Travel: The World's Longest Golf Course

Stretching the idea of a "golf course" literally to its very limits, some very creative and enterprising Australian businessmen have opened a course that they claim is the world's longest. They say they came up with an idea to have travelers stop at their roadside shops by creating a golf course that has some of the holes separated by as many as 100KM (roughly sixty-two miles.)

"After a couple of bottles of wine, the germ of an idea was born." Perhaps we should have a golf course across Australia," said Don Harrington, who was there at the creation. "Perhaps we should have a golf course across Australia," said Don Harrington, who was there at the creation."

And thus, Nullarbor Links was born. The builders of this monster course hope to attract thousands of tourists who travel the Eyre Highway between Adelaide and Perth each year, and of course, get some good business from them along the way.

The full 18 holes are spread across 1,365KM (848 miles) and can take a week to play. Walking is not encouraged, in fact, it takes the logistic skills of a seasoned traveler to get complete a round - the course covers two Australian states (South Australia and Western Australia) and covers some pretty harsh terrain to boot. Then there's the problem of the wildlife.

[B]right yellow warning signs alert you to wayward wombats and even kangaroos on the way.

The antipodean wildlife you will almost inevitably encounter is one of the great attractions of the course. The fourth hole at Nundroo claims to have the largest population of southern hairy-nosed wombats anywhere in Australia - surely a golfing first.

At the Dingo Den hole, there's a resident crow which likes to steal stray golf balls. Not to be outdone, dingos have started muscling in on the act, as well. It is like a golfing safari.

Sounds like a great adventure, and one that even a jaded golf traveler could try and not come away saying that they've been there and done that before.