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| Tangaroa parked at Lake Dunstan |
Central Otago is an area that both Malcolm and I love and keep returning
to—from one direction or another. There
is a clarity in the air in 'Central': the mountains stand out sharp and clear
against the blue skies. The hills and
valleys may look a dusty brown but there are vineyards on the hillsides and
pockets of fruit growing areas where everything is lush and green. The fruit stalls along the country roads are
always enticing and Central Otago cherries are to die for.
One
of the highlights of our South Island explorations was riding the Central Otago
Rail Trail. This is New Zealand's
original Great Ride and first Rail Trail.
Providing 152 kilometres of off-road riding, the trail follows the
former route of the railway. Like most
things in the South Island it all started with gold. Otago was one of the main areas to experience
gold rushes in the 1860s. After this
came the orchardists and farmers. The
roads were rough and, wanting to help the farmers get their wares to markets in
Dunedin, the Provincial Council began planning a railway. Begun in 1879, it took 42 years of work with
pick and shovel before the line was completed.
Sixty
years later road transport was much more viable and the railway became
uneconomic. When the Clyde Dam was built
the railway lines between Clyde and Cromwell were dug up. A decade later, in 1991, the track was taken
out all the way to Middlemarch. Three
years later the Otago Central Rail Trust was established, with the idea of
turning the disused rail corridor into a cycle trail. By the time the trail opened in 2000 the
trust, together with DOC, had provided a track with a good surface, safe
tunnels and decked bridges. Along the
trail they provided information boards and shelters, making the ride not just
one through the countryside but through history.
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| Clyde |
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| On the cycle trail between Clyde and Alexandra |
We
began the Rail Trail in Clyde, parking Tangaroa
near the dam on Lake Dunstan. Clyde
began life as a gold mining town called Upper Dunstan (with Alexandra being
Lower Dunstan). After its initial boom
time, followed by a period of dredging in the 1890s, Clyde became a
backwater—which helped preserve its lovely old buildings. One of the first things we did was to pick up
a brochure describing all Clyde's heritage buildings and wander around the old part
of the township. We looked at historic
cottages with pretty old-fashioned gardens, churches, banks, the Court House,
the Post Office, hotels, stores and much more—all built from the attractive
local stone.
We
have cycled from Clyde to Alexandra on both sides of the Clutha River and
prefer the Alexandra to Clyde 150th Anniversary Walkway on the southern bank,
although this is not the official Rail Trail route. This track passes along willow-lined
stretches of the river with evidence of gold-mining days to be seen, especially
in the area of the old Earnscleugh Tailings.
Like
Clyde, Alexandra sprang up after gold was discovered. Alexandra still has many old buildings and
sites connected with those days but, unlike Clyde, it has grown into a thriving
town. We always love having a coffee at
the old courthouse, now a cafe with seating in its pretty garden. The courthouse was built in 1879 and was used
for almost a century; it has been restored so that its original appearance can
be appreciated. Nearby, beside the 'new'
bridge over the Clutha River, (constructed in 1958) the towers of the old
bridge stand like aquatic sculpture, their arched 'windows' providing snatches
of view: water, landscape, sky.
We
were soon immersed in the landscape ourselves as we cycled, over a period of
days, from Alexandra to Middlemarch. We
moved Tangaroa several times to freedom
camping spots along the trail and used the car to take us to the start of each
days ride. After getting back to the bus
we would shower, have something to eat and drink, then load the bikes onto the
bus and drive to where we had left the car.
Then we could put the bikes on the car's rack, hook it up behind the bus
and drive away to our next destination.
It may sound complicated but the system worked well.
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| Alexandra |
From
Alexandra we cycled to Omakau. The
distant hills were brown but the landscape was quite green in places with
merino sheep grazing beside ponds. The
ganger's sheds had information panels regarding the flora and fauna, history
and geology of the landscape we were cycling through. At Chatto Creek we came across the remains of
an old gold dredge that worked the Manuherikia River for about ten years from
1898. The population of Chatto Creek
stands at eleven now but was once booming—not with gold miners for once—but
with rabbiters. These men worked on the
early sheep stations, trying to eradicate the rabbits that were becoming pests
throughout the area. The historic Chatto
Creek Tavern is right beside the trail as is the tiny Post Office that has been
restored—you can post a letter bearing the Chatto Creek postmark.
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| Chatto Creek |
The
settlement of Omakau is not particularly picturesque but six kilometres away,
just off the trail, is Ophir—which is a very attractive place. Ophir is a town founded in gold-mining
days. Originally known as Blacks
Diggings, it got shortened to Blacks, a
name that lingered even after the town was re-named Ophir in 1875. Thousands of miners lived in the area in the
1860s and it became a commercial centre with churches, courthouse, school,
stores and all the other buildings associated with a thriving town. The population dropped as the miners left and
the final blow came when the railway by-passed Ophir. Like Clyde, Ophir became a sleepy backwater
until, ironically, the coming of the cycle trail. Although it is not actually on the route,
cyclists love to divert to Ophir for photo opportunities. We watched a group of cyclists pose in front
of the historic Post Office as we strolled around admiring the old buildings.
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| At Ophir |
Like
Clyde, (and St Bathans which we visited later) the village was packed with
lovely old buildings. Rambling roses
bloomed in profusion, tumbling over fences and trellises in the gardens of old
stone cottages. With their corrugated
iron roofs, whitewashed stone walls and with lace curtains in their sash
windows, it seemed as though we were walking around a village unchanged for a
hundred years. The Post Office was built
in 1886 and taken over by Heritage New Zealand in 1976. It is open from 9.00 am until 12.00 pm daily,
and is another place where visitors can get a unique postmark on their letter
or postcard. .
The
next stage of the Rail Trail was probably the most scenic. Between Omakau and Oturehua we rode along
sections of trail that passed over viaducts and bridges—including the
picturesque and widely photographed Manuherikia Bridge, the longest on the
trail—and through tunnels. As the trail
wound between these feats of engineering, we cycled beside weathered schist
rock formations, and looked across striking scenery to the distant mountains
that framed the views.
We
stayed overnight in the grassy paddock at Hayes Engineering Works at Oturehua,
a POP. This is an historic homestead with
a cluster of engineering workshops, once the farm and home of Ernest and Hannah
Hayes. The English-born settler was the
sort of bloke who liked tinkering around in sheds, and he was soon inventing
contrivances to help with work at Windmill Works, the Oturehua farm he
established in 1895. Ernest Hayes's most
well-known invention was a refinement of a fencing wire strainer, still used
world-wide today.
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| Hayes Engineering |
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| Gilchrist's Store |
Malcolm
was fascinated by all the agricultural and engineering tools and paraphernalia
in the sheds and outbuildings. I was captivated
by the mud-brick homestead. Built in the
1920s the home was well ahead of its time.
It had electricity, (generated by a wind turbine) music piped to all
rooms, bookcases suspended from the ceilings and, in the bathroom, a flush
toilet and overhead shower. All the
rooms were furnished in the Victorian and Edwardian style. The parlour was crowded with side tables and
pianos, the dining table was laid with the best crockery and silverware, the
dresser groaning under a weight of plates, cups and saucers. Each of the bedrooms looked as though the
occupant has just popped out. Ernest and
Hannah had nine children, all of whom were brought up in the homestead. Information about them all was displayed in
their rooms.
While
Ernest was the engineer, wife Hannah was the saleswoman. Despite the restrictive dress of the era,
Hannah cycled around the farms of Otago selling the tools and inventions her
husband had produced. An interesting
connection, as many of those cycling along the Rail Trail visit Hayes
Engineering en route. It is open from
September to May and has a cafe.
In
Oturehua itself there was another reminder of bygone days, Gilchrist and Sons
store, established in 1902. Inside, the
shop looked more like a museum—with ancient embossed metal tills and old adding
machines on the counter, and nostalgic advertising posters and old biscuit tins
displayed beside every-day goods for sale on the shelves.
While
we were parked at Oturehua we took the car to St Bathans, a 20-minute drive to
the north. Like Ophir, St Bathans is a
former gold mining settlement now almost a ghost town, with a tiny permanent
population and some amazing old buildings.
The Vulcan Hotel was built in 1882 and still displays an iconic,
historical facade. We wandered in for a
cold drink and were the only customers.
The shamrock, displayed proudly on the signboard goes back to the days
when there was rivalry between the many Irish miners in St Bathans and the
Welsh settlers in nearby Cambrians, known locally as the 'wars of the
roses'. We were also told that the hotel
is haunted by the ghost of a barmaid called Rose, who was murdered there in the
1880s.
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| The Blue Lake at St Bathans |
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| St Bathans |
After
walking up and down the main street admiring the other buildings, particularly
the imposing wooden two-storey Post Office building, we took a look at another
of St Bathan's famous landmarks, the Blue Lake.
The lake was formed by sluicing which reduced a former hill to a deep
hole close beside the town. The waters
that now fill the Blue Lake are full of minerals and this gives the lake its
distinctive turquoise colour. The Blue
Lake is surrounded by striking white clay cliffs, giving the area a surreal
look.
Back
on the Rail Trail we cycled past the railway goods shed that famously features
in artist Grahame Sydney's painting July
in Maniototo. It was early morning
and the air was crisp and cold. Stopping
at the next ganger's shed to read the information panels, we were startled to
see a young man struggling out of his sleeping bag. Obviously it had looked like a good place to
stop for the night! We cycled on to
Ranfurly where the NZMCA has a park near the Centennial Milkbar, one of the
town's art deco buildings, now a gallery celebrating the style.
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| Art Deco architecture in Ranfurly |
From
Ranfurly we drove to look at Naseby, yet another town with a rich gold-mining
legacy. Naseby was once the main
business town in the Maniototo but missed out to Ranfurly when the railway came
through and has declined in importance since.
It is now chiefly known as a curling centre (it has indoor and outdoor rinks)
and for its historic streetscape. Scots
settlers introduced the sport of curling to Naseby in 1878 and it has been
popular ever since.
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| Naseby |
The Victorian buildings
in Naseby were so old-fashioned that they looked like one of those tourist
attractions made up from old buildings transported from other places. This was not an outdoor museum though, just a
pristine selection of architecture that included buildings of red brick, kauri
and adobe. There was a watchmaker's
shop, surmounted by a clock, run by a Robert Strong from 1868 until 1959. Next door, the shop sign still says 'boot
manufacturer' but is operated as a museum.
The striking, two-storey, brick Post Office contrasted with the adjacent
Union Church, built of corrugated iron in 1865.
Central Otago is unique in New Zealand in having these historic old
towns, unspoiled by modern developments.
We
now had to cycle the final part of the Rail Trail. We parked Tangaroa
beside the trail at the tiny settlement of Tiroiti for a couple of days. Arriving back to the bus one day we found
ourselves surrounded by a herd of sheep that a farmer was mustering. The cycle trail then took us through Hyde,
another quiet ex-mining settlement, once called Eight Mile because that was the
distance from Hamilton's gold mine. We
stopped for a picnic lunch at the old railway station two kilometres past the
town, where there were still some original stock wagons rusting and rotting
away on tracks. The railway station is
privately owned and was for sale. A
little further along the trail we came to a triangular cairn commemorating the
Hyde railway disaster, which occurred in 1943.
Twenty-one passengers were killed and 47 injured. Until the Tangiwai Disaster a decade later,
it was New Zealand's worst railway accident.
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| Scenery along the Rail Trail |
It
was a long straight slog across the Maniototo Plains next, with the mountains
of the Rock and Pillar Range on our right.
I was relieved to reach Middlemarch.
We had moved Tangaroa there in
preparation for riding this stretch, and Malcolm had cycled ahead to put on the
hot water for showers.
I was very happy to have
completed the 152-kilometre-long trail.
It had been an amazing ride through Central Otago's wonderful scenery.
Information about places mentioned in this post - correct at the time of writing
- ·
The Otago Rail Trail
www.otagorailtrail.co.nz
This 150 km trail can be
cycled in either direction, over a period of days. We broke the ride into five sections:
Clyde to Omakau, 37 km,
grade 1: easiest
Omakau to Oturehua, 30 km,
grade 1: easiest
Oturehua to Ranfurly, 25
km, grade 1: easiest
Ranfurly to Hyde, 33 km,
grade 1: easiest
Hyde to Middlemarch, 27
km, grade 1: easiest
Places to visit
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Hayes Engineering Works
39, Hayes Rd, Oturehua
www.heritage.org.nz/places/places-to-visit/otago-region/hayes-engineering
Hours: November-April
10.00 am-5.00 pm, September, October and May Wednesday-Sunday 10.00 am-5.00 pm,
closed June-August
Entry price: adult $12
