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Published in the April-June 2011 issue.
Convivial pubs, wild scenery and only mildly disconcerting uphill stretches make a cycling trip through New Zealand’s Central Otago region more pleasure than pain, as Andrew Bain discovers.
On the Otago Central Rail Trail, Tiger Hill is as mean as it gets. It has been purring doubt into my ears all morning, stalking me as I begin riding along New Zealand’s first railway-turned-cycle trail.
Tiger Hill is the longest and steepest climb along the trail’s entire 150-kilometre length yet, in truth, its growl is far worse than its bite. It averages a gradient of just two percent (or 20 metres of ascent for every kilometre cycled) – making it, by cycling standards, a tiger easily tamed. The fact that the trail’s stiffest challenge barely warrants a gear change is indicative of the joy of rail trails.
Railway lines invariably found the gentlest and flattest course from A to B so it’s little wonder that, across the world, disused railways have been converted into cycling paths.
In Australia, rail trails are common but in New Zealand – widely regarded as one of the world’s best cycling destinations – there is only the Otago Central Rail Trail. Converted into a bike path in 2000, it curls through former gold-rush valleys, linking the towns of Clyde and Middlemarch, inland from Dunedin on the South Island. It remains the country’s only dedicated long-distance cycleway, though its instant success – around 20,000 cyclists now ride the path each year – has directly led to plans to create a network of rail trails and other cycleways across the country.
I begin my three-day ride in the town of Clyde, where a faint whiff of the gold-rush days remains. Tiny miners’ cottages sit on large parcels of land and anchoring the main street are storefronts for former spirits merchants and the bulk of Dunstan House. Originally one of Clyde’s 42 pubs and now a bed-and-breakfast, Dunstan House was also the first double-storey building in Central Otago, a reflection of the stream of golden wealth that once flowed through Clyde’s streets.
Today, the beer has largely been replaced by wine. At the edge of town, the rail trail begins at the periphery of the vineyards that make up the cool-climate Central Otago wine region, the world’s most southerly wine-producing area.
I’m here in late autumn and the vines are glowing as golden as the nuggets that once washed up with such regularity along the banks of the nearby Clutha River. It was this gold that prompted the construction of the railway, a task that began in 1879 but took more than 40 years to complete.
That this path is a rail trail is obvious from the beginning. Any climbing is negligible and, through farmland around Alexandra, railway sleepers prop up fences in a land fractured by time. Sharp rocks slice out of the dry earth and small rocky cliffs overlook the trail. Rabbits scurry across the track and a trio of cormorants peer down at me from atop an outcrop of boulders.
The one constant is the autumnal line of willows along the banks of the Manuherikia River, forming a yellow scribble through the valley. Tiger Hill and the names of the mountain ranges around it – Raggedy Range, Rough Ridge, Rock and Pillar Range – reflect the harshness of the landscape, though the scene is softened by the gentility of riding.
At the foot of Tiger Hill, we stop for a sip of liquid courage at the Chatto Creek Tavern, the first of around a dozen pubs – on average, one hotel about every 12 kilometres – that line the track. For cyclists, it’s this mix of nature and nurture that makes the Otago Central Rail Trail so appealing. Pubs, restaurants and boutique accommodations dot the countryside, and all cater to cyclists – a sign of just how the trail has rejuvenated a region once all but ignored by tourism. If you’re feeling tired as you ride, comfort yourself with the fact that relief is never more than a few pedal strokes away.
“You still have the hill to come,” the publican at Chatto Creek warns me a little too cheerily while I delay my departure, still a little spooked by the ferocity of the hill’s name. In the end, however, Tiger Hill turns out to be a pussycat. The trail coils gently up its slopes and from the summit, the trail opens out into a broad bucolic valley before rolling through Omakau and tiny Lauder. A short distance beyond Lauder, it turns into the Raggedy Range, burrowing through it inside Poolburn Gorge.
I enter the gorge, the most popular and arguably most spectacular section of the trail, on my second morning. A fierce wind has arrived during the night, stunting my progress, and a gorgeously curving rail bridge – one of more than 60 bridges to be crossed on the rail trail – marks the entrance to the gorge.
Once inside Poolburn’s rock walls, which act mercifully as a wind shield, the trail climbs high above the Manuherikia River, pushing across more bridges and through a pair of rail tunnels. I’m carrying a head torch but still, it’s dark and disorientating inside the tunnels. I enter the first tunnel with another rider but exit it alone. In the darkness, he has crashed into a tunnel wall, denting his pride as much as his bike.
At the gorge’s end, I emerge into the Ida Valley, which is carpeted in crops and poplars. As it has since Clyde, the trail continues to climb ever so gently, though it’s almost imperceptible and is forgotten as I pedal on through barrenly beautiful scenery. The wind rakes across the valley, bringing with it the chill of distant snowy peaks, though its force has by now abated. Soon, it will also turn from foe to friend.
Past the town of Oturehua, the trail turns back on itself towards the Taieri Valley, placing the wind at my back. As I approach the ride’s highest point – 618 metres above sea level – the track heads uphill but the wind makes it feel like I’ve begun my descent. Near the crest, where a sign promises it’s all downhill from here, I’m not even pedalling: the wind is doing the work for me.
The downward ride from the trail’s high point is rapid, banking along the sides of hills and out onto the Maniototo plains, famed both for their merino wool and their starring role in the Lord of the Rings movies as the grassy realm of Rohan.
Here, too, New Zealand’s curious fascination with the sport of curling has its heartland. Of the 35 curling teams in the country, 27 are said to be from around this region with Naseby, a likeable town just off the trail, home to the Southern Hemisphere’s only dedicated indoor curling rink.
Past the Art-Deco town of Ranfurly, the trail curls off the plain and into the throat of the Upper Taieri Gorge. Rock walls close in again and the trail wriggles its way through another series of tunnels and bridges. The wind has eased and the sound of New Zealand’s fourth-longest river rolls up the gorge walls.
The finish to the trail – a ruler-straight course beneath the Rock and Pillar ranges – is a true monument to the railway that preceded the bikes. Sections of track lie rusting beside the trail while near Hyde, carriages sit like ghosts at a long-abandoned turntable. A short distance on, a cairn memorial recalls the 1943 Hyde railway disaster – New Zealand’s second-worst rail accident – killing 21 people when a train derailed at speed at
this spot.
It makes me think that everything in Central Otago has happened in a rush: accidents, gold fever, decline, revival. Even I’m now rushing, though I don’t really want to. After three days, my legs are finally in tune with my bike and I feel as though I could ride for weeks, but the wind is blowing at my back, propelling me at speed towards the trail’s end among the Middlemarch rail yards. I could almost do with a hill now to slow me down. Almost. •
Photography by Andrew Bain.
TRAVEL FACTS
getting there
Pacific Blue flies to Christchurch from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. 131-645; pacificblue.com.au
getting around
Adventure South operates a five-day Otago Central Rail Trail tour out of Christchurch or Clyde, finishing back in Christchurch or Dunedin. It includes three days of riding the trail as well as a couple of rides in transit from Christchurch. 1300-904-454 (Australia) or 64-3/942-1222 (New Zealand); advsouth.co.nz
when to go
Tours on the trail operate between November and April. December to February promises the warmest conditions, but the autumn colours of April can be worth the chill.
further information
Information about the rail trail, including accommodation, dining, bike hire and transport, can be found at otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz and otagorailtrail.co.nz
For information on travelling to New Zealand, contact the New Zealand Tourism Board. newzealand.com
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