The Otago Rail Trail

The Otago Rail Trail is an old railroad that has been refitted as an 150km biking trail.  The trail stretches from the town called Clyde to Middlemarch.  Although it is recommended that you bike the track in 3-4 days, I, perhaps stupidly, agreed to attempt the track in two days.  Oh yes, I biked close to 150km in 2 days.  If any of you are in average shape, as I am, believe me it is QUITE the challenge.  Surely the greatest physical challenge I have ever attempted to date.  Nevertheless, I was with good (well prepared and physically fit) company-- My dear flatmate Petra, Ondrej, and Scott.

Our Kiwi Host, Rachel was kind enough to drive us an hour to the start of the track, leave Petra and Ondrej's car at the end of the track, and then hitch-hike back to Dunedin so that we would have the car once we finished the track- WWWHHHAATTT  A GIRLLL!!!

I am including the map so that you can appreciate :)

The trail was absolutely beautiful.   We rented bikes and "panniers" (aka knapsacks that attach to your bikes) in Clyde, and biked 60k the first day to a town called Ranfurley.  The scenery was truly magnificent, and we stopped for lunch along the way at a sweet little cafe along the trial.

When we finally arrived in Ranfurley, my legs were aching and I was in serious need of some wine to ease the pain.  Ranfurley is a tiny little town along the Rail Trail with a population of approximately 1000.  I was shocked that it was even 1000 given how tiny the town seemed.  Seemed more like 100 peopel to me.  There was however a "hotel" which our hostel owner said we should definitely check out.  It was a tiny little hotel with a pub attached to it.  I find it truly fascinating that people really live in places like this, so far from civilization, and with seemingly few things to do.  I was so curious to know who these people were, what kinds of lives they lead, and how they ended up living there?  I tried to asking the hotel owner, but couldn't get much out of him since he was trying to close the pub town.  

We checked into our hostel, The Old Post Office Backpackers, which was quite a charming spot.  We were the only ones staying there and there was an awesome fireplace, tea, coffee, games,  and movies for rent.  I finished off an entire bottle of wine and proceeded to play drunk scrabble.  We later went to grab late night eats at a campervan fast food stop--recommended by our hostel.  The food was delicious, and to top things off, they gave us a free CRAY FISH!!!  For some reason the owners didn't want to finish it themselves.  We were quite lucky because apparently that can get SUPER expensive.

On day 2 we have about 80-90 km to go before reaching Middlemarch.  I was already very tired, and quite worried about the adventure ahead.  But I plugged in my trusty ipod, and pressed through!!!  I will admit to nearly crying at some points because I was SOOO SOOO SOOO exaughsted, but I tried hard to be a trooper and not let my struggle show.  Somehow the others seemed to be doing just fine- oh no... the gym is calling my name!!!

Anyhow, I will not attempt to describe the scenery because I'm not a very poetic writer and the pictures clearly speak for themselves...

We stopped for lunch again at a charming spot along the way.  Again, when a say a "tiny town" I have a difficult time describing just how tiny is tiny.  Like LITERALLY nothing there.  I find it fascinating.  They might have a small grocery store, 1 cafe, and 1 pub... and that's basically all!!! 

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!