9 – The longest golf course in the world

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It's a long haul
It’s a long haul

Apart from the photo stops along the Great Australian Bight the Nullarbor doesn’t have a huge amount to offer the casual tourist. But there is the longest golf course in the world.  The course starts at Kalgoorlie and finishes at Ceduna, with putting greens established at roadhouses along the way. I got up before dawn to get you a picture of the green at Border Village in South Australia.

Border Kangaroo green
Border Kangaroo green

We left Border Village after breakfast, went through the checkpoint into Western Australia again and hit the road. The Nullarbor isn’t completely flat. The ancient shore line is evident here and there, and Eucla itself sits at the top of a rise. From up there the Southern Ocean is visible, just a few kilometres away.

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Please note Dave’s and Andy’s – important to know

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img_5148-2Unlike the railway, running some distance away inland, the highway doesn’t actually pass through much of the real Nullarbor. Which doesn’t mean to say it’s an exciting drive, just that you do see the occasional tree. We saw a few kites (the bird sort) and a couple of emus, but no camels or kangaroos or wombats. But the road signs are fun. Every now and then there’d be a sign warning about ‘roos, camels and wombats “for the next 198km”. We joked about whether the authorities had told the ‘roos, camels and wombats about the distance limit. If they did, the animals ignored them.

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Apparently there are longer straight roads, in Saudi Arabia and USA

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We stopped for coffee at a small roadhouse in the Madura Pass where the road manoeuvres its way over the remains of the cliffs from eons ago. Then on again, listening to Mozart because none of the radio stations had strong enough signals out here.

We reached Norseman at a reasonable hour, then turned left for the run down to Esperance on the south coast. The low-growing scrub was behind us. We drove through typical forest of the region, smallish mallee trees with open canopies and colourful trunks.  Spring with its famous wildflowers was in full swing in the West. The state has received good rainfall at the right time, so there’s a bumper season. Some of the usually dry lakes held water and puddles reflected the trees on both sides of the road. The pastures were lush and green and I’ll bet the sheep were enjoying the unusual bounty.

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Typical semi-desert forest. It has its own beauty.

We booked into a motel for the night, but it didn’t have a restaurant. The proprietor suggested a couple of places in town, but in the end we picked up some take away meals from a noodle house and took them back to our room to eat. Sometimes it’s the best way to go.

 

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