Red Centre

The number of visitors to the region is set to soar later this year with Penola, the only town in the region, having close links with Mary MacKillop, who is scheduled to become canonised as Australia’s first saint on October 17. The Mary MacKillop Interpretive Centre in Penola is the region’s major drawcard, along with the many cellar doors.

Coonawarra, though, has plenty to offer throughout the year thanks to a series of annual food and wine festivals that include the Coonawarra Vignerons Race Day festival each January, After Dark, held each April, the Cellar Dwellers events in June and the Coonawarra Cabernet Celebrations every October.

Some of the biggest names in wine are to be found here: Wynns Coonawarra Estate, Bowen Estate, Hollick, Yalumba The Menzies and Brand’s Laira. Add family-owned operations like Rymill, Redman, Zema Estate, S Kidman, Majella, Patrick and Koonara, add great red producers like Katnook Estate, Leconfield, Balnaves and Parker Coonawarra Estate, and any serious wine lover will be in his or her element.
A glass or two of the 2008 Leconfield Cabernet Sauvignon should be enough to convert any doubters.

Penola has a population of 1200 and Coonawarra is home to just a couple of hundred people – but this is no sleepy backwater. There are close to 30 cellar doors and several spots to eat and drink, including the new Terra Rossa Wine Club in Penola, which serves local wines and tapas and has built a strong following in just 12 months, and a couple of good local pubs.

On the main street is the Koonara cellar door, which also sells kitchen goods and homewares, as well as local produce. It doesn’t get any more country than this.
Even better, many of the cellar doors are manned by winemakers, such as Greg Clayfield at Zema Estate, or members of the family whose name is on the label.
At Fodder, a popular Coonawarra café that serves superb pizzas, you’ll be served by former Rymill winemaker John Innes, or his wife Melissa, both of whom are hugely enthusiastic about the region and its wines.

Looking for fine dining in a small rural town can often be a thankless task, but not in Penola, where Pipers of Penola is run by chef Simon Bowen, a member of one of the region’s most famous winemaking families, and his wife Erika. Both formerly worked at the Lake House in Daylesford and have created one of the best restaurants in regional Australia. Wild rabbit and mushroom pithiviers served with shallot purée are a triumph, as is roasted duck breast with shitake mushrooms and truffle dressing. www.pipersofpenola.com.au.

Just down the road is Upstairs At Hollick, which has long been regarded as one of Australia‘s best winery restaurants. Sample dishes featuring local produce, including daily specials, like crispy skinned local pork belly and artichoke purée, which are accompanied by wines from a list of local and imported bottles. Diners can enjoy vineyard views or look in on the winery through a glass wall. www.hollick.com/upstairs.

Must@Coonawarra, Merlot and Verdelho Townhouses, Punters Vineyard Retreat, Yalumba The Menzies Retreat, the Alexander Cameron Motel and Chardonnay Lodge all offer accommodation in and around the vines – and there are also several excellent self-catering cottages from which to choose for those who want to spend a few days enjoying the atmosphere of one of the country’s friendliest wine regions.

Lord Howe Island Delights

Arajilla Retreat resort and Capella Lodge are the two top-end resorts. Both are small, with around a dozen rooms each, and there are also guesthouses and self-catering cottages.
One of Arajilla’s major attractions is the Arajilla Ayurvedic Spa, which offers a range of facials and massages based on ancient Indian principles. An abhyanga massage “using hot ayurda oil to soothe, calm and nurture the body” left me feeling clear of mind and detoxified, if still a little stiff of leg, after a walk to one of the island’s many summits proved rather more strenuous than I had anticipated.
I would have been far wiser to opt for a quiet walk along some of the most beautiful and deserted beaches to be found anywhere in Australia, although many adventurous holidaymakers tackle the 875-metre Mount Gower, which is regarded as one of the world’s best day walks.
The pleasures here are very simple ones; as is the journey, a 90-minute direct Qantas Link flight from Sydney or Brisbane, or an even shorter skip across the pond from Port Macquarie.
From Arajilla, just 50 metres above the rock pools and golden sands of Old Settlement Beach, we took advantage of the complimentary free bicycles to pedal our way to Ned’s Beach where we threw stale bread into the water - much to the delight of several dozen kingfish, multi-coloured wrasse and slippery mullet, several of which were surprisingly large and extremely tame.
Ned’s Beach - which was named Australia’s cleanest in 2004 - is also a great spot for a pre-dinner drink.
There are only a handful of vehicles on Lord Howe and the speed limit of 25kph is enforced by the one policeman who also fulfils the roles of customs agent, immigration officer and harbour pilot. That said you may still have to get out of your car to shoo somnambulant mutton birds off the road – their favoured resting place because the tarmac is warm.
Arajilla Retreat, our base, is a leafy, comfortable, up-market resort that recently reopened after undergoing refurbishments. There are three styles of suites, offering one and two bedrooms, while tariffs include three meals a day and pre-dinner drinks. The food is nicely presented by competent and friendly staff.
Standout dishes during our stay included prawn and fish cakes with cucumber daikon salad and ginger dipping sauce; truffled mushroom risotto with rosemary and crumbly cheddar and kingfish in kaffir lime broth with snake beans and fresh coriander. Wines are selected by Nick Butler of Orange’s Union Bank Wine Store (think Tim Adams, Majella and Heartland). There’s also that essential for visitors from the inner west: a good coffee machine.
During the day, most guests choose to walk, cycle, play golf or bowls, or head off on boating excursions to fish for kingfish or garfish, snorkelling with turtles or exploring coral reefs in glass bottomed boats.
Light picnic lunches and barbecue packs are available from Arajilla for those wanting to explore the island at a leisurely pace. Snorkeling and light fishing gear are free to guests, although many prefer to simply sit under a Kentia or Banyan tree and enjoy the sub-tropical ambience.
Settled in 1838, Lord Howe has been a whaling port, palm plantation and, since the 1940s – when guests arrived on Catalina flying boats from Rose Bay – a holiday retreat for a lucky few who want to both wind back the clock and wind down.
THE FACTS QantasLink has regular air services to Lord Howe Island from Sydney, Brisbane and Port Macquarie. Phone 13 13 13 or visit www.qantas.com.au.
Arajilla Retreat offers a range of packages and three levels of accommodation from $520 per night per person all inclusive. Children under six are not accepted. Phone 1800 063 928, or see www.arajilla.com.au.
For further information phone 1800 240 937 or 13 20 77, or see www.lordhoweisland.info and www.visitnsw.com.au.

Lord Howe Island

It is a sub-tropical island that is a World Heritage site and has been described as the most beautiful in the Pacific. It lies 600 kilometres east of the Australian mainland and is an increasingly popular destination for Sydneysiders looking to get away from it all.
Welcome to Lord Howe Island and its satellites, the remnants of an ancient volcano whose shape protects a coral reef and lagoon that attract an amazing range of marine life.
Lord Howe is home to several million Kentia palms, petrels, shearwaters, terns and a wide range of bird life and has just 350 permanent residents. With visitors limited to 400 at any one time, peace and quiet is assured.
There is no mobile phone signal, no fast-food outlets, no high-rise buildings and no power cables. Instead, the clear, clean sea lures visitors to swim, surf, snorkel, dive, fish or paddle, year-round.