Luxury Escapes Guide to the Fleurieu Peninsula
From sprawling valleys and hillsides to dramatic cliff-scapes that lead to white sand and blue waters the Fleurieu Peninsula is where the vines meet the sea.
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Encompassing a range of towns from Noarlunga in the north of the region, and Sellicks Beach in the south, the Fleurieu Peninsula is also home to popular towns the likes of Willunga, Port Noarlunga, Aldinga, Christies Beach, Clarendon, McLaren Flat and McLaren Vale, its namesake.
Just 40 minutes from Adelaide’s city centre, the Fleurieu Peninsula feels a world away, just a short trip down the newly upgraded Southern Expressway. Gliding off the expressway, you begin to see the rolling hills ahead. As you descend into the valley and township of McLaren Vale, you’ll see the cliffs in the distance bordering the sparkling coastline of the region, and the rolling vineyards scattered between townships.
In the 12 years before they got together, the pair were flatmates, poured their hearts out to each other in long letters when they were apart, and considered each other family. Genki would even refer to Kate as his sister sometimes. “But everybody would just roll their eyes and be like, ‘Yeah, sure she is your sister.’”
The South Australian couple met at university in Montreal in 2001. They were from different cultures – Genki is half Japanese, half Kenyan, while Kate was born in Canada, with an Australian father, and grew up in Europe. Both did environmental studies and had a mutual friend – Kate’s then-boyfriend. At the end of their first year of university, that boyfriend suggested the pair move in together. “He was like, ‘That’s great. I can go see my best friend and my girlfriend all at the same time’,” Kate remembers.