What better way to ring in the new year than with a 4-day cycle trip – sound familiar? Well that’s exactly what we did last year! With border closures and COVID restrictions foiling our Rail Trail plans last year, we postponed it to 2022/2023, and completed the West Coast Wilderness Trail over 2021/2022 instead. With an additional year of training under our belts, (well everyone except for me – proud user of an e-bike over here), everyone in the family was fit and ready to take on the 152km through Central Otago countryside from Clyde to Middlemarch.
The full length of the Otago Central Rail Trail can be completed over 3 to 5 days, the longer itineraries allowing more time to explore off trail, townships and historic places. We opted to do the trip through a cycle company, recommended by Palmy Pals who completed the Rail Trail in January 2021. Our 4-day itinerary was a bit different to the recommended/popular itineraries due to accomodations being booked out, so the 152km were split up into 39km, 42km, 20km and 51km days.
Our cycle company arranged everything including transfers from Queenstown before the trail and to Dunedin after the trail, accomodation, restaurant bookings and fitting the bikes. They also provide you with a log-in to their CCT Central Trails app, outlining your specific itinerary, points of interest, dining suggestions and pre-trail information. We all flew into Queenstown and spent a few days there, did a little bit of hiking to Lake Alta and Jack’s Point Track, which I have included some photos from below.
Central Cycle Trails Co. were very accomodating after some last minute ground transport issues, and were able to pick us up earlier for Day 0 of the cycle trip. We were driven 1 hour south-east to historic Clyde, and spent the afternoon wandering the picturesque town, testing out the bikes and relaxing at our wonderful accomodation.
Our driver recommended we have lunch at The Old Clyde Bank, and boy, what a great recommendation! Whilst not all of us are new to cheese rolls, the cheese rolls here are hands down THE BEST of the bunch. Crustless is key. They just nailed the crisp on the outside and the filling was not too cheesy or oniony. The chicken salad and coffee were good too, and I was reminded that I was back in the South Island = bigger portions.
Clyde’s town centre has a cute, old-timey feel, with many stone schist buildings that have been preserved and refurbished as restaurants, retail stores and accomodations. I particularly liked the Folklore homestore and picked up some goodies there, and also a tea towel souvenir for the Otago Rail Trail at the Central Cycle Trail Co. bike shop.
The beautiful turquoise Clutha River cuts through Clyde, with the Clyde Dam marking the northern end of the township. A bit further south is the Clyde Bridge, and you can find the the Anniversary River Track running between Clyde and Alexandra along the southern riverbank for cyclists, walkers and horses. When you start the Otago Central Rail Trail, you have the option to take this 12km path (more like a single track, mountain bike track with boardwalks, bridges, up’s and down’s and blind corners for experienced cyclists), or the more direct route via the 9km Rail Trail to Alexandra that goes through orchards, farmland and vineyards. The Rail Trail is a 2-way track that is wide enough to ride alongside a friend, and narrows only for some cattle-stop grates and s-shaped safety gateways before a road crossing.
After lunch, we headed to Central Cycle Trail Co. to get fitted to our bikes, and a few of us swapped bikes for more gears or to a smaller size. As the only person on an e-bike in my group, we went over some instructions regarding the battery unit, and some are able to be charged without removing the battery from the bike, whilst others you must. Some accomodations along the Rail Trail specified that they did not allow charging of the batteries indoors and had outdoor outlets fitted for this purpose. Since I ended up swapping to a smaller bike, the team at the bike shop had to service the new bike and then delivered it across the road to our room at Olivers Lodge & Stables later that afternoon. The bikes are fitted with one or two panniers for your personal items, and include a bottle cage, water bottle and helmet hire. Some have front light – ask for this if you have an e-bike, as this can be handy for the tunnel walks during the Rail Trail. Gel seat covers are also provided, and I recommend you take these off at the end of the day so that they don’t get wet over night.
Olivers Lodge & Stables is a luxury boutique accomodation experience with 5 Stable rooms that open up to a beautiful courtyard, and 6 Lodge rooms. We had The Coach House, a spacious super king Stable room with ensuite and a couch, decorated with schist walls and a door for a headboard! (Some of the other rooms also have a bath). A full breakfast is included with the room and is served in one of the heritage listed buildings from the late 1800s between 7.45am – 9.30am. We had baked eggs with cereals, yoghurt and toast for breakfast, and this came with tea and plunger coffee. Tea (Harney & Sons) and coffee are available in the room and from the kitchen, which is also stocked with dairy and oat milk. The wifi is good, and so was dinner at Olivers Restaurant. The portion sizes are generous, and I had the tasty pumpkin ravioli, and Rich the meaty venison dish.
Day 1
Once we were fed and packed up, we left our bags at the designated pick up spot, and CCT Co. came to collect them around 8.45am. We set off through the streets of Clyde, following the instructions on the app. We passed orchards, vineyards, and lifestyle blocks, and cycled over bridges and alongside the Manuherikia River to Chatto Creek. There was a long wait for food at the Chatto Creek Tavern due to staff shortages, and after an hour, we scoffed down some corn fritters, burgers and chips. The wifi and food were good, but they missed one of our orders so we had to scrounge around for some snacks and keep moving towards Omakau. This next section was the steepest uphill part of the Rail Trail, and once we got through it, it was downhill to Omakau, and then another couple of km to the historic gold-mining town of Ophir. We also cycled to the Daniel O’Connell Bridge built in 1880 before enjoying a cold beverage in the outdoor courtyard of Pitches (for those that missed out on lunch, a berry smoothie was much needed, however, paracetamol and electrolyte pouches from Countdown were also a lifesaver during the uphill slog!)
The Pitches Store in Ophir was our accomodation for Day 1, and has 6 king rooms with ensuite, and an onsite restaurant. There was also a hot tub in the backyard for guests, a clothes line if you needed to do any hand washing, and the wifi was good. Since it was New Year’s Eve, there was a special set menu that evening at the award winning Pitches Restaurant, and included offerings such as crispy duck on blini or beef brisket crostini, lemon sorbet palate cleanser, smoked lamp rump or monkfish wrapped in prosciutto, and white chocolate panacotta or pineapple and pear spring rolls. We noted that the bottled wine was reasonably priced (not 3x the price of retail like most restaurants) and they offered many options by the glass which is also unusual for such a small town/restaurant. Half of our group stayed at Ophir Thyme Accomodation, formerly the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church built in 1897.
Ophir has a population 50 people and there is a heritage walk around town that you can do. There is a public pool that you can use for a gold coin donation, where plenty of families were taking advantage of on this hot summer’s day!
Day 2
Continental breakfast at Pitches is provided in the breakfast/tea room, and includes barista coffee. There was cereal, bread, croissants, cheese and salami, and we set off towards Lauder after fuelling up. With a light smattering of cloud and windier conditions, it didn’t feel quite so hot on Day 2. Lauder has a cafe and hotel, but being only 45 minutes from Omakau, we opted to press on towards Oturehua, and snacked on museli bars and lollies when needed. We cycled over bridges, through Poolburn Gorge and Ida Valley, and walked through two tunnels.
We made a beeline to Gilchrist’s General Store and shared an appetiser of a Jimmy’s Pie and ice cream before sitting down for lunch at Oturehua Tavern. The general store also does barista coffee. At the tavern, they had hearty filled bagels made to order, toasted ham cheese and onion relish sandwiches, and we got the last cheese roll around 1.20pm, which was a bit different having red onion and mustard seeds on multigrain bread.
From Oturehua to Wedderburn, there is another bit of a climb up the Wedderburn Hill to the highest point of the Rail Trail at 618m above sea level. From there, it is a gentle cruise down to Wedderburn Lodge and Cottages, our accommodation for the night.
The Wedderburn Cottages are basic but tidy, with a king bed and ensuite. The water comes from a bore so it tastes a bit leafy and has a yellow tinge. Wifi is more patchy/less strong compared to our other accomodations. You can ride your bike right up to your cottage and park it there, and as you can see from the photo, the windows look right into the neighbouring guests’ cottages. You will be able to hear when your neighbours turn on a tap, flush a toilet or open a drawer. Continental breakfast is included in the fridge, with yoghurt, bread, cereals, tea, jam and marmite (but no peanut butter).
Wedderburn Tavern across the main road has a garden bar, and serves both bar snacks and fancier dinner offerings such as sambal roasted chicken and char siu pork belly with kumara mash and seasonal vegetables.
Day 3
As the usual accomodation at Kokonga was not available to our group, day 3 of the Rail Trail involved only 20km or 1.5 hours of cycling to Waipiata, basically a rest day for us! We woke to a thick cover of cloud and mist, so delayed our departure to 10am and then leisurely made our way to Ranfurly.
We had lunch at the recommended Maniototo Cafe, picked up some supplies from the Four Square supermarket, and wandered about town before cycling on to Waipiata. We were concerned that there are no food stops on our last cycle day (51km/~5 hours) and bought some unnecessary bananas, but when we arrived at Tussock Lodge, it was stocked with a big bowl of fruit (pears, oranges, bananas, kiwifruit, apples), cereals, two loaves of bread in the freezer, all the spreads you could need and a tray of eggs. I would recommend picking up some scones at Maniototo Cafe for Day 4’s ride, they have some good cabinet options but many items were sold out by 12.30pm. The food was good and with the exception of my burnt oat flat white, coffee was fine too (the others ordered regular and soy flat whites).
The Rail Trail section between Ranfurly and Waipiata runs through the Maniototo Plain with views of the Kakanui Mountains and Ida Range. The Waipiata Country Hotel is open from 10am and serves extremely generous sized meals as well as bar snacks and beverages. We had a cold drink whilst waiting for our accomodation to be ready, and returned in the evening for dinner. We should have gone to dinner earlier (we arrived before 6.30pm), or at least gotten one member of the group to order at the bar in advance, as we ended up waiting 1 hour 45 minutes for our food to come out due to staff shortages. The line to order food took about 30 minutes in the evening! The establishment is known for its pies, so I went with the chicken and bacon pie with mash and vegetables (pork belly was unavailable) and it did not disappoint. Quite a few options on the menu were not available, e.g. chicken schnitzel, chicken parmigiana, and pasta. Wifi is free and no password needed, and you could also get the pies by themselves or with fries and salad.
We rode our bikes to and from Tussock Lodge and Waipiata Country Hotel as it was a short distance up the hill. We got the entire house to ourselves, which had 2 lounges, 4 super king ensuite rooms, air conditioning (very important as it was super dusty and smokey outside that day), soft dining chairs (noticeable when you have been cycling for 3 days!) great wifi and a washer, dryer and clothes line. The lodge can sleep 13 people, the rooms are spacious (although our one had nowhere to hang towels and clothes up), the toiletries include Realworld hand wash, and the shower pressure is magnificent. All of our accomodations had body lotion with the exception of Wedderburn Cottages. The neighbouring property/farmland had llamas who were very friendly and were munching on grass all day.
Day 4
With 51km to cycle today (5.5 hours according to the app), and a shuttle transfer at Middlemarch booked for 2pm, we had our work cut out for us, leaving Waipiata at 7.50am. The bonus about leaving earlier was the beautiful morning light and cooler temperature, and about 10 minutes into the ride, I came across a ‘home baking’ sign with, you guessed it, bundles of cookies for purchase! As we were well stocked with snacks, I had to forgo the delicious looking chocolate chip and afghan cookies, but what a great idea by the 18 year old girl who is raising money for her living costs when she goes down to Dunedin for tertiary studies. You can pay as much as you want/how much you think the cookies are worth via cash or direct debit into a bank account.
From Waipiata to Hyde, you will cycle the Taieri Gorge, alongside the Taieri River and cross SH 87, entering the Dunedin boundary. There is a good picnic spot just beyond the Red Dwarf Hut, and then you will cross the historic Cap Burn stone bridge pictured above, the Prices Creek Viaduct, and enter the Prices Creek tunnel.
We arrived at Hyde ahead of schedule, had a break and a quick bite to eat, but I would recommend doing this either at the picnic area after Red Dwarf Hut, next to the bridges and enjoy the views, or at Hyde Station where there are a couple of picnic tables and a sizeable long drop toilet (the rectangle sheds rather than the smaller cylinder type toilets) – remember to BYO toilet paper! It is all downhill from Hyde to Middlemarch as you cycle through the Strath Taieri Valley, with the Taieri Ridge on your left. The combination of dust, wind and pollen really got to me on the final day and it was hard keeping my eyes open to spot all the nasty potholes. You also had to keep your mouth closed to prevent blowflies, sandflies and lady bugs entering it! I cannot stress the importance of sunglasses, as when a large blowfly rams into them, causing vibrations that you can feel on your temples, by golly are you thankful it wasn’t your eyeball.
As we neared Middlemarch, a group of 6 young cows were in our path and it was a bit scary to watch both cyclists and cows trying to dodge one another. I also spotted a family of deer and a young stag hanging out in the shade of a large tree about 10 metres from the Rail Trail. I took a small tumble when my wheel caught a pothole in the final stretch, but we finally made it and took some pictures at the finish line before heading to The Kissing Gate Cafe for some kai, woohoo! The cafe had a very cheesy and oozy cheese roll, delicious cabinet food that included shortcake, brownie, cookies, scones, toasted sandwiches, sausage rolls, pies and marshmallow slice.
We arrived at the finish line at 12.10pm, so it took roughly 4.5 hours instead of 5.5 hours to complete the final 51km with plenty of photo/snack stops. Our van ride to Dunedin was very smooth (we stayed near the Octagon at The Chamberson Hotel before our flight out the next morning), but it was slightly delayed as CCT Co. had to rescue a couple of cyclists from heat stroke as they did not bring water or sunscreen with them. On that note, the essentials for the Rail Trail include water, sunscreen or long sleeved clothing/neck cover, rain jacket if rain is forecasted, cycling gloves, sunglasses, antihistamines, pain relief and food/electrolytes. If you are trip photographer like me, I found the best way to carry my Sony a6500 was to wear it like a cross body bag, under my rain jacket/wind breaker to prevent dust getting in it. The e-bike meant I could spend all the time I needed to take photos and still catch up, and also ride ahead to capture the group cycling past. Each cyclist is also given a spare tube, pump and multi tool should any problems arise, e.g. I had to adjust the handle bars on the first day as they were not in line with the front wheel.
The cost for the trip was just under $1200NZD pp for our group of 7, for 4 nights of accomodation (Clyde, Ophir, Wedderburn and Tussock Lodge) and bike hire, and included transfers between Queenstown and Dunedin, and bag transfers between accommodations. We paid for one bag up to 15kg pp which was $15 each. Breakfast is included, and with the exception of Waipiata, dinner reservations are also booked for you.
Check out the video of our cycle trip below!