Fleurieu Peninsula: Beaches, vineyards and adventures to inspire creative spirit

LESS than an hour’s drive from Adelaide, the Fleurieu Peninsula is filled with everything that will satisfy your soul: art, food, adventure and wine. Be inspired by the region that sparks the creativity of so many artists.

The Rubik’s cube-like D’Arenberg Cube is part cellar door, past restaurant and part art gallery. Picture: Marc Mandica

WARREN Pickering is a sculptor who was born in the United Kingdom. But today, just like many other artists, he calls South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula home. The Fleurieu’s rolling hills, sprawling vineyards and expansive beaches help to inspire and spark his creativity. Just like so many artists who have gone before him (think David Dridan, Hans Heysen or John Olsen), this is the place that fills his soul with the fire and drive to create his art.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe in my life. Just recently, I was back in the south of France, and it is astonishing how similar it is to the Fleurieu, climatically, geographically: it’s amazing,” Pickering says.

Pickering, along with wife Anna Small, has opened the region’s latest art gallery — the Fleurieu Arthouse — inside a disused and expansive storage shed on the historic Hardys Tintara winery in the main street of McLaren Vale.

Go adventuring with the Big Duck Boat Tour in Victor Harbor. Picture: SATC

This location — along with the Stump Hill Gallery, also in McLaren Vale, and the Signal Point Gallery in the seaside town of Goolwa — will play host to the 2018 Fleurieu Biennale. From June 16 until July 22, art — sitting alongside the sea, the vines, the wines and the fares — will be the focus of the region throughout winter. The 2018 Fleurieu Biennale marks the 20th anniversary of the Fleurieu Art Prize, established in 1998 by locals David Dridan, Greg Trott and Tony Parkinson with the support of major wineries.

Grab yourself a copy of the Fleurieu Peninsula Art Trail brochure at any of the visitor centres and follow a self-drive route where you’ll discover more than 60 of the region’s top art spots on five different trails.

The horse-drawn tram crosses the causeway from Granite Island. Picture: Marina Saint Martin

One of the striking things about the Fleurieu Peninsula — which includes hilltop towns such as Willunga and McLaren Vale, to the tip of Cape Jervis — is its mix of art, food and wine.

Take for example McLaren Vale’s d’Arenberg Cube — the striking green, white and glass geometric Rubik’s cube-like structure. Part cellar door, part restaurant, part modern art gallery, it is proving quite the tourist attraction, making it all-parts genius.

Along with the art comes the wine, and the Fleurieu is stacked with it: from the established McLaren Vale, which also includes avant-garde wineries such as Alpha Box and Dice that is rolling out varietals like Nero D’Avola and Montepulciano, to the lesser-known Currency Creek wineries, as well as Langhorne Creek and the Southern Fleurieu wine region encompassing Yankalilla, Mount Jagged, Hindmarsh Valley and Victor Harbor.

While art, food and wine are standout features of the Fleurieu, so too is adventure: think diving through the wreck of the Star of Greece, which sank in a violent storm off Port Willunga in 1888, or swimming with tuna in a tuna pen in waters near Victor Harbor; hiking through sections of the Heysen Trail, surfing at Boomer Beach or camping at Deep Creek Conservation Park. The standout beaches of the region are Southport Beach at Port Noarlunga, Blowhole Beach at Deep Creek, Second Valley, Waitpinga and Port Elliot’s Horseshoe Bay.

Then there are the Fleurieu attractions that have stood the test of time: catching the horse-drawn tram at Victor Harbor to Granite Island and searching for penguins; finding pipis to cook for dinner along Goolwa Beach and enjoying the stunning stretch of beach at Carrickalinga.

And, you never know: any one of these experiences might just inspire your next work of art.

Port Noarlunga is one of the Peninsula’s numerous beautiful beaches. Picture: Adam Bruzzone/SATC

EXPERIENCE THESE

Whale Time Playtime Festival

May 27

This unique children’s winter festival celebrates the start of the annual whale season each year. The Victor Harbor-based festival boasts a day full of live entertainment, kids’ activities, rides, market stalls and entry to the South Australian Whale Centre. Festival entry is $5 per person, which includes live performances, rides, free entry to the South Australian Whale Centre and two-for-one tickets on the Horse-Drawn Tram.

whaletimeplaytimefestival.com.au

2018 McLaren Vale Sea and Vines Festival

June 9-11

This annual festival celebrates the culinary and winemaking traditions of South Australia’s world-class gastronomic destination that is the McLaren Vale over the June long weekend. The unique, ticketed events at various wineries are carefully designed to offer flavour, feasting and immersive sensory experiences.

seaandvines.com.au

Willunga Almond Blossom Festival

July 28-August 1

Set among the stunning almond blooms of Willunga, this weekend festival incorporates a family fair, with fireworks, a street parade, market stalls and almond cookery competition, festival lunches and an awards night.

almondblossomfestival.com.au

Festival of Nature

September 7-9

A three-day festival in the town of Yankalilla which will inspire, empower and celebrate sustainable living through a vibrant program of open homes and gardens, pop-up workshops, talks, demonstrations and exhibits. All of this is delivered against a backdrop of delicious local food and wine.

australias.guide/sa/event/festival-of-nature

FUN FACT

The region was named after Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu by the French explorer Nicolas Baudin, as he explored the south coast of Australia in 1802.