‘This story’s right, this story’s true, I would not tell lies to you’.
These are the opening lines of Archie Roach’s song ‘Took the Children Away’ and the poignant introduction used by David Sly, journalist, writer, author and editor, in a compelling interview with the man himself at Adelaide Writers Week 2020.
It’s hard to imagine a more perfect setting for a relaxed restaurant specialising in dishes containing Goolwa cockles, than behind the sand dunes overlooking the beach where they can be harvested. The Kuti shack is at the end of Beach Road at Goolwa Beach and sits between the new Goolwa Surf Life Saving Club and the popular surf beach. If you’re planning a holiday to the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia, you will want to add the Kuti Shack to your list of places to try if you want the best views and seafood experiences on the coast.
The Adelaide Fringe Festival is on again and this year if there is one experience I would highly recommend attending, it is ‘Yabarra Dreaming in Light’. This beautiful multi-sensory experience invites people to learn more about the Kaurna culture, the aboriginal clan of the Adelaide plains, and pay respect to the land.
The 26th of January is currently recognised as Australia Day, a day to celebrate all things we love about Australia, the land, the lifestyle, the diversity, the nature and animals and the people that make this country the place we call home. I say currently recognised, as one day the date may change, a contentious issue for some.
Tucked away off the busy Goolwa Terrace is an interesting park full of Australian plants native to the area and a pathway leading through them, dotted with interpretive signage. The signs explain how the plants were used by the local indigenous Ngarrindjeri people for food and medicine. The park was created in 2007 as a joint project between the Alexandrina Council, the Ngarrindjeri people and local artists and is intended to bring people into a welcoming and healing space to learn a bit of history as you meander through.
Some people might find this book is a little heavier going to read, I know I did, but I also think it’s a really important one to read. I want to love reading Tim Winton books but I do find his use of language goes over my head sometimes. I find his elaborate and complicated manner of writing makes me have to think too hard to find reading his books easy, but if you can get past that or don’t have a problem with it, he certainly has a way of describing the Australian landscape, lifestyle and people completely and precisely.
There’s a lookout area that you can drive into as you enter the town of Victor Harbor on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia that’s often overlooked by those of us familiar with the area. The view is always something that grabs your attention as you drive into the town and is one that makes you go wow as you see the big blue expanse of water come into view. From here you can also see Granite Island and the causeway that leads to it, and the hills of Victor Harbor with houses sprawling in all directions.
