Cycling on the Central Otago Rail Trail

Yesterday I finished the Central Otago Rail Trail.  The Rail Trail is located in Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand.   It goes from Middle March to Clyde which is a distance of 150km.  This is typically done over 2-4 days.  The trail passes through many small towns so there are plenty of options for food and accommodation.

I rented a mountain bike and Dunedin and my sister dropped me off at the start of the trail in Middle March early in the morning.  There was a bit of frost around in the morning making it very cold starting off (damn no gloves), but it soon enough turned into a brilliantly sunny day. I stopped off for a spot of fishing in the Taieri River just past Kokonga about 40km into the trip - in case you're wondering a 4 piece fly rod straps nicely onto the top tube of a bike.  I was planning on waiting to fish closer to Waipiata but this plan was interrupted by the sight of rising fish in a large pool.  Despite having several fish to try for in that one pool all I managed was one brief hookup.  There was plenty of other good looking water but I had booked accomodation in Naseby which was another 35km travel so I didn't have much time to spend exploring the river. I was staying in Naseby about 10km off the trail because I left it until the last minute to book accommodation.  The rail trail is fairly popular at this time of year and most places were booked out.  It was a nice enough little town with fantastic food at the Naseby Hotel.  Both the quality and quantity of the food were very good.

The section of the trail between Oturehua and Lauder is absolutely spectacular with some really cool old bridges and tunnels.  The fishing in the Manuherikia River was also brilliant.  I spent about 2 hours fishing there and caught 13 trout.� About half of them were very small, but I got some nice two to three pound browns as well.  I was fishing with a size 12 elk hair caddis dry and a size 16 beadhead hare and copper on the dropper.  Both flies were successful.

The trail is lightly covered in gravel and about the width of a typical lane on the road.  Cars are not allowed on the trail so this makes for a very relaxing cycling experience. See http://www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz for more detailed information including a list of places to stay. This was a brilliant ride and quite different from anything else in New Zealand, definitely well worth doing!