New accommodation and galleries on the NSW south coast
A popular NSW winery now has 10 more reasons for visitors to pop in.
Inhale. The salt-laden air that seasons the NSW South Coast is carrying more than the smell of lush pasture peppered with cowpats. Licks of fresh paint have barely dried on new developments in the region. So I’m here to breathe deeply, shake off the big city and absorb these new pleasures.
That’s not hard at Cupitt’s Estate, a multi-faceted venture near Milton-Ulladulla that added a thrilling new aspect late last year. The 68ha estate, already popular for its destination restaurant, fromagerie, winery and brewery, upped its accommodation game by adding 10 smartly designed one-bedroom “pods”. A cottage previously used for accommodation is now the guest check-in area.
The expansion was the latest big idea from matriarch Rosie Cupitt, says her son, head winemaker Wally Cupitt, as we stand on the restaurant veranda surveying Stony Creek (a tributary of Burrill Lake), native wetlands where samphire is foraged for the kitchen and the distant Budawang Range. In the foreground, his dad Griff is in his happy place – rounding up calves in a paddock.
“It was just a cattle farm when Mum and Dad got here in 2003,” Wally says. “It was my mum’s vision; she’s kind of the crazy one. When she’s got an idea, she goes for it – hell for leather, despite anyone’s advice. If she did listen to other people, she wouldn’t have created this place. It was very organic, haphazard-style growth but we’re pretty excited about where we are now. We’re so excited about those pods.”
The angular lodgings are lined up like ducks in a row, facing a heave of emerald hill. Two come with balcony tubs, including the first pod, which has the advantage of both side and frontal views from the tub. It’s destination lolling – which is about all I’m up for after indulging in the estate’s pleasures.
First stop: the subterranean barrel room where I sip samples from bottles and straight from the casks between nibbling cubes of Rosie’s week-old cow’s milk cheese that helps open up the wines. Next it’s off to the fromagerie where Rosie is squeezing curds, the brewery and the chemical-free market garden where the personality-plus gardeners pick one perfect, delectable strawberry for me. At the restaurant, I plonk myself down at a table with front-row views of the sauvignon blanc vines and work through three courses with matched wines (I can’t resist the entree of mussels and clams knowing they’re garnished with the estate’s own samphire). Thankfully, it’s a short stagger from the long lunch to my pod.
Here I rotate the farm-style brass taps to fill the tub while exploring the space. The charcoal-walled bathroom has luxe down-lighting, the bedroom is serene and the kitchenette is equipped with every imaginable utensil. The couch, which can convert into a sofa bed, sits beneath bird prints, including one of a black cockatoo (Nowra is named after an Indigenous word for the bird). A bountiful dinner box awaits along with a breakfast hamper.
There’s a hi-tech TV but I prefer to soak in the tub and tune into nature’s television: a chatter of white cockatoos, shafts of golden sunlight, the charge of bible-black storm clouds. From the neighbouring pod, laughter is punctuated by the pop of a champagne cork. I’m still not sure if my peripheral vision catches a fork of lightning or a cork arcing like a shooting star across the newly laid lawn. Everyone is powering down. I realise a neighbouring guest could wander past but it doesn’t matter. Exhale.
By morning, the sky’s scrubbed clean and the world seems infinite with possibility. It’s time to visit another dream-come-true, 120km away at Bowral in the Southern Highlands. Locals had wanted a regional gallery for decades but the battle gained new momentum once Ben Quilty, one of Australia’s most prominent artists, got on board, driving the plan to turn a historic milking shed into a cutting-edge regional gallery.
The lofty brick shed, part of the National Trust-listed Retford Park property, is now Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery. Having worked his magic (which included auctioning one of his Torana paintings to help raise funds), Quilty has retreated to allow director Megan Monte to speak for the institution that opened late last year.
My drive – from rolling farmland to forest-cloaked peaks that give way to hedge-trimmed lanes – doesn’t prepare me for the highlands’ chill greeting when I exit my car in a flimsy frock. Sharp inhale. Inside, the welcome is warm and Monte shimmers into view to show me around. Photographer Tamara Dean’s multimedia exhibition occupies the entire gallery, something that will continue with each exhibition. “We’ll do shows that range from solo presentations to group shows and invited curators,” says Monte. “There will be really contemporary ideas and specific experiences through to traditional works that look back on art history in Australia. We want to give people a range of experiences.”
Monte says Ngununggula (pronounced nun-un-goola), 90 minutes’ drive from Sydney, is “still part of the Sydney conversation but a lot of the artists and show concepts we’re working with have relevance locally”. “It’s a conservative community here but it’s also quite a bold community,” she says. “We want to bring the best that the art worlds – from Sydney initially then hopefully more nationally and internationally – have to offer.” Both the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery of Australia will allow Ngununggula to borrow from their collections.
Although the shed is now a temperature-controlled contemporary gallery, there are evocative nods to its history, from the high rafters and original light switches to brass floor plates marking where cattle feed once travelled through the shed.
In early January, a gallery cafe called Hearth and the Djon Mundine-curated group show The Dingo Project (until March 13) both launched. Those lucky enough to score an invite to the official opening were presented with the unusual sight of sheep trotting through the rooms inspecting the art.
More to the story
Prepare for daring changes at artist Arthur Boyd’s 1993 gift to the nation, Bundanon, which reopens to the public from January 29. The 1100ha bushland property, framing views of the Shoalhaven River that are familiar thanks to Boyd’s fondness for immortalising them on canvas, has undergone a radical transformation to attract visitors to its hinterland location, a half-hour drive behind Nowra. Melbourne architect Kerstin Thompson kept the beloved heritage buildings that include Boyd’s original studio but added a spindly-legged, gully-spanning, 32-bedroom, 150m-long building inspired by a trestle bridge. Tucked into the hillside at one end of the bridge is an underground gallery. Overnight guests can book in for multi-day “experience packages”.
After visiting the reimagined Bundanon, track down Boyd’s gentle visage adorning the rear of Nowra’s Sturgiss Newsagency. Kiwi artist Owen Dippie’s handiwork is part of Nowra’s mural trail. Head to Egans Lane carpark to see larger-scale works such as Adnate’s celebration of Aboriginal culture and Guido van Helten’s salute to Shoalhaven fishermen (based on a photograph by Foxground photographer Jeff Carter). Swing by Quest Nowra on Kinghorne St to admire local artist turned world-famous muralist Smug’s tribute to an early mentor. Freshly launched this summer is the Bomaderry Art Walk, 13 images by Tamara Dean that form a trail between Bomaderry train station and Jelly Bean Park near Egans Lane carpark.
In the know
Cupitt’s Estate is on Washburton Rd on the outskirts of Ulladulla. Pods from $550 a night.
Ngununggula is at Retford Park in Bowral; open daily 10am-4pm.
Katrina Lobley was a guest of Cupitt’s Estate.