The Otago Central Rail Trail

The Otago Central Rail Trail is a 150 kilometer gravel trail on old railroad bed through the semi-arid Central Otago district.  We rented a tandem bike from shebikeshebikes, and rode the trail from Clyde to Middlemarch over 3½ days.  The trail goes by small towns (in the 10 to 100 person range) as well as through fields, rocks and mountains.  The trail is uphill for the first two days (though never at more than a 1:50 angle), then downhill for the last part.  We rode west to east to avoid the prevailing winds, though the first day we had consistent 30-50 km/hour winds, with gusts in the 80-90 km/hour range.  Given the wind, coupled with uphill riding and the rough gravel surface the first day, we were humbled by how long it took us to ride 50 kilometers.

Gangers were the crew hired to keep the rail tracks clear.  Small sheds along the tracks were used by the gangers for supply storage, shelter and “smoko” breaks.  A number of the ganger sheds have been turned into information sheds for the bike trail.  We went through three tunnels on the trail, and crossed a number of bridges, usually wood or metal suspension bridges, some of them nicely curved.  We saw thousands of sheep, along with many cattle, horses, jackrabbits, rabbits, turkeys, Australasian harriers, and other birds.  The clouds were very impressive too.  One of the stranger things we saw was a fence covered with wild boar heads and skins – apparently the fence served as the trophy wall as well.

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There weren’t many cyclists on the trail due to us being out in spring, but we met and spent time with two New Zealand couples, one from Christchurch and one from Auckland, who were traveling the same direction as us and usually staying in the same towns.  We had a nice dinner with them on the last night, and saw them at the trail’s end in Middlemarch.  A steam engine was coming into Middlemarch for the first time in five years, so many people were out near the railway station to greet the incoming train.  We also toured an interesting local museum, which included an ill-fated submarine designed to harvest gold from the rivers, and met four cute kids trying to raise money for a treat at the local sweet shop.

Ganger shed

Cute kids in Middlemarch

Gold mining submarine that was never used

Steam train a'coming

We had decided to take the Taieri Gorge Railway back to Dunedin, but needed a shuttle by our bike providers to get to Pukerangi Station, the end point for the round trip scenic train coming from Dunedin and then returning the same day.  It turns out that Pukerangi is out in the middle of nowhere.  We were a little worried about what would happen if the train didn’t come, but fortunately our shuttle driver waited to make sure the train arrived.

Pukerangi station