Lure, Fleurieu Peninsula, Spring 2016.
The Varnished Culture got in a jalopy, stacked a bunch of CDs in the player and set off under an early Spring murk, down south to Lure, a new Bed ‘n’ Breakfast on the Fleurieu Peninsula, an hour’s drive from Adelaide. It’s an easy-peasy drive: you take the main arterial road, imaginatively called ‘South Road,’ and turn onto the Southern Expressway (now a two-way road, thank god) which conveys you south expressly through the suburban sprawl, and tips you out near Reynella.
From there, you can go inland and trawl through the great wineries of McLaren Vale and Southern Vales; or you can do as we did, stick to the coast road, past the Victory Hotel on Sellicks Hill and the big Buddhist Temple overlooking the sea. The road then cuts inland at the coastal cliffs, and soon after that, you turn off towards the Myponga Reservoir.
After a very wet winter, the surrounding country was lush, damp and green, and the reservoir full to the brim. We crossed the bridge (very slowly – it’s quite narrow) and then headed through lush floral fields back towards the sea.
After quarter of an hour or so through postcard views of fat sheep munching thick green grass, we started a descent to more sea-and-salt-swept country, where lazy cows and horses gazed at us, and native fauna ignored us.
And so we slid into Carrickalinga, which is really a village connurbation, not a town, nestled against sand dunes leading to a pristine beach that, were it situated on the Gold Coast or the Cote D’Azur, would be covered in high rise hotels with every square foot of beach roped-off. But here, a bush path wends among a verdant patch of scrub to a beach where you could swim, surf, kayak, read, snooze, or fish all day without bumping into anyone (see main image).
Just across a park from that beach, a walk of 3 minutes or so, was our B ‘n’ B, Lure. It is a 5 minute drive from the little township of Normanville, about 10 minutes from a links course and country club at Lady Bay, and not a whole lot further to Cape Jervis, where you can cruise to Kangaroo Island, stroll Deep Creek Conservation Park (for hardy bushwalkers only), and a whole lot more…you can visit nearby Encounter Bay (where Captain Flinders met Captain Baudin in 1802 and the two suspended historic Anglo-French hostilities), look at whales (no harpooning allowed), head to the Murray River, and generally eat, drink and be merry.
On the question of merriment, the digs at Lure suited us down to the ground. Whereas a number of holiday houses offer a vacant house for a large family or a big group of friends, this is a perfect base for a couple looking to chill out and enjoy some ‘us time’. It is very modern and comfortable, nicely lit and decorated, with all mod cons including a spa, pool, living area featuring a huge library of films, and the biggest TV we’ve seen. In other words, even if you catch a run of bad weather and would rather have dental work than go fishing, there’s plenty of scope to relax indoors. The hosts are very friendly but there’s all the privacy and seclusion you require.
It gets better. Both the Pub and the Country Club will collect you in a shuttle bus and return you to Lure afterwards, so, like your correspondent, you can drink irresponsibly, but do it responsibly!
All in all, we headed back to town feeling very chipper indeed. We recommend luring yourself down the coast this summer, or whenever, and checking out Lure.
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