Y ou can either consider Australia the world’s largest island or its smallest continent, whatever, but it is certainly a land of superlatives.

Despite its great size it is one of the most highly urbanized countries in the world with two-thirds of its population living in the eight biggest cities; except its capital Canberra, all are situated on the coast.

Fishing in Australia

Australians love the outdoor life and millions spend sunny Sundays at the beach or having a barbecue in a suburban park. The fine climate provides opportunities for all sports – from surfing to skiing, football to fishing and especially golf with over 1500 courses to chose from, giving an outlet for Australians’ highly developed competitive urges, whether as participants or spectators. There is enthusiastic support for cricket (especially against the old enemy England, rugby football (League and Union), Australian Rules football (using an oval pitch and ball), soccer, tennis and horse-racing. Australians are keen gamblers wagering a sizeable amount per person each year on sporting events, lotteries and other forms of betting.

City golf

Nor is the artistic world ignored, despite Australia’s old image overseas as a cultural wilderness. Most of the major cities have multi functional cultural centres, with theatres, art galleries and concert halls. Home-grown orchestras, opera, theatre and ballet companies and a thriving film industry, offer Australian performers increasing opportunities, but remnants of the ‘cultural cringe’ – a kind of national inferiority complex regarding the arts, once strong – still linger on despite a more aggressive promotion of Australia’s national identity.

Although Australia is a long haul for Europeans it is certainly well worth a visit and for golfers Queensland boasts over two hundred officially registered courses, each with its own particular appeal and character. Without doubt they are some of the most picturesque layouts to be found anywhere in the world. The climate is acknowledged as the best in Australia and Queensland is commercially known as the ‘Sunshine State’. From the sub tropical south of the state to the tropical north, Queenslanders enjoy warm sunny days practically all year.

The Glades golf course

Many of the most beautiful courses take full advantage of Queensland's glorious coastline -all 1.932 kilometres (1.200 miles) of it - with rolling green hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Some courses in the Outback have "browns" instead of "greens", and clouds of parrots swooping over the course could be a hazard you might not have encountered before.

The big names of the game are often to be found in the Sunshine State attracting crowds of fans from around the world as well. After all, this is where Queensland international stars like Greg Norman, Peter Thompson, Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady and Peter Senior had their grounding.

The Cut golf course, Perth

No matter where you travel in Australia, you'll have plenty of opportunities for a game of golf that will prove to be a highlight of your trip. The locals are friendly, the courses are challenging. Depending on where you are playing, you might even be lucky enough to share a fairway with a kangaroo, or spot a koala in a tree in the rough. Certainly you'll have bird-life galore around you. And by the way, that manic laughter is just a friendly kookaburra (a beautiful Australian native bird) and no, he's not commenting on your game, or is he? 

It is difficult for most Europeans, or even North-Americans to appreciate the size and emptiness of Australia. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, probably qualifies as the most isolated city in the world. It is over 2700 km (nearly 1700 miles) from its closest neighbour, Adelaide, capital of South Australia – farther  than from London to Moscow or New York to Denver. Moreover, there is only one town approaching a population o f 20.000 in between. On the route north of Adelaide to Darwin, a distance of some 3500 km (2200 miles) – the only town is Alice Springs with 18.000 people.

Australia’s image as a sunburnt land contains a lot of truth, yet, there are also ski resorts in the Snowy Mountains (part of the Great Dividing Range) within 400 km (250 miles) of both Sydney and Melbourne, the two biggest cities.

It is in the south-eastern part of the country, generally well-watered and temperate, where most Australians live – in a broad arc from Brisbane (the Queensland capital) in the north, through Sydney (the capital of New South Wales), Canberra and Melbourne (the capital of Victoria) to Adelaide. The only other major communities are Perth, Hobart in the southern island state of Tasmania, and on parts of the Queensland coast from Brisbane through Rockhampton and Townsville to Cairns.

The Australian coastline – estimated to extend more than 36.000 km (22.500 miles), much of it superb sandy beaches – has its own spectacular features. Greatest of all is the Great Barrier Reef, a vast complex of coral reefs extending 2.000 km (1.250 miles) up the Queensland coast, almost to Papua New Guinea. The biggest of its kind in the world, in some places it is 300 km (190 miles) from the shore and over 500 m (1650 ft) thick.

Paradise Palms course, Cairns

Although most of the continent consists of extensive plains and low undulating land – a somewhat monotonous landscape – there are also spectacular forests, especially along the east coast, in Tasmania and in the far south-west. Areas with heavy rainfall – both temperate and tropical – have dense rain forests with their closed canopy of foliage and climbing plants that scramble up the tree trunks to the light. In drier areas there are more open forests, whose trees have leathery leaves to consume moisture. Among the best known of these are the acacias (wattles) and the numerous species of eucalypts.

Typically Australian golf view

Marsupial animal species are as diverse as  the tree climbing possum and cuddly looking koala, the ground-burrowing wombat and the heavy-haunched kangaroos and smaller wallabies as well as marsupial ‘mice’ and ‘cats’.

Because of the great range of climates, crops are equally diverse. The warmer areas of New South Wales and Queensland produce cotton, sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, peanuts, avocado and Australia’s native macadamia nuts. Fruits flourish – especially peaches, apricots, grapes and citrus fruits along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, and apples in Tasmania where timber is another important product.

Tasmania golf links

All states produce wine – both ordinary and finer vintages – the older-established wine areas including South Australia’s Barossa Valley (settled largely by German immigrants in the 19th century) and the Hunter Valley near Newcastle. In recent years the industry has boomed, with many new vineyards.

Much of Australia’s recently found mineral wealth lies beneath land that is far from centres of European settlement – indeed in places that few white people have visited and most Australians know only from their television screens. This is the true outback, a term that does not refer to a specific place but to any area isolated from civilization. It is the ancestral home of many of Australia’s largely forgotten and least privileged people, the Aborigines. The conflict between their claims to their own land and the mining companies’ desire to exploit it has resulted in one of the most controversial issues in contemporary Australian politics: land rights.

Merimbula golf course, Pambula

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