Travelled: 191 kms (Total 2,235 kms)

Incredibly we hadn’t planned to the Central Otago cycle trails, so when we realised they are all flowed together (and with encouraging support from our friends Ann and Michael), we thought it was an opportunity too good to miss.

Starting with the Clutha Gold Trail we had a lovely morning exploring Lawrence before starting the trail.

Lawrence reminded me of Arrowtown with its historical cottages and buildings, but much smaller scale and not so commercialised or having that polish that I guess some tourists want – more worsted wool than cashmere and all the better for it to our way of thinking (that is the kind of unwashed tourists who live in a tent).

I suspect the cashmere is coming . . .

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Even buying a house in Lawrence seemed affordable (not that we are).

Heading out on alongside the Clutha River, we passed by the historic Chinese Camp.

Founded in 1867, it was the foremost Chinese gold mining settlement in Otago with a population of up to 120 and around 30-40 families.

The construction in the foreground is a reconstruction of a roasting oven into which an entire, butterflied and beautifully seasoned pig would be lowered. I can only imagine that the resulting product would completely undermine the resolve of this vegetarian.

Soon after the Chinese had become established in Lawrence the local council, unsurprisingly, passed a by-law forbidding Chinese-owned enterprise within the town boundaries. To compensate, they offered the a piece of swampy land adjacent to the Lawrence-Beaumont Highway where the Chinese set up camp, and being the resilient people I guess we all are when up against it, set about building a thriving community.

All was not completely well however and as fortunes waxed and waned so did the European establishment’s regard for their neighbours. The local

The Camp had a difficult time during the latter part of the 1870s during a period of intense persecution by the European establishment. The local “Tuapeka Times” branded the Camp “a nest of Chinese putrefaction” and its inhabitants “a filth-begrimed, opium-besotted horde of Mongolian monstrosities.”

Purple prose indeed; I can only imagine a portly and port-nosed editor sitting back in his chair well-satisfied with the sharpness of his pen.

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We stayed out back of the Beamount Hotel, where we ran into Andrew (the guy with the pet deer who had sold us the eggs coming into Lawrence) at the pub, – small world!

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It was lovely to meet Kaya, a young Japanese woman who’s doing a bit of cycling touring on her own. It was great to share our experiences.

We had a chance meeting with Roger and Laura as we started out from Beaumont. So lovely to meet them again.

The trail continued alongside the Clutha River making for an easy flat ride but the river vistas were ever changing.

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With today’s foraging… walnuts! We were able to pick up quite a few under a big tree on the trail. They will be great on our breakfasts in a couple of weeks time.

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Hopping off our bikes, we took the short walk to the Horseshoe Bend Bridge. The 70.3m suspension bridge was built in 1913 to provide access to the school and post office which were on the other side of the river to the local population.

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Ending today’s ride in the lovely settlement of Miller’s Flat and a walk back over the river to the local pub.

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Leaving Miller’s Flat, we detoured away from the river to see the old stone woolshed in Teviot.

Built in 1880 from schist, sandstone and wood, the woolshed could hold up to 8,000 sheep and was the largest ever built in New Zealand covering about the size of a rugby field.

Really amazing to see our more recent heritage in these old buildings.

Back alongside the river, passing through Pinders Pond,

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There was a lovely spot where the leaves falling from the trees felt like it was snowing. I couldn’t resist taking this video…

And on into Roxburgh.

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We had seen so many advertisements for Jimmy’s Pies on our travels, that it was too much to ride past the home of Jimmy’s pies. This time the vegetarian was strong.

With another great collection of blackberries today, jam making was a go again. Taking it a bit slower with the boiling while waiting for the set, made for a much better batch.

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Continuing alongside the Clutha River, we finished off the Clutha Gold Trail the next morning by riding up to the Roxburgh Dam, which was commissioned in 1956, and contains 1.5 billion tonnes of concrete.

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And then straight into our second trail, the Roxburgh Gorge Trail.

Climbing up and away from the dam, we were able to get some great views looking back over the dam and surrounds.

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The trail continues alongside the Clutha Mata-Au River on high narrow tracks and stunning views reminiscent for me of Doubtful Sound – the bush covered hills straight down to waters edge. Rocks on the hills opposite side, were a great contrast of views. And the tranquility, not a sound in sight

Some views from the trail…

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This section of the trail ended at Shingle Creek.

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From here, we had to take a jet boat ride up the river to join with the second section of the trail.

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All aboard, minus Greg’s drink bottle which must have been picked up by the other party as they passed through Shingle Creek. Our driver Laurence, gave us a guided tour of the landmarks up the river.

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Built in about 1862, the cottage used to be part of a large goldmining area called Fourteen Mile Beach, which during the peak goldmining period of the 1860s and ’70s was home to up to 1600 prospectors.

Henry and Harriet Heron’s cottage was perched above the settlement and Mrs Heron its only female inhabitant. Fittingly known as the ‘Grand old lady of Roxburgh’ she is remembered as one of the few women who lived in the gold mining camps during the Otago gold rush and passed away in 1931 at the age of 93.

As well as owning a productive mining claim (Jewelry Creek it was known as), Mr Heron sold equipment to prospectors, and one story goes that he was paid in gold. Apparently each night he would secrete this gold somewhere in a camp oven and, when he died suddenly, the location of the camp oven went with him. Somewhere out there in the hills of the Roxburgh a fortune may lay waiting . . .

There are lots of tiny stone huts used back in the gold mining days still standing, untouched. A natural overhang would be blocked up with rock to make the most rudimentary of shelter. I cannot imagine how tough life would have been for miners, the work was done in the harsh Otago winters when the river was at its lowest, it must have been so bitterly cold. With no trees in the gorge the only means of heating was from supplies brought in with such great difficulty. That anyone could endure the it at all gives a small insight into the irresistible nature of gold fever.

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With lunch at Doctors Point, the drop off location, we were fuelled and ready to complete the last section of the trail.

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The sheer drop offs continued, with a few suspended pathways, as did the stunning views.

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We did walk a small section where the drop offs and switch backs were just too tight to ride.

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Heading into Alexandra the autumn trees started to appear and provided a stunning colour contrast to the very dry brown and rocky hillsides.

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Our destination tonight was at Niki and Rolf’s, a couple we had met at Lake Paringa on the West Coast.

Heading through Alexandra, we started the Otago Rail Trail, riding through to Galloway, where Rolf was waiting for us at the old Galloway Station, such a lovely welcome & so typical of this Couple.

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Their place was just a couple of kilometres up the road where we were very warmly welcomed. It was time for a rest day, making it two nights and days of high luxurious living.

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And boy, did it turn out to be high living indeed. Niki is a trained Corden Bleu chef and our meals were absolutely amazing.

Our rest day was warm and sunny, perfect for catching up on our washing. I had such pleasure in hanging out our clean washing, such is the simple life that I am living (and given we had been wearing them for 5 days by now!).

A quick trip into Alexandra for a haircut for Greg and some groceries and then nothing but rest. Greg wandered around the property with Rolf.

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Niki & Rolf have a lovely 5 acres or so in Galloway with beautiful vegetable gardens & fruit trees. Their property is bordered by a small irrigation canal which is used to flood irrigate the one large field once a fortnight – so interesting to see up close. They’ve been at this new smaller property just a few years & their industry is obvious!

Niki does a meals on wheels service to some locals doing all the cooking herself with Rolf as her certified assistant, using lots of their home grown produce.

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With new supplies of honey and fresh sourdough on board, we rode off back to our low living and the Otago Rail Trail. What more could a traveller wish for? The feeling of wealth that comes with a loaf of bread & jar of honey is hard to describe but truly felt.

The flat riding took us passed wide open pastures and over bridges, ever changing from green (usually as a result of huge swing arm irrigators) to just dry and brown.

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Stopping at Omakau to have a quick look around (and see if we could find a replacement drink bottle), we meet Roger and Laura again as they were driving through to the local recycling centre. So random!

They’re heading to Ranfurly in a couple of days so the timing might work to meet up with them there.

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Our lunch stop was a short ride away at Lauder.

After lunch, we rode on through the highlight of the trail for us, the Poolburn Gorge with its tunnels and viaduct.

Views of the Poolburn Gorge…

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The tunnels in the Poolburn Gorge were cut by blasting. Built with schist rock, they were lined at either end with bricks.

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On through the Ida Valley and having ridden over 40 kms today, we were on the lookout for a campsite.

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With no official camping area nearby and with camping along the trail was not discouraged, we decided the next toilet spot would our campsite for the night.

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The rain that arrived overnight was due to clear mid morning, so we rolled back the footprint, put any unnecessary panniers outside in the rain and enjoyed our breakfast under cover in the vestibule.

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The day cleared and a short ride down the road, just before Oturehua, and we stopped at the Hayes Engineering Works for a Good Friday treat, in the old cottage. While cosily tucking into our treats, in walked the Annandales from Taupaki – again such a small world!

A heritage site, we had a delicious morning tea and then walked around the office and factory that produced the famous Hayes Wire Strainer and their windmills.

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The factory is still in its original condition complete with a dirt floor.

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The site includes includes a dairy, cow byre, stables and the lovely old homestead of the Hayes family. It must have been quite a hub of activity in its day.

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Inside the homestead…

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Into Oturehua, we stopped to have a look at the longest running store in NZ – Gilchrist’s Store. Being Good Friday, it was closed but peering inside, we could see the beautiful wooden shelving and get a feel of the history contained within.

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And soon we were to be at the highest point on the trail – all downhill from here (we wish!)

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Winding our way through to Wedderburn for lunch.

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And then out onto the wind exposed trail for a headwind ride to end our trail riding in Ranfurly.

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Dotted along the trail, were the planets, to scale in size and spacing. We didn’t take pictures of them all but here are are a sample . . .

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There were some great examples of old farm gates on the trail, which Greg loved.

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Although the trail finishes in Middlemarch, we have decided not to continue on. We are running out of time to visit Dunedin and head north before it gets too cold.

Perfect excuse to visit and explore Dunedin another time.

A lovely evening with Roger and Laura and their friends Margaret and Craig from Christchurch. A great way to end the trails.

Heading to the coast and a rendezvous with Fleurs…

What we are reading Greg – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein and Jeanette – The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (still!)

TANSTAAFL! The Lilliput & campground libraries continue to be a great source of things to read & I was intrigued to see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – written in 1966 it was a novel that made a big impression on me at High School – I think it was the economic, truncated prose style that communicated the pragmatic down-to-moon nature of life for loonies . . . the wider exploration of libertarian ideals completely went over my head (although the fact that I found it in a library – surely a wonderful expression of our collective impulse to share – is maybe telling?)

More to the point probably was the story-line, which went straight as an arrow from intractable problem to victory, with only an omnipotent and omniscient computer for support. Completely suited my tastes in adolescent fiction, having only recently graduated from the Biggles books. Capt. W.E. Johns I miss you.