Day 27: Dunedin
27 December 2010
3 km Walk (To Supermarket and Back)
It’s raining here in Dunedin today, which made it the perfect planning day. We plan to get back on the bikes tomorrow for some touring around Dunedin and surrounds. We plan to head to Queenstown and Arrowtown in the next few days. We plan on seeing the sun again soon. That’s about enough planning for one day.
Day 26: Middlemarch to Dunedin
26 December 2010
77 km via Train
With the rail trail having come to an end, our next move was to transport ourselves and bikes to Dunedin. We did this via the Taieri Gorge Railway train.
Now our New Zealand Rough Guide lists this train in the “Top 30 things not to miss” at Number 7, with riding the Otago Rail Trail itself a more distant Number 12. I would lobby that these numbers should be reversed. The gorge was quite lovely and riding in a rickety old rattletrap of a train is borderline adrenalin junkie material (will the brakes fail? will this bucket of bolts stay together long enough to make it across that 800 foot drop?), but the views were definitely more personal and interesting from the bicycle saddle. Here’s an illustration of how Gina felt about the train ride: while we were stopped on the tracks waiting for another train to pass, we were parked near a thoroughbred breeding farm. While I sat staring out the open window, admiring the sleek horses with their wee ones at their feet, I was shaken from my reverie by the sound of someone snoring. Loudly. Looking around our train compartment, I could not, for the life of me, figure out where the snoring was coming from. And then it clicked – it was coming from directly across from me. Yes, there sat Gina, head back, eyes closed, mouth hanging open, ZZZZZZZZ. That about sums it up.
Once in Dunedin, our task was to find Jenny and Adrian’s house, perched high in the hills above the city. His directions were spot on, including the part where he said “You will HAVE to get off your bikes and push them up the hill.” The hill was more like an Alp. But just like at the top of an Alp, the view from their home was spectacular.
Thank you again, Adrian and Jenny, for sharing your space with two American strangers. We hope we can return the favor someday. Oh, and here’s proof we watered the garden – the rhubard is coming along nicely!
Day 25: Kokonga to Middlemarch
25 December 2010
42 km (26 miles) Mountain Biking
Happy Christmas! Santa brought us excellent cycling weather this morning, with patches of blue sky and a very much died-down version of those pesky winds. A nice way to end our days on the Rail Trail, particularly given that we found the scenery on this last day to be some of the best yet.
Santa also brought us Adrian and Jenny, another Warmshowers couple who welcomed us into their beautiful Dunedin home. From the Rail Trail. Having never met us before. Hospitality, it seems, knows no bounds in New Zealand. We met at Rock and Pillar, a small waystop on the way to Middlemarch, where Adrian and Jenny not only shared with us the directions to their home in Dunedin but a bottle of beer and a Christmas cake. There was another savory holiday tidbit as well – a cake and custard concoction soaked in alcohol whose name I can’t recall – but most importantly, was delicious. Thank you for sharing everything, including a good giggle over your holiday helmet trimmings.
Pulling into Middlemarch posed another bittersweet moment. We’d had a great ride despite some of what Mother Nature threw at us (literally) and if the rail trail had kept going, so would have we. Overall impression of the Otago Rail Trail? Two thumbs up. (And rest of fingers gripped tightly around those handlebars should the Nor’westerlies come out to play.)
