The World's Longest Golf Course and Windmills at Penong

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The Nullarbor Links is a par 72, 18-hole course, which stretches from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia, a distance of over 1,365 kilometres. The idea of the eighteen holes, masterminded by Bob Bongiorno, was to change the perception of travellers to the Eyre Highway. This long, mostly straight, mostly flat highway had very little appeal to motorists and a race-track mentality had developed to the long road. By becoming aware of the many attractions and stories of the Nullarbor, it was hoped that travellers would view their east-west (or vice versa) crossing more positively. It was hoped golfers in particular would take the opportunity to break their journey and play each hole as it appeared. While all the holes have interesting backgrounds, some are more intriguing than others. Travelling from east to west, holes 1 & 2 are situated on the Ceduna Golf Course. Hole 3 has been called the Penong Windmills. Most houses here draw their water from underground with the help of windmills. Penong is also called the 'town of 100 windmills'. Windmills and wheat silos share the skyline. Just south of the town Cactus Beach is renowned for its surf. Hole 4 at Nundroo is called Wombat Hole. There is a large population of Southern Hairy Nosed wombats here. Being so isolated, they have not fallen prey to introduced illnesses and disease. Now they are being used in surrogate programs in an attempt to save the Northern Hairy-Nosed wombat.