Our forest friends; Indijup Beach; Swings & Roundabouts; terrific coffee and a lighthouse; Peccavi (I have sinned) – No Regrets
Visiting a place where you have friends is great – you get to see it through their eyes and benefit from their insights. And they show you their favourite things.
We’re lucky that Kim and Lynn Sadler, whom we first met as fellow-expats in Singapore, have a forest home in Yallingup. He’s Western Australian, she’s English.
In fact, this lovely couple were two of the first visitors to our Dutch barge Karanja during that memorable cruise from England cross-Channel to Calais and through France in the summer of 2017. They met up with us in Reims [say Rance] for a drink on board followed by lunch in the city.
Yallingup is just 10km from Dunsborough, and we were eager to catch up with Kim after three months of The Iso. Sadly, Lynn was still stuck in Singapore as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions – though she’s back in WA now and has just completed the mandatory two-week quarantine.
#1 Forest Hideaway
Our friends have what they call a “shack” – a very smart one, it must be said – on five acres of delightful Yallingup forest.
One of the first things to impress was this 140,000-litre rain-tank, its ginormous capacity full to the brim after recent rainstorms.
There are plenty of peppermint trees; seas of banksia (named after the English naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) who sailed with Captain Cook); lots of lofty marri or red gum trees; shedloads of sheoaks – a species of casuarina; and great numbers of what Kim grew up calling “black boys” and are nowadays known as grass trees. (Less evocative, more politically correct.)
I hoped to spot one of the Western Grey kangaroos that live in these parts, but no such luck.
#2 Indijup Beach
From the house it’s just a couple of minutes’ drive to the stunningly scenic Injidup Beach, part of Ngari Capes Marine Park. Kim remembers his teenaged surfer self sleeping in a vehicle in the car park way back when – in the eighties, I guess.
#3 Swings & Roundabouts
Swings & Roundabouts is a lovely place in a beautiful setting, but the low-carb/gluten-free pickings were poor. Roy and I ordered a gluten-free tonno pizza to share – was that corn in the base? – along with a rocket and walnut salad.
#4 Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse
After the prediction of all-night, all-day rain, we were so lucky with the weather on our last day away. The skies had mostly emptied themselves while we slept, bringing a sunny morning with a brisk breeze and the occasional sneaky shower.
One of these got me on the way back from my 5km morning walk; another as we dashed to the Yallingup Coffee Roasting Company – but it was well worth it for the beatific brew we got there.
Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse is in the northwestern corner of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Not many people were around and the café had not yet reopened – hence the stop at Yallingup Coffee. It may be that the several cars in the carpark were those of hikers: this is, apparently, the start of the Cape to Cape Walk Track.
It’s $15 a head for the lighthouse tour, but we took the ordinary access option – scoring a dollar off the $5 fee for being 60+. (This was officially my first pecuniary benefit from from being a senior citizen, but somehow brought less pleasure than one might expect it to.)
#5 Peccavi Wine Estate
Peccavi (1121 Wildwood Road, Yallingup Siding) is a highly awarded boutique winery in the northern part of the Margaret River wine region. Its “Peccavi” label is 100-percent estate-grown and hand-picked fruit.
Though the estate is not yet on the Margaret River wine-tasting route, it will be soon. Owners Susannah and Jeremy Muller tell me that they plan to build a cellar door facility that may open as early as next year (2021).
Nearly ten years have passed since I interviewed this compelling couple for a feature article in Expat Living Singapore magazine. I trawled through my archives to find the text of that decade-old article, and you can read it here if you like: Peccavi – No Regrets PDF
So I dropped a cheeky email to the Mullers and was delighted to find them not only in residence at Peccavi, but also happy to show us around.
Blast from the past
Here, for old time’s sake, is a quick slideshow of the Muller family and their wines from 2010:
Back to the present
Though the family still lives in Singapore, they’ve been riding out the COVID-19 pandemic at Peccavi since March. Ordinarily, Charlie (13) goes to Marlborough College in Malaysia, while James (15) is at Marlborough in the UK.
After Susannah and Jeremy had invited us into their gorgeous home and treated us to a couple of whites – first their elegant Sauvignon Blanc 2017 (Bordeaux-style, and barrel-fermented in 100 percent old French oak) and then the yummy Chardonnay – Jeremy drove us around the estate, which boasts 40 acres under vine.
Finally, he stopped at the shed. This year, 2020, is his fifth year of wine-making, and the shed is where he makes the higher-end drops. Here we tried a couple of Cabernet Sauvignons, a still-new Merlot and a delicious Shiraz.
Looking for some Peccavi wine?
Though their model is for their wines to be distributed through restaurants, COVID-19-related restrictions and everything being closed have encouraged them to look at other avenues, including individual and online sales.
They have their own distribution company in Singapore, which does restaurant and hotel sales; as well as a couple of restaurants, including Luke’s Oyster Bar & Chophouse and Blue Label Pizza & Wine – both of which have reopened for business, happily.
Peccavi wine sells well in Hong Kong, too; in the UK, the illustrious Harrods of London sells the chardonnay under its own label. And should you find yourself in Korea, Peccavi is big there, too.
Thanks for welcoming us, Susannah and Jeremy – and all the best to you and Peccavi!
