Water into Wine Tour: Fleurieu Peninsula
Early morning at the Hindmarsh Island Marina and Peter Summerton fires up the Wetland Explorer for another cruise through the lower reaches of the Murray River. We've jumped on board before, as she's made her way through the Tauwitcherie Barrage and into the shallow waters of the Coorong and onto the Murray Mouth.
Peter loves this end of the river and it's a standard part of any of his wetland cruises but on this trip, we're bound for a little known waterway further upstream from the place the Ngarrindjeri people called Goolwa. Peter Summerton:
“Goolwa is an Aboriginal name that means 'elbow' ... Bend in the river and of course it was Captain Charles Sturt who was the very first European to set foot down here at the elbow in 1830."
Several decades after Sturt's initial discovery and Goolwa became a thriving commercial centre with a constant flow of paddle steamer traffic. As Peter points out there are still reminders today:
“Look at that the old "Oscar W" built at Echuca in 1905. It’s beautiful old vessel, classic example of the sort of boat that used to ply the Murray.”
With Hindmarsh Bridge behind us Peter gives it all she's got as the Wetland Explorer makes up time bound for a hidden part of the lower Murray which wasn't properly charted until eight years after Captain Charles Sturt's historic voyage.
“Two explorers, Strangways and Hutchison made their way up the Murray channel in 1838 on board the 'Currency Lass' hence the name Currency Creek for a tributary of the Murray a few kilometres south. But finally they made their way in here and they called this the Finnis River named after Boyle Travis Finnis, Deputy to Colonel William Light.”
"Soon the Murray disappears into the distance as we lose ourselves in a maze of reeds and hidden waterways that reminiscent of the Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn movie “African Queen.”
“A lot of people don’t know this part of the river is here. An enormous number of people even with boats, haven't been up here because there are some shallow areas. Boats with draughts in excess of three foot quickly find themselves getting stuck. This was also an important area for the Ngarrindjeri People. The reeds were used for baskets etc and the fish were also an important food source. Would you believe there's over forty odd varieties of fish in these waters?”
Soon we've gone as far as we can on what's called the ‘Water into Wine Tour’ and as the water peters out the dairies and vineyards come to the fore. We change our mode of transport to a bus and we’re off to the Currency Creek Winery. Before lunch you can take in a quick tour of what's called the Black Swamp Walking Trail before heading inside for a quick tasting.
The winery has recently undergone some major renovations and - in keeping with it's links to the lower Murray - Currency Creek has made the most of significant pieces of local history as Andy Paul explains:
“We have part of Goolwa history there.. the bar is made from the original barrage blocks which, of course, have since been replaced - that one was barrage number six. The top of the bar is from Victor Harbor - it's Norfolk Island Pine which was getting in the way down there so they chopped it down. It’s been seasoned and has come up very nicely.”
The emphasis is on the local - whether it be local yabbies and local wines served in the perfect winter setting. Next stop after Currency Creek is the winery on the label, “Ballast Stone”, a relative newcomer to the Fleurieu wine scene. From there it's back on the Wetland Explorer for another backwater tour this time up Currency Creek and back home.
The Water into Wine Tour is an all day affair.
