February 16
Cromwell to Dunedin

The forecast rain did not appear but it was cool & a bit breezy, even by Wellington standards. After checking out of the hotel, I went to the café, where I had lunch yesterday, and had a light breakfast.

This fortified me suitably so I set off the short distance to Clyde, where the Rail Trail starts. The new road runs along the top of the valley, now that the Clyde Dam has flooded the bottom.

For once, I didn’t stop at the Goldfields Memorial, one of my favourite places, but continued until I pulled into the new station yard at Clyde. The old station is now a museum and had to be replaced when the valley was flooded.

In the yard was the old station warehouse, which now functions as a storage area for the bikes and canoes which are rented out. The man was very helpful & gave me all sorts of useful information. He even tried to persuade me that I would be better off with a bike. I politely declined his offer. The temperature was below 20 & ideal for walking, although the breeze could have been a little less fierce. For the first time in a week, I had to wear a jacket. One of the few signs of the old railway is the turntable in the station yard.

Clyde station buildings

Further down this section of track are some old signal poles and some mileposts (or whatever they call them on railway lines). I set off at a good pace and was soon overtaken by a couple who had been hiring bikes when I was in the station office. I only saw one other person on the track (as opposed to locals walking their dogs) before I reached the other end.

	Otago Rail Trail
Clyde turntable
Muttontown Viaduct

To begin with, the track follows the new main State Highway, and then it moves closer to the old main road. The only structure of any note is the Muttontown Viaduct, 110 metres long and built of timber in 1907. Most of the bridges on the trail are partly made of stone.

Trackside fruit	Edible Koura

I passed the first of the many trackside fruit trees, of which there will be more later. There is a sign pointing to the farm which is rearing Koura, the local fresh water crayfish.

The trail passes through an area of orchards, some fields full of cows, horses and sheep, then a golf course and assorted areas of grapes.

Past the vineyards	and the horses

Approaching Alexandra, I met a Cavalier King Charles puppy, which was happily playing in the long grass. I thought it belonged to a man who was walking past but it ignored him and came to make friends with me.

Just as I was becoming worried that it might be lost, a lady came out of a house on the other side of the road looking worried, called the dog, shot across the road to re-capture it and then frog marched it home. At this stage the track enters suburbia, with houses, schools and, right at the end, an industrial estate.

Alexandra Station

I arrived at Alexandra in very good time, had a short sit down and a drink on the old station platform and then retraced my steps. On this leg I saw a single cyclist and then, a bit further along, a group of 4. With the wind behind me, I continued to make good speed and decided that my original plan to do 20k a day was a bit pessimistic & that I ought to do nearer 30. This complicated the plans even further. It has to be said that this section of the track is very easy walking, with a good flat surface and no real hills, but it is very straight. In retrospect, this comment was a touch naive - but I wasn’t to know it at the time!

I returned to Clyde at about the same speed that I had left and completed the almost 16k in slightly over 3 hours. What was even better was that none of my broken bits were protesting too much.

Along the Trail
Along the Trail	Alexandra Courthouse

Once back in the car, I retraced my steps to Alexandra but on the main road this time. I attempted to find lunch in the Old Court House but, at 13.15 it was full and there was a queue waiting to be served. I went into the Tourist Information Office, bought some post cards and discussed the shortage of accommodation with the ladies behind the counter. They said that it was becoming standard at this time of year, which means that I will have to re-schedule my annual Southern holiday in future. I acquired some lunch at the supermarket and drove South West, down the Clutha Valley.

The road is quite pretty in places but I seldom appreciate it as I am normally en route & in a hurry to get there. I stopped in Roxborough, where I bought some apricots and peaches and then again at Etterick, where I bought even more apricots. At less then $2 a kg, they seemed excellent value. Just hope my hosts in Dunedin want to make lots of jam or similar. The final stop was at Lawrence to buy an ice cream. I made it to Dunedin in time for tea and settled down for an evening of domesticity, cat entertaining, catching up with emails and so on.