November 2022 The northern counterpart to the Otago Rail Trail is the Hauraki Rail Trail. You know the type, used to be a railway line but now a safe place to pootle along on your bike without fear of being mashed by a truck or skittled off the road by a car. We planned to […]
Tag: Cycling
Volcanic
A decade or so ago we’d just signed a binding contract to buy a house in Ohakune when the alert level for the volcano that looms over the town was raised. Last week, for the first time since such levels were introduced, it was raised for the volcano that lies under New Zealand’s largest lake, […]
To The Lighthouse
One of the features of living in New Zealand is the weather. Nearly twenty years ago, after a few weeks of living here, we moved into a cute little cottage at the bottom of the owner’s garden on a January day so hot the tarmac melted and I left a pool of sweat with every […]
A Bridge to Nowhere
During and after World War I the New Zealand government offered land in the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka valleys to returning soldiers. Many took up the offer on the understanding they would soon have easier access via a new road, but the land was remote, untamed and hilly, and clearing it was challenging. Without its bush […]
Buck-it
My husband has had a few issues trying to get his exercise today. Yesterday, for the first time in, oh, probably a few years, he went out on his road bike, spending a good few minutes beforehand dusting off the cobwebs. Mountain biking is frowned upon during lockdown, primarily because of the possibility of a […]
Otago Rail Trail: Part Four
Ranfurly to Hyde: 32km. Hyde to Middlemarch: 27km, plus 20km round trip to Sutton Salt Lakes. We leave Naseby on an early shuttle in a complete whiteout, visibility so poor I’m glad I’m not trying to see my way on a bike. The driver tells us the mists have been bad this year, a consequence […]
Otago Rail Trail: Part Three
Oturehua to Ranfurly/Naseby: 25km. (Plus 15km for Neil!) Oturehua is a lovely little town, if not much more than a hotel/pub, a few houses, many offering accommodation, and Gilchrist’s Store. One of the oldest in New Zealand, the store has been open since 1902 and in the same family for almost the first hundred years. […]
Central Otago Rail Trail: Part Two
Omakau to Oturehua: 29km, plus 5km to Ophir. Before we continue the trail we detour to Ophir, the area’s largest town until the rail line was built through Omakau instead (would love to have been in on that conversation – Wha-a-a-t?!) It holds the record for the greatest temperature range in New Zealand, something we’re […]
Central Otago Rail Trail: Part One
Clyde to Omakau: 37km The Otago Rail Trail was opened over two decades ago, not long before Neil and I made New Zealand our home. With a couple of friends we’ve done a lot of talking about riding it but never quite managed to get ourselves organised. Last year we decided that 2021 would be […]
Pou Herenga Tai
Pou Herenga Tai, the Twin Coast Cycle Trail, runs from Opua (Or-poo-a) to Horeke (Hoar-ay-kay) in the far north of New Zealand. It’s 80-odd km of mostly flat cycling along old railway routes and paper roads, a not too strenuous two-day ride across the narrowest east-west part of this country. You can start at either […]
Tracy Annenberg 