Cycling New Zealand 2014 Day 12 : A Wayward Wind

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Cycling New Zealand 2014 Day 12 : A Wayward Wind

Central Otago, New Zealand : 26th November 2014

Small Group Ride: Wedderburn>Ranfurly>Waipiata>Kokonga.

(Apologies to my readers, the original Page 12 seems to have disappeared. Have rebuilt it from memory, hopefully I got things right)

It's only our third day riding on the Otago Central Rail Trail... with a wonderful start and an even more wonderful, homely end!

Cycling Distance: 36 km.

Time : 9:00 am - 2:30 pm.
Time Taken : 5-1/2hrs. (Including stops for lunch, rests, many photos, etc.).

This is page 12 of a 16-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

< Go to Otago Trail 2 | Go to Other Days | Go to Dunedin 1>

Route Recommendations :
1. The Otago Central Rail Trail is opened for all seasons. It spans a total of 152km. from Hyde to Middlemarch. One can start from either Hyde to Middlemarch or vice-versa. Or if one feels not up to doing the whole trail, do just part of it.
2. Most cyclist use mountain bikes with off road tires. But the Otago Central Rail Trail is doable with the 16" wheel Bromptons or similar bikes. Just bear in mind that the trail was a former railroad with the tracks removed and the gravel supporting the sleepers leveled off. These gravel are loose and many have sharp edges, so it will be a good to use tires like the Shwalbe Marathon Plus tires to reduce risk of punctures.
3. Depending on the time of the year, New Zealand can be rather cold. If you are from the tropics do wear appropriate clothing. For the top four layers consisting of a inner thermal (like Uniglo HEATTECH), a t-shirt, a woolen sweater and finally a wind-breaker. For the bottom; undies, a inner thermal pants, jeans or cycling long pants and woolen socks with a good pair of sneakers. For the hands, woolen gloves would be good.
4. Weather in NZ can be unpredictable, do not make the same mistake as me and forget to bring a good raincoat. Things in NZ can be expensive, so it's best to bring one from your home country.
5. With smaller-wheeled bikes, restrictive thick clothing, loose gravel road, slopes, head-wind, cold temperature, etc., it is harder to cycle along the Trail when compared to cycling on tarred roads. A 50km ride on the trail could be equivalent to cycling 150km on roads. So adjust the daily ride distance to suit one's physical capability accordingly.
6. It would be easier not to carry one's luggage while cycling along the trail, a couple of companies (click here for tour operators) provide luggage transfer from point to point at a charge of NZ10/= per piece per day. Carry a small back-pack to hold a first-aid kit, food, etc., and to keep sweaters and wind-breakers if the weather takes a turn.
7. The tour operators also provide bike rental and support, and assist in booking accommodations & dinner along the trail. They will also recommend ride distances per day, but it's up to individuals to plan to their own liking.
8. The Otago Central Rail Trail passes through varying sceneries like meadows, rocky ravines, beautiful rivers, former railway bridges and tunnels, etc. Plan not to rush through and leave ample time for taking many photos.
9. Wind and rain can hamper an otherwise good ride, use web-sites like m.metservice.com to pre-check the weather so as to be prepared and adjust the route accordingly.
10. If on a budget, most home-stays allow cooking. Cook your own dinner or even pack extra for lunches. Otherwise buy take-away pies or sandwiches, for pies it's best to spend slightly more for better ones. The cheaper pies tend to be jelly-ish with hardly any chunky meat.

Ride Route: Wedderburn>Ranfurly>Waipiata>Kokonga.

This is a relatively flat route, another beautiful one. Going further south, the human population is sparse with not many towns in between.

(link to overall Otago Central Rail Trail route map)

Okay, a bit of explanation of the top-most photo first: it shows billowing in the wind.

No, we were not doing a shampoo commercial, although it did look like it! It was a way to illustrate how strong the wind can be over here; we faced strong winds at times up to 70 kmh.

Fortunately for us it was a tail wind which helped to make our ride even easier - just lift up our ups and let our wind-breakers act like wings, catching the wind to blow us along!
Only thing is, pray that it remains a tail wind and not turn into a nasty 70 kmh headwind!

After a good breakfast, we came out to a cold crispy morning. It's actually not that cold but for us tropical creatures it was bearably cold. Nevertheless we were eager to roll off, the previous day's wet adventure a thing of the past now.

Today's route was gently undulating, taking us mostly through flatter plains surrounded by light green rounded hills.

The weather was great, as can be seen by the above photo taken by Siew Yung, as she nicely put it "it seems like God's had had come down to brush a swath of cloud above Jo, leading us in the direction of our ride.

This part of the Central Otago plains seems more lightly populated with farmland sparsely separated. The trail now is less gravelly, easier to ride on, let's hope it continues this way.

10:00 am: At Ranfurly we made a longer stop, and noticed a unique statue (GPS: -45.13037, 170.10006) at one of the town's pocket park. It's that of John Turnbull Thomson, who in early in 1856 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province until 1873. From 1876 until 1879 he was Surveyor-General of New Zealand.
I say it's an unique statue as it has an interesting connection to my home country Malaysia. See, before he migrated to New Zealand, Thomson arrived in the Malay Straits in 1838 and was employed by the East India Survey. In 1841 he was appointed Government Surveyor at Colonial Singapore and in 1844 became it's Superintendent of Roads and Public Works.
We come all the way here and find a connection back home!

It was only mid-morning, too early for lunch; but since there was the Four Square Supermarket just across the street, we popped in to get some pies & sandwiches for later on.

Couldn't resist going in to the Curiosity Shoppe .....

Inside were large and small antiquities, the small one more attractive to us as we were cycling around and should be easier to carry around. Next to some souvenir teaspoons & letter openers was this Flash Gordon Rocket Fighter, tempting the little boy in me!

But I resisted and bought statues of a cute old New Zealander farming couple for my "Pairs Collection".

We didn't miss this Ranfurly Visitor Information Centre, where helpful staff are there to answer any questions about the surrounding Otago region.

At a nearby field were displays of turn-of-the-century farming equipment. Most of the were horse-drawn, like the above which I think is a seeder.

This one is definitely a plow 😄..... trust this city boy to try to identify them, hopefully a kind soul will correct me if I am wrong!

We're back on the trail, the wind has started to blow stronger, billowing through the tall reed grass on both sides. But the bright blue skies with it's long clouds pulled us onwards.

Out here, one won't get to meet people that easily, the human population is sparse. But when it comes to sheep, that's another matter! In New Zealand the population of sheep is almost four times that of humans. So in the South Island, it could be ten times more!

So it was no surprise for this Ah Pek (old man in the Hokkien dialect) to meet this grand old sheep.

Taking it as also a field trip, I lichens - this one looking like a coral on land.

Along the way were several hillocks, but no worries as this was a former rail-track there were tunnels long & short ones. At the longer ones, of safety reasons, one has to light up and dismount to push through. At shorter ones like the above, just ride gaily through!

It's mainly pastures and farmland in this region, every once in a while an odd looking tree add contrast to the scenery.

12:00pm - We arrive at Waipiata and who was there to receive us, the Waipiata Man!

He is made out of railway scrap metal, cold steel that is but he was a warm sight for many a traveler.

Just nearby was a bench to open up and eat our take-away lunch! It's little touches like this that makes the Otago Central Rail Trail memorable - munching away while enjoy the cool weather and taking in the scenery.

At another corner we espied this little steel fellas.....

Hey! Are they the children of the Waipiata Man?

Crossing the bridge over the Taieri River, it's a railway bridge sitting on tall piers. Actually we rode on the bridge several times as Andrew wanted to take a video of us riding on it. We were amateurs, so it took several takes before we got it ride.... oops... I mean right!

It's our first acquaintance with the river, we would be meeting it again several days later when we rode on the Taieri Gorge Railway that runs through the Taieri Gorge at the middle reaches of the river.

2:00pm - Riding along the trail, we reached Kokonga or more specifically the Two Wheel Backpackers Kokonga, where we will be spending the night.

But..... er ..... something don't seem right? Don't think this little shed will be able to fit the four of us!

Were we relieved to find out that that was the back gate; riding further ahead and with a double left onto the normal roads we reached the front of the house; now that looks better!

The owner, Fred, wasn't back yet but had left his keys at a outside compartment for us.

And it got better! Fred had left the radio running, when we entered we were greeted by John Denver's "It's Good To Be Back Home Again". How appropriate!

The fireplace at the lounge was also lit and ready to keep us warm. Many thanks Fred, these thoughtful gestures will always make us recall Kokonga and you!