to allow him and his friends to start their own small market garden on the school grounds. ‘We would grow the veggies while we were at school and then go down to the staffroom at lunchtime and sell the produce to the teachers,’ he says. Now he’s back on campus and he’s still selling veggies but things look a little different. Together with his wife Colleen, their Myponga business Starlight Springs Organic Farm Produce has returned to Willunga Farmers Market after a six-year hiatus. It seems fitting that their return coincides with the move to the market’s new home at the high school, where Ian’s love for growing organic produce all started. The ‘Starlight’ in ‘Starlight Springs’ is a nod to the exploits of the bushranger Captain Starlight, who’s said to have visited the area where Ian and Colleen now live and farm. But Colleen has a more grounded view. ‘Myponga basin is full of underground springs that flow easily when it rains and on a clear night the view of the Milky Way is just amazing. I’m sure this is why the soil here is just so good,’ she says. Having moved to their property shortly before the first Willunga Farmers Market in 2002, their plan of supplying the local community with vegetables wasn’t quite ready to be put into action. ‘We were told to just come along, so at our first market we had seedlings, a handful of vegetables and I made some dairy-free, egg-free fruit cake. By the end of the year we had tomatoes, cucumbers and all the summer vegetables coming in and from memory we were the first stall with heirloom vegetables for sale,’ Colleen continues.

Francis grew up in Port Noarlunga when it was still a country village and a boy could help the fishermen down on the beach with their nets. ‘I’d spend all my time with the fisherman who lived across the paddock from us. He had a couple of acres he used to farm, and he got me interested in growing. We would go to the local shearing shed and climb underneath to collect all the droppings. In those days it wasn’t called organic or biodynamic farming, it was just the way the old blokes grew food,’ he says.

Above: Organic farmers Ian and Colleen on their property in Myponga.

*New location: Willunga High – 1km south of Town Square. www.willungafarmersmarket.com.au

Story by Sam Marchetti.

Starlight Springs Organic Farm Produce

97 Alexandrina is home to vibrant communities where a high population of artists have chosen to live and work, making us a regional centre of culture in South Australia. UPCOMING EVENTS Adelaide Hills Chamber Players2022 Winter Music Festival 15 June, Centenary7.30pmHall, adelaidehillschamberplayers.comGoolwa Gene & Judy 19 June, Centenary2pmHall, events.alexandrina.com.auGoolwa Fleurieu Ruah (exhibition) 18 – 24 July South Coast Regional Arts jaw@alexandrina.sa.gov.auCentre Live On Air 24 June, Centenary2pmHall, events.alexandrina.com.auGoolwa HELLO Tribute to Adele 30 July, Centenary7.30pmHall, events.alexandrina.com.auGoolwa Southcoast Jazz Festival 14 – 16 sajazzfestivalinc.comThroughoutOctoberGoolwa alexandrina.sa.gov.au/events For bookings and enquiries please visit events.alexandrina.com.au or call Council’s Visitor Information Centre on 1300 466 592 Alexandrina Council continues our arts and culture program in 2022. To view more upcoming events, visit 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 Proudly associated with The Strand Gallery & South Coast Constructions The Collective St Augustines Church14 Burke St, Victor Harbor 12th -21st AUG 2022 10:00am - 4:00pm 50 Artists Participating ART EXHIBITION Contact: Ruth McCluskey M: 0466 187 624 E: W:VHartsociety@gmail.comwww.victorharborartsociety.com.auVictorHarborArtSociety Venue wheelchair friendly

There’s a vast difference between placing furniture in a room and curating an aesthetically pleasing space that acknowledges the flow of the house and sets a mood that reflects the people who live there.

FLM recommends checking out locally based or connected designers, each with their distinct flair including: SpaceCraft Joinery, LARC Designs, Little Road Studio, Fabrikate, Bernadette Kelly at Rollo, Enoki and Pyramid Hill (as seen on page 40).

The kitchen is one of the most commonly used spaces in any home, so it’s no wonder that it’s also the most renovated. The team at Adelaide Outdoor Kitchens know kitchens, inside out. They work with their clients to create their dream kitchen (or bathroom!) – inside or alfresco – championing function, flow, aesthetics and quality. We love their powder-coated, coloured-concrete basins for a pop of personality and the Billy Smoker for those winter meals outside. FLM also recommend Innovative Kitchens (see page 45), SpaceCraft Joinery (see page 113) and Seasalt Joinery (previously Coast to Coast).

a cohesive renovation project involves a particular design alchemy to balance space, light, colour, tone, texture, pattern, line and form. This is the special art of the interior designer.

A wide range of selections and options is all well and good, but narrowing down the options can be dizzying without experts in your corner. Choosing tiles is one such classic renovation conundrum. The skilled team at Beaumont Tiles Victor Harbor or Kangaroo Island can help distil your concepts to the perfect colour, shape, size, finish The home glow-up

Words by Holly Wyatt. Above left: Coastal kitchen design with an accent of colour using ‘Devonshire Sky’ Structured Gloss tiles (75mm x 300mm) by Beaumont Tiles. Top right: Neutral and earthy interior mood-board, combining texture and finish to create a calming and cohesive space. Bottom right: Brushed brass hardware adding a warming glow to cabinetry.

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As a business that’s evolved out of 30 years in the building industry, Bailey Homes offers a seamless landscaping service, Coastal Landscapes & Fencing, a specialised and savvy way to have your outdoor vision unfold in unison with the build.

Curtains, blinds and awnings are often the quiet achievers in home improvements. Not only essential to finishing a room aesthetically, window dressings have key functions in managing passive solar, creating privacy, filtering or refracting harsh light and reducing drafts.

BQ Curtains and Blinds in Victor Harbor are authorised suppliers of Australian-made Luxaflex window treatments and have a wide range of versatile options, from plantation shutters to weather-proof awnings and exclusive Italian imported linens to harmonise your home. It may be trite to say that each design decision is a step towards making your house the home you’ve always wanted, but it’s also true. With skilled guidance each decision you make will combine to create your best space, your home. Every home build or improvement comes about through the accumulation of decisions made, both big and small. The Fleurieu has an array of specialised designers and trades to help you navigate each choice, whether you’re building from the ground up, refreshing a space, extending or landscaping. Take time to experience the impressive and inspirational showrooms across the region as you embark on your next project.

99 and arrangement of tile to achieve your desired effect. Be it a kitchen or laundry splashback, a full bathroom upgrade, an impressive hall or mudroom, or a new swimming pool, they have the perfect solution. A seasoned renovator knows to consider the land, aspect and neighbourhood in the overall home design which equally plays a vital role in landscaping decisions. Generally speaking however, builders have exclusive rights until the time of key handover, when the landscaper can then access the property. Considering purpose and aesthetics, seasonality and climate, soil, and with a sensitivity to native environs it is important to lay a foundation as early as possible to allow a garden to establish and avoid trudging through mud at key handover.

Above left: Modern coastal bedroom styled by Bernadette at Rollo, featuring Enoki ‘Cumulus’ white muslin, bedside pendant lights. Top right: Outdoor space by Coastal Landscapes, combining stone feature wall, creeping greenery and backlit, rusted patina feature wall. Bottom right: Light-filled bathroom with plantation shutters from BQ Curtains and Blinds for chic privacy.

100 beautiful | ethical | unique The Strand, Port Elliot 0428 797 elliotandme.com.au942 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 MASSAGE · ACUPUNCTURE · OSTEOPATHY · NATUROPATHY CHIROPRACTIC · COUNSELLING LAKE BREEZE WINES lunch + tastings + events + weddings bed + breakfast Step Road Langhorne Creek | 8537 3017 | lakebreeze.com.au W I L L U N G A

101 Delicious food, amazing cocktails. Family friendly fare. Enjoy the fiesta! 17 - 21 Ocean Street Victor Harbor call (08) 8552 9883 or www.locomexican.com for online reservations. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 5pm but check trading hours on facebook.com/locovictorharbor/Facebook 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 ESTD.04092005286135 billygoatbrickstone@hotmail.comBLD248623OLD | NEW | ECO With 40 years of experience building award winning ‘rammed earth’ homes and commercial builds across South Australia, our stunning rammed earth walls are the most sustainable forms of building materials in the market. They can be included in a passive solar design to reduce energy consumption and save you money. Request a free consultation 0428 030 322 Email : stabilisedearthadelaide@gmail.comWebsite:www.aseg.net

102The 10 o’clock swimmers are freshly showered when I meet them on a sunny Tuesday in autumn. They emerge oneby-one from the Port Elliot Surf Club and gather at the tables on the western side of Horseshoe Bay.

Everyday, no matter the weather, they set out at the eponymous time, swimming first to the The Sisters before heading for Commodore Point and then cutting across the bay, back to their entry point near the surf Conditionsclub.this morning are benign and a few of the swimmers went through the gap between The Sisters, known to the 10 o’clockers as ‘Jackie’s Gap’. Jackie was the first swimmer in the group to discover the gap was swimmable. You could say she’s come to ocean swimming later in life, having taken it up the week before her 72nd birthday. Now eighty, ‘She’s the craziest of us all,’ deadpans Helen. Helen’s been swimming the bay for over thirty years now, with various groups throughout the years. Adrian’s clocked up fourteen. John has

Cold water community Story by Kate Le Gallez. swum for nine. Relative newcomer Kate joined two years ago. She also does her bit to lower the average age which sits at around seventy. They mostly pre-date the recent spike in interest in ocean swimming and its benefits. Newspaper stories reported the increased interest in ocean swimming during Covid lockdowns. And while the fresh air may have been the initial attraction, many of the newcomers discovered the benefits and addictive nature of ocean swimming that the 10 o’clock swimmers already well knew. Of course they don’t refer to any of the studies delving into the benefits of cold water swimming, from boosting immunity to lowering stress and improving mental health. They know these things intuitively. ‘None of us get really sick,’ Helen says. Adrian adds ‘It’s cheaper than a psychiatrist,’ before John off-handedly mentions, ‘Apparently we have more brown fat’ (instead of the standard white fat) which, it should be quickly pointed out, is a good thing. One aspect that science has yet to quantify is the community that grows around these groups. The 10 o’clock swimmers are something of a motley crew – ‘Tree huggers to silver spooners’ someone quips. They don’t live in each others’ pockets, but the daily contact naturally begets a certain solidarity. They’ve seen each other through new Above: Daily swimmers at Horseshoe Bay creating a community, encouraging courage and manifesting a sense of well-being.

For another of the daily swimming groups – the cold gang –community has become part of their raison d’être. Most of the cold gang have been cold swimming for a year or less and although they might be newer to the daily ritual, their conversion to the practice has been swift and no less complete.

There are five women swimming when I join them at sunrise on Easter Monday. Usually there’s more, but school holidays, work and Covid have kept a few away. The routine for these swimmers is different to the 10 o’clock crew. The cold gang find their high in a much shorter route, today swimming to the pontoon and back.

It’s something of a highway on this particular morning, with another larger group also taking the plunge at the same time. Many in this other group are decades-long stalwarts of the Horseshoe Bay swim. One elderly woman is accompanied to the shoreline by her adult son. She stabs her walking stick into the stand so it remains upright, ready for her return.

Even in April the water temperature takes my breath away, and I spend a couple of minutes gasping before I can relax. In contrast, cold gangers Mandy and Sarah chat away. They’re talking about a recent event they both attended, but it’s not small talk. The discussion is a deeper chat between two people who know each other and what’s important to them.

But just like the 10 o’clock swimmers, the cold gang are addicted to the flood of wellbeing they feel as a result of swimming each day. The dual endorphine hit from being among like-minded people and their physiological response to the water is and continues to be life altering. As I head for my car, Mandy gives me a knowing smile: ‘Once you start, you can’t stop,’ she says. And I know I’ll be back.

103 relationships and breakups, raised money together for the surf club and even taken swimming holidays together.

Afterwards, they tell me about the intimacy that’s quickly grown within the group. Before swimming together, they might have said hello at school pickup. Now they holiday together. I can’t linger to chat on this particular morning, as my shivering body has progressed to full on shakes. Sarah recalls their own early endeavours embracing the cold. ‘I think my body’s become cold adapted,’ she muses. ‘It’ll be interesting to see what happens this winter. Last year I’d just go in and bob around for three or four minutes.’

Little Bunyips Forest Smores and Explore Hindmarsh Island

Little Bunyips Crazy Chemistry Hindmarsh Island July 12 and 18 (Ages: 5-11) Experience science in a fun and hands-on way through a range of activities and experiments, all while exploring the outdoors and making new friends. Spend the day building rockets, making volcanoes and testing the laws of science. Can you make the biggest volcano?

Wilderness Escape Outdoor Adventures Winter 2022 School Holiday Program

Mountain Bike Navigation Treasure Hunt Kuitpo Forest July 13 (Ages: 10-17) The perfect mix of orienteering and mountain biking. To start the day, you’ll be given a short lesson on how to correctly use our bikes. Then, you’ll be given a map to follow as you weave your way in and out of the forest, finding clues to lead you to the lost treasure. To end the day, if time permits and riding skills are appropriate, you’ll have the chance to show off your riding skills on the beginner mountain bike trails.

Go Wild @ Southern Adventure Hub McLaren Vale July 19 (Ages: 8-17)

NOTE: All activities cost $93.50 and are full day experiences.

climbing wall and longest forest zip line. Then challenge yourself and your team to work together on our high ropes course, putting your teamwork and trust to the test. To end the day, you’ll be able to have a go on the ‘leap of faith’, where you’ll have to put faith in yourself to make the ultimate jump into mid-air to catch the suspended trapeze.

Rock The Climb Onkaparinga Onkaparinga Gorge July 14 (Ages: 10-17) Spend the ultimate day in Onkaparinga National Park, with plenty of time to explore the picturesque surroundings while going on a nature walk. Keep a look out for the native wildlife, including koalas, kangaroos, possums and different species of birds – you may even spot an echidna. Then, walk to the cliff to end the day with an opportunity to rock climb on the natural cliff surface, which will be both thrilling and challenging.

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July 11 and 19 (Ages: 5-11)

Learn to be a forest explorer! Try putting your cooking skills to the test by learning to cook over a campfire. Then spend the afternoon adventuring in the forest through a variety of fun, exciting and challenging activities, including a low ropes course, bridge building, cubby building and boomerang making. The perfect experience for younger school-age children.

T: 08 8165 2022. wildernessescape.com.au/school-holidays

Rock The Climb Morialta Morialta Conservation Park July 21 (Ages: 10-17) Challenge yourself with the ultimate day in Morialta Conservation Park, including the chance to test yourself climbing as high as you can on the natural cliff surface. Then try the reverse and descend from the top of the cliff during the abseiling session. You’ll also explore the wonders of Morialta Falls and, if you look close enough you may be lucky enough to spot some wildlife, such as koalas, kangaroos and different species of birds.

The Southern Adventure Hub offers the perfect mix between heart-thumping adrenaline and getting out in nature to explore and have fun. You’ll have the chance to face the climb on the two-sided rock-climbing wall, as well as the continuous high ropes course which features ten different elements, each harder than the last. You’ll also enjoy bouldering, the adventure trail and billy carts. End the day by taking the ‘leap of faith’, where you’ll have to put faith in yourself to make the ultimate jump into mid-air to catch the suspended trapeze.

Experienced outdoor education provider, Wilderness Escape, have a full schedule of activities to get kids outdoors and into nature, learning and having fun at the same time. Designed for participants from 5 to 17 years of age, and with something to appeal to every interest – from chefs and scientists to adrenaline junkies – the winter holidays are sorted.

Go Mountain Biking Kuitpo Forest July 22 (Ages: 10-17) Have a fun-filled, thrilling day riding the mountain bike tracks and learning new skills. Start the day by learning how to correctly use our bikes, or by refreshing your skills on the beginner riding tracks and trails. Then, have a go on the pump track and show off your skills by riding the intermediate track. The day is sure to be fun and exciting while you meet new friends and challenge your riding skills.

Go Wild @ Mount Lofty Adventure Hub Piccadilly July 15 (Ages: 8-17) Get out of your comfort zone and push yourself on SA’s highest artificial rockLooking for something to get the kids off their devices this school holidays?

105 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 styledairy guide For a logo to be effective, it’s essential that it doesn’t change. It needs to be represented the same way over and over again. logo is suddenly represented in red logo suddenly becomes blue) the audience becomes Repetition and consistency This style guide is a reference for your logo, and will outline different circumstances. Jimmy Smith’s DairyJimmy Smith’s Dairy All ages, all levels, all time fun! P: 0412 950 surfcultureaustralia.com.au087LearntoSurf INDOOR PLANTS · CERAMICS · BASKETS · PLANTERS · HOMEWARES · BEAUTY PRODUCTS · JEWELLERY GIFT VOUCHERS · CARDS · SELECT GARDENING PRODUCTS charlieandjack.com.au · Victor Harbor Design / branding / photography / video production jason@threefiftyseven.comwww.threefiftyseven.com · 0418 895 999

SA – whose purpose is to champion contemporary music in South Australia – created this unique winter experience to keep people connected to music culture, and musicians on stage, during winter’s steely grasp. Music SA are delighted to bring Umbrella Festival back in 2022, and are designing this year’s program to assist in the recovery of the SA live music sector. A record number of events at various venues across the state have registered, reaching as far as Elliston to Kangaroo Island, and a swag of them will be held here on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The festivities will brighten our lives and our local venues throughout the whole month of July, with notable locals Chalk Hill, Sourc’D Wine Collective

As106 the days get colder and shorter and the pull toward the warm hearths of home grows stronger, one sure way to keep your flame alive is by throwing on your winter woolies and getting along to one of the 170 plus events during the Umbrella Festival this July.

The Umbrella Festival is an open-access live music festival run by musicians, for musicians. After a generous grant in 2016 from the South Australian government, not-for-profit organisation Music

Umbrella Festival Words by Hollie Connery. 1 to 31 July 2022

and Bar, Port Noarlunga Arts Centre and Beach Road Wines championing the cause.

With the necessary adaptations the music industry has had to undergo to survive ongoing capacity restrictions over the last couple of years, a beautiful evolution toward small and intimate gigs, running more regularly, has emerged. So if you forge outwards to get among the warmth and vibrancy of our unique live music scene this winter, know that you’re doing exactly what this industry needs to keep it alive.

Funding assistance is gratefully received from the Live Music Events Fund through the Music Development Office (MDO) and the South Australian Tourism Commission. Registrations are open for musicians and venues until the 23 June.

Visit www.umbrellafestival.com.au for program and tickets.

The program provides an opportunity for musicians and local businesses to partner and sustain a strong live music culture as the industry continues to recover from the devastating impacts Covid has had on our local musicians and the bars, restaurants and clubs that accommodate their audiences. Steve Pitkin from Music SA remarks, ‘We want to encourage live music in rural and regional South Australia, to highlight those pockets that are putting on lots of gigs, so hot spots can emerge and musicians don’t need to travel vast distances and take their talents to the city in order to draw an audience. So they can develop their careers closer to home.’

Page left and above: All photos taken at Umbrella Festival 2021 by Samuel Graves.

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Jared and April Wilson (nee Trewartha) were married at Aldinga Beach on the 5th of February 2022. Photography by Travis Cornish.

Fleurieu weddings

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After a short stroll, they stopped, setting up their picnic while taking in the views of Kangaroo Island. With some prompting from Jared, their nephew began yelling, ‘Marry Jared! marry Jared!’ right in April’s face. It wasn’t until she turned around and saw Jared on one knee that she knew it was real. They began planning a ‘traditional’ Saturday afternoon wedding, choosing Thomas Street Reserve, Aldinga Beach for their ceremony followed by a reception at the Do Bee Honey property, owned by April’s parents. Unfortunately, Covid restrictions forced April and Jared to change their wedding plans in a big way.

April and Jared’s love story began in March 2019 with a first date at One Little Sister in Normanville. After two years, Jared thought it was time to take his relationship with April to the next stage and made plans to propose. With a picnic packed, engagement ring hidden and cute nephew in tow, April and Jared headed to Blowhole Beach, Deep Creek.

109 at the Aldinga Secret Garden in the historic township of Aldinga. The relaxed vibe created by the garden’s owner, Janet Freeman, was exactly what the couple had dreamt of. The afternoon was full of love, good food from Chef Steele, music to suit the mood from The Baker Boys and a sweet serving of childhood nostalgia with ice cream from Adelaide Hills Ice Cream.

Page left: Jared and April at Port Willunga after saying ‘I do’. Top left: Jared and April’s ceremony at Thomas Street Reserve. Middle left: Sharing pizza with guests. Top right: Wedding photos in Port Willunga after the ceremony. Above: The wedding party on the beach.

What began as a Saturday afternoon ceremony followed by reception, soon turned into a two-day affair. With the help and support of their families, their new wedding plan became a reality. Day one began as they’d always hoped, with a Saturday afternoon ceremony at the Thomas Street Reserve, officiated by Natalie Johansen. The beautiful ceremony was followed by a quick celebration with family, friends and pizza before the newlyweds made the most of a perfect sunset at Gulls Rock, Port Willunga. The next day, April and Jared, together with their family and friends, continued the wedding celebrations with a long, late lunch reception

110 Fly the Fleurieu Waitpinga in the winter. fly-the-fleurieu.com · @fly_the_fleurieu

07. Russell Morris Owner of Veg Out. Russell recently took over Veg Out and loves the community in Victor Harbor. He’s excited about running his new business and the new restructured interior layout of the shop.

Interviews by Levi Deliveyne and photography by Ryan Cantwell.

03. Damien Kirkwood Owner of Wood Coffee Roasters. Damien likes the pace of Victor Harbor and enjoys the quiet season as much as the busy season. He looks forward to the Victor Harbor Rock N Roll Festival which hasn’t run for the last two years.

My Victor: What the locals love about Victor Harbor life

John has been cutting hair in his barber shop for 38 years and he loves his regular customers and the country feel of Victor Harbor.

05. John Nicolls Barber at John Nicolls Men’s Hair Salon. 01

01. Praveen Sacaran Employee at Planted Coffee. Praveen has lived in Victor Harbor his whole life and likes that it’s not as busy as Adelaide. Weather permitting, he loves going to the beach for a swim or to fish.

02. Madeline Adamson Employee at The Surf Shop. Madeline likes the smaller community in Victor and its familyoriented, relaxed, slow-paced nature. She’s excited for the main street redevelopment to reach the front of The Surf Shop.

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04. Aza Newland Employee at Raw Bulk Wholefoods. Aza loves the environment and the community. She’s excited about the new art precinct development to take place across the road.

06. Colin Steer Artist. Colin likes the pubs, in particular the Victor Hotel, and nature. He’s a multi-medium artist who spends his time painting mainly abstract paintings.

08. Mickey Mason Artist/Creative. When Mickey isn’t putting a paintbrush to canvas or pointing a camera lens at someone, he’s likely to be surfing at Waitpinga, Middleton, or his favourite spot, The Dump.

09. Tayla Bray Employee at Qahwa Coffee Roasters and Espresso Bar. Tayla loves the disconnection from the city and her ability to grow creatively in Victor Harbor. When she’s not pouring lattes, she enjoys painting, singing and aspires to play the guitar.

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01. David and Alistair Mackenzie. 02. Darcy Crouch with Jeremy and Kirsty Ievins. 03. Mille and Lou Sturt with Rebecca McEwan. 04. Billy February. 05. Nathan and Peter Hunt. 06. Nic Nicol and Angela Wilde. 07. Daniel Armon and Peter Miller. 08. Tammy, Jade, Gary and Brooke Gowland. 08

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Being Social: Southern Surf Festival – Middleton

The Southern Surf Festival held in Middleton at the end of April was a spectacular celebration of South Australian surfing. With surf competitions for young and old, short and long boards, the event saw excited crowds gather on the esplanade to watch the best surfers battle it out in the state and interclub finals. In perfect surf weather, visitors enjoyed perusing local business stalls and indulging in good food, all while listening to great local music talent. Photographs by Izzy McMillan.

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. 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.