May 10
Oamaru to Ranfurly
Dull and drizzly - again! I checked out and drove slowly down the coast road. I stopped at Shag Point to photograph the big waves and the glowering skies. At Palmerston, I looked at the shops and bought a second hand book, much lighter than my library book, which I could carry on my walk. As I never even opened it, I needn't have bothered!Right: Shag Point |
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There was actually a train at the railway station but it ran away backwards as soon as it looked at me.
It stopped a short distance down the line, however, the man on the front leapt down and changed the points, and it chugged back towards me on another line. It was playing shunting. I took some photographs and, following the excitement, I relaxed in the station cafe with a coffee.
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It brightened up a little as I drove inland towards the Maniototo. I found a ford closed by the weekend's rain, where the water flow looked quite impressive.
Over the hills, it was still dark and there were no clouds but there were no signs of either wind or rain. This looked promising for my planned exertions.
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At Ranfurly, I checked into the hotel, packed my back pack and drove to Wedderburn for lunch at the pub. I sat in the bar for a while, chatting to the landlady and a friend of hers who was also sitting there. They said that walker had arrived earlier and had ordered an open steak sandwich so we agreed that I should do likewise as it was obviously appropriate.
When it arrived, I wasn't so sure as it turned out to be a large steak, an egg, a rasher of bacon, some bits of lettuce & tomato and a mound of chips. There was also a token slice of bread for it all to sit on.
I finished most of it and was preparing to leave when I thought I heard the radio announcing that following the weekend's rains, the local water supply had been contaminated, that all drinking water should be boiled and that there was a water tanker parked outside Ranfurly School. Later investigations revealed that I had heard correctly and that this situation remained for the whole of my stay in Central.
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It is about 500 metres along the main road to Wedderburn Station, where my walk officially started. There was immediate evidence of the weekend's rain, with large pools alongside the walkway, where normally there would be burnt soil. I passed an elderly couple - ie even older than me - who were heading in the opposite direction. They were the only other pedestrians I saw on the whole of my walk.
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After about one kilometre there is a new information and accommodation centre. The Rail Trail is definitely prospering and bringing much needed investment into the local economy. New businesses seem to be appearing all of the time.
The weather was good for the purpose. No wind, no rain and very little sun. This continued all afternoon, so much better than for my previous attack on the Trail. The only problem was that it made photography a somewhat boring process with very few exciting colours and a flat sky.
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There isn't too much to say about this section of the walk. It runs very gently uphill, it is very straight, there are fields and there are fields with cows in. Either the berries are always good in Central Otago or this is a particularly good year.
Mount Ida Station offered a little entertainment with its trailside statues.
After about an hour and about four and a half kilometres, I reached the highest point. As the sign stated, "It's all down hill from here". The story of my life, really. About this point I met my first people since Wedderburn. I also found the first bench but as I was making good speed and feeling fit, I didn't avail myself of its services. At the Seagull Hill gangers' shed, I met a party of cyclists from somewhere on the Kapiti Coast and we had a brief chat. The gradient at this stage was quite steep, uphill for them but downhill for me. My change of plan seemed to be making more sense every minute as the steep gradient continued for about four kilometres. |
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The trail follows the road for a while, on a terrace cut into the hillside, offering good views of the road and the river. This was probably the most interesting part of my walk.
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For a little while, the clouds gathered and I started to feel cold. Luckily, I couldn't be bothered to remove my pack in order to put on another layer as in about 15 minutes, the sun reappeared quite brightly and I warmed up again.
The famed big skies of the Maniototo were looking good, the clouds were interesting and there were shadows on the mountains. Whether I managed to capture any of them with the camera remains to be seen.
One of the features of the Trail is the fruit trees, which were supposedly grown from cores, pips and stones thrown out of the train windows by bored passengers. The one here was heavily laden with fruit. I ate one and it was crisp and good. I never got round to eating any of the ones I had brought with me.
By 4 pm, I was approaching Oturehua and could see the trucking company yard which now occupies the old station goods yard. I had allowed three hours for the walk and made it in about ten minutes less. Not bad at all.
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I crossed the road to Gilchrist's Store, still operating under the same name after almost 110 years, where I had a rest and a coffee. I then returned to the pub on the opposite side of the road for a beer and a session of diary writing. The house cat occupied the most comfortable sofa and ignored me most of the time. I should have used flash and got a better photo but I didn't want to upset it.
I was taken unawares when the taxi arrived about ten minutes early to take me back to my car, not too many minutes drive away.
Back at Ranfurly, I had a shower and a long rest. My hip ached a bit but my feet were fine.
At 7 pm, I headed for the bar where I ordered dinner and was joined by Toni the taxi driver, her grandson (a strapping youth who is a member of the NZ youth curling team) the hotel manager, and one of the locals who sported a beard which would instantly have qualified him for a ZZ Top tribute band.
The dark black mushroom soup was good, the fish as excellent as I remembered it from Friday, and the conversation was great fun. I was made to feel very welcome and the hospitality couldn't have been better. At about 8.30 everyone left and I went upstairs to watch tv and to write.
Right: Wonderful fish again |
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