050723 Autumn Colours & Fiordland - Flipbook - Page 5
Day 5: Monday 28th October
Clyde to Clyde
Cycling on: Central Otago Rail Trail
This morning you will be departing from the Central Cycle Trail
Clyde Depot at 9.00am and a shuttle will drop you of at Auripo,
where you will cycle 55km from Auripo. You will start of cycling
10.5km from Auripo to Lauder. This will take approx. 45 minutes on
an E-Bike. You will cycle through schist cuttings, over steep-sided
man-made embankments, through two long tunnels (remember
your torches!) and over the 37m high Poolburn viaduct. Before
Lauder the Rail Trail crosses the Manuherikia No 1 Bridge - the
longest bridge on the trail at 110.6m.
Ophir is a 5.5km optional loop which will take approx. 30
minutes on an E-Bike. Ophir was originally known as Blacks,
when gold was discovered in Central Otago in 1863. The name
was changed to the more apt, Ophir in 1875 after the biblical
land where the Queen of Sheba obtained gold for King
Solomon. From the village continue along the main road, 1km
out of town you will cross the historic Daniel O'Connell
Suspension Bridge. You will then cycle 2.5km to complete the
circle back to Omakau via SH85.
This afternoon you will ride from Omakau to Chatto Creek
which will take approx. 45 minutes on an E-Bike (12km). From
Omakau you will have a gradual uphill climb to the top of Tiger
Hill. You will then descend the sweeping S bend to Chatto
Creek. The S bend was designed to provide trains going up Tiger
Hill with as gentle climb of the hill as possible.
On the next section you will ride from Lauder to Omakau which will
take approx. 30 minutes on an E-Bike (7km). You will cycle through
the Matakanui Valley, surrounded by deer, sheep and cattle farms.
To the north-west you will see Dunstan Mountain, to the north the
distinctive Hawkdun Mountain Range and to the south-east the
Raggedy Range.
The next part of this ride is cycling from Chatto Creek to
Alexandra which will take approx. 1 hour 15 minutes on an EBike (17km). You will cycle alongside the Manuherikia River and
through typical Central Otago schist rock and wild thyme
landscapes. You will cycle through the old Tucker Hill gold
diggings - so called because the miners earnt only enough to
pay for their food (tucker).
