Tasty spots on Kangaroo Island

AUSTRALIA's third largest island is evolving as an all-year foodie destination with its honey farms, wineries, marron and cattle, writes Julian Swallow.

Kangaroo island Escape

JON Lark is a devotee of the "slow spirits" movement - a sort of alcoholic appendage to the "slow food" equivalent so much in vogue overseas.

While the distinctive bottles of his Kangaroo Island Spirits have garnered a swag of international awards, a rustic cottage off the main highway west from Kingscote still acts as host to his nascent distilling empire. 

Outside, there are carriage wheels rusting artfully against the fence and a bear of a dog that turns belly-up like a capsized boat as it invites you to tickle its tummy. 

But inside, Jon and his wife, Sarah, are hard at work on the particular alchemy of alcohol creation, using an antique copper drum and funnel set up in the shop. 

In what amounts to part country kitchen and part backyard science lab, the couple transform juniper berries and other locally harvested ingredients into various spirits. 

Originally from Perth and Sydney, the Larks spent time in remote Aboriginal communities before relocating to Kangaroo Island in search of a southern sea change. Jon worked in aquaculture until six years ago, when he gave away the management of fish to cater to the desires of people who prefer to drink like them. 

"I did a lot of water quality and chemistry," he says with a chuckle. 

"It came in handy." 

KI's first boutique distillery is a favourite stop on Tourism Kangaroo Island's new Farm Gate and Cellar Door Trail an island-wide gastronomic crawl comprising three, day-long self-drive itineraries meant to link the island's best food, craft and drink experiences. 

The trail takes motorists past 18 spots of special interest, ranging from wineries to lavender farms, dairies and fresh seafood. 

Locals are often fond of referring to their home as Australia's Galapagos, in reference to the fabled archipelago's status as nature's research and development lab. 

But if better known for its natural wonders than its man-made achievements, Australia's third-largest island has lately emerged as a place where dreams like the Larks' can evolve into profitable enterprises. 

It is a point easily missed if you only follow the well-trodden trail in search of KI's natural wonders and the teeming wildlife. 

But like the southerly blusters that send whitecaps barrelling towards its coast, the island's produce is beginning to make serious waves locally, interstate and overseas.

Southeast of Kangaroo Island Spirits, David Clifford's 300 hives are home to about 70,000 of the island's famous Ligurian bees.

"That's a lot of bees," he says in his understated way, as he shuffles about his warehouse and processing site. 

"Most of them are good-tempered, although I always use a bit of smoke to keep them in check." 

Brought to the island in the 1880s, the bees are pure-bred Ligurians: bright of colour, docile of temper and generous of production.

The owner of Clifford's Honey Farm sets them loose on KI eucalyptus and the canola crops that lend their honey its unique taste. 

The bees produce about 3000kg a month of liquid gold, and David also transforms their wax into the candles and lip balms he sells alongside honey in the farm shop, at specialty stores on the mainland, and over the internet. 

Demand for David's honey spiked 200 per cent after MasterChef stopped by in June. 

Aside from its export potential, KI honey finds its way into any number of the island's favourite products, including the Larks' honey liqueur. 

From the heights overlooking Penneshaw, Sunset Wineries holds a favoured position as the first winery heading west from the mainland ferry. 

Its cellar door has sweeping views of the coast and its processing area hosts some of the island's best paintings during KI's annual art festival every September and October. 

Sunset Wineries buys its grapes from some of the 30 vineyards now dotted across KI, taking them to fermentation before they are shipped to the mainland for processing in McLaren Vale. 

While sauvignon blanc is its signature white, part-owner Athalie Martin greets guests with a tipple of sparkling shiraz that gives off a fizzy tingle as it settles on the palate. 

The island's wines might still sit in the shadow of the Barossa, the Clare Valley and McLaren Vale but, with its mix of temperatures and variations in climate, the island produces almost the full gamut of varieties. 

Cooler-climate grapes cling on amid the hairdryer gales of the west coast, while a number of Mediterranean varieties grow in the more bucolic east.

"The only wines that don't do so well are pinot noir," Athalie says. 

About an hour away from Sunset Wineries, Two Wheeler Creek Wines is the most westerly on the island  - best known for producing a savoury sauvignon blanc. 

Its founder, John Melbourne, bought the property in the 1990s and quickly established both the Two Wheeler Creek winery and the Andermel Marron farm. 

Marron, a West Australian freshwater crayfish, was introduced to the island more than 40 years ago and eventually ran feral in the island's waterways. 

That was until John decided the existence of a marron was much improved on a platter with a garnish of salad, a bottle of wine and a little bit of sauce. 

There are now more than 300,000 marron in tanks across the property, where they live and breed before ending their existence in The Marron Cafe -  their demise a celebration of the link between farm gate and cellar door. 

During the course of a day's driving along the trail, you will notice a quiet confidence among KI's producers, even if some bemoan the state of the economy and there remains work to be done on improving road infrastructure and relaxing what are seen by many as often-restrictive opening hours. 

They feel they are at the first flush of discovery  - the island is no longer solely defined by quirks of geology, animal antics and a spectacular coastline. 

And with the advent of the Farm Gate and Cellar Door Trail, Kangaroo Island, as local tourism boss Pierre Gregor likes to say, is coming of age as an all-season, all-weather destination.

--------------------

-- Go2

-- KANGAROO ISLAND

- Getting there

SeaLink ferries sail between Cape Jervis and Penneshaw three times a day. Regional Express airline (Rex) flies to Kingscote.

- Seeing there

The Kangaroo Island Farm Gate and Cellar Door Trail has three routes: the Dudley Peninsula, Central and South Coast, and Kingscote and surrounds. The guide can be downloaded at southaustralia.com/info.aspx?id=9010370

 More: See Southaustralia.com/regions/kangaroo-island.aspx