Play the World's Longest Golf Course on the Nullarbor Plain: Nullarbor Links

What is it

Stretching 1365km from Ceduna in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in the West, the Nullarbor Links is an ambitious project designed, as far as we can tell, to give travellers something interesting to do on that long and lonesome road so famously devoid of trees.

Hole 4: Wombat Hole Flinders Bay, Nundroo

The brainchild of Bob Bongiorno, former manager of the Balladonia Roadhouse on the Nullarbor, the 18-hole cross-country marvel is due for completion in mid ’09 and will consist of a series of holes at select towns and roadhouses along the Eyre Highway.

Some of the holes already exist at working golf courses with their own – at Ceduna, Eucla, Norseman, Kambalda and Kalgoorlie – and a small number are at disused courses that will be rejuvenated expressly for the project.

Cocklebiddy lies on the southern edge of Western Australia’s vast sheep grazing belt

The remaining holes will be built completely from scratch at select locations including Penong, Nundroo, Border Village, Mundrabilla, Cocklebiddy, Balladonia and Fraser Range. At these ultra-remote spots, the tees and greens will be synthetic grass, with everything in between made up of all-Australian, all-natural terrain (ie, mostly dirt, rocks and gravel).

The course is also designed to give overseas visitors an unparalleled taste of the real Australia, with holes on working sheep stations, wheat farms and alongside gold mines.

A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination.

There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.

old gold bank Victoria — Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time.

It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.

Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital

Creswick bike trail — This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria.

I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers.

I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.

The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife.

Eating there

Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand . The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857.

Playing there

Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.

Play the world’s longest Golf Course on the Nullarbor Plain

Not satisfied with cricket matches that take five days to complete? There is now a golf course that takes four days and 1365km to play.

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