Otago Central Rail Trail

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The rail trail is one of New Zealand's great bike rides. The route is based on the old railway that once looped around the great plain of the Maniototo. No traffic, no hills to speak of, three (dark) tunnels and a number of great trestle bridges and stone cuttings. This trail takes approximately three days and follows through some of Otago's best and least populated country.

The views are outstanding and the night sky, unpolluted by street lights, gives a fresh intensity to stars, satellites, meteors and planets. Geographically, this area was formed by the floor of a prehistoric sea, and you still get that awed sense of walking in an ancient cathedral when you step out into this landscape.

Middlemarch

Middlemarch is a small town with a pub, backpackers, two stores and a camp ground called Blind Billys. (Yes, Billy the camp owner is blind). Occasionally a tourist train comes in from Dunedin and drops cyclists off, but this is the end of the line. What is left of the rails and sleepers is stacked at Sutton, a few kilometers south. From Middlemarch the bedded gravel trail is devoted to pedestrians, cyclists, sheep and the occasional horse.

There are several gates which may require opening and relatching, but the way is generally uninterrupted all the way to Clyde a further 180 Km away. (Pick up a rail trail brochure from the local store).

Middlemarch to Ranfurly (60k)

Leave a little late and enjoy cycling in the cool afternoon and early evening. An Otago summer day is often the hottest in the country, but the sun sets late and you can easily cycle to Hyde (29 kms out, no store, but an interesting old cemetery), where the locals may let you camp for the night, or head on through the tunnel to Daisybank (38 kms from Middlemarch) where there is a DOC campground (see Useful Links).

A word on tunnels. They are neither lit nor straight. While only a few hundred metres long they can appear quite grim. Take out your torch and walk or cycle carefully using lights. By the time you get to the third tunnel you will be quite blasé about them. You can make Middlemarch to Ranfurly easily in a day if you wish (59 kms), but remember the surface is not sealed and the gravel, while fairly even for the most part, limits you to around 8 - 10 kph with panniers.

Ranfurly

Ranfurly is a good sized town and has everything you need for a night's rest.
Store, backpackers, pub, campground and restaurant. It has an interesting tourist display which focuses on the history of the now absent railway. From here the rail trail becomes even more interesting. More bridges, tunnels and wide landscape views of mountains and plains and glimpses of isolated gold trails stretching into the brown hills. This is wonderful semi-desert country. Hot and still in summer, it freezes in winter.

The rocks are a mixture of schist and granite and are formed into odd and often grotesque shapes by ice and freezing winter winds. The miners built their huts of schist, splitting it off and creating drystone walls that still form barns and sheep enclosures for local farmers.

Ranfurly is only 40 km or so from St Bathans and fifteen from Naseby, two old gold towns that have survived the decline of gold to become small, sleepy settlements.

Ranfurly to Lauder (48k)

Cycle through to Wedderburn (approx 15 kms out from Ranfurly, great pub, Sod brick Backpackers and meals available, no store). Although not generally noticeable, the rail trail runs slightly uphill to this point and downhill, mostly, from this point on. Being a railway, the inclines are so gradual as to not be overly onerous.

Oturehua (25 kilometers out from Ranfurly) is a good place to stop for an ice cream or coffee. It has a pub/store/tearoom and Backpackers.

Camping in the local Domain is allowed apparently, but it pays to ask the locals, politely, first. Oturehua has an interesting local museum based on the history of engineering in the area. After passing through two tunnels and over a massive and impressive trestle bridge, you arrive at Lauder (pub, meals, Backpackers, no store).

You can stop here or head the odd 10 km further on to Omakau (pub, store, tearooms, Backpackers). I generally stop here because of a small hamlet called Ophir.

Ophir is 2 km down a side road from Omakau heading east. It has a wonderful Campground/Backpackers run by Bill and Lois, in the centre of what was once a bustling gold community and is now a bare street of small, historic buildings. Further on out of town is a beautiful example of 19th century suspension bridge. Barely a hundred metres across it is nonetheless quite lovely in its quiet surroundings of river and trees.

Look out for fish sunning themselves in the warm shallows. This place is so relaxing you might want to spend days here. There are numerous small side trips to other old gold towns including Matakanui or you might just fossick around the dry, tussocky hills and streams and wonder at the remains of tiny, isolated stone huts and the stamina and dreams of the miners who built them.

Ophir to Alexandra (25k)

An easy day past Chatto's Creek (great pub) and the trail winding down past paddocks of Bugloss flowers (used for honey manufacture) to Alexandra, a large town with a couple of bike shops, camping grounds and Backpackers. Alexandra is a place to catch up on movies or broken spokes, e-mail or whatever.

A pleasant town full of old pubs and the odd historic building. Sadly little remains of the great suspension bridge that once crossed the Clutha River at this point, but the stone pillars remain to give you an idea of the endeavour of engineers in what must have been one of the globe's more inaccessible places in the late nineteenth century. From Alexandra you can cycle easily into Clyde eight or so kilometers further on and celebrate journey's end.

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