Day 2 - Ophir to Wedderburn

It was a relatively warm night in Ophir (the place where records have been set for the hottest and coldest days).  It was forecast to rain but apart from ominous clouds there was no rain when I got up.  Bev was still sleeping so I got into some clothes and took the laptop to write up the previous days activities.  There was another group in the dining room who were clearly part of an organised trip.  The previous evening I had noticed the group but this time there was an organiser.  I am quietly writing and next thing this woman issuing instructions loudly.  Telling them that there is a long day ahead and they should have read their itinerary and that they would be leaving in 10 minutes and to get moving.  This outburst to a middle aged group like me.  One of the reasons I would hate doing such a trip.  After a leisurely breakfast we packed, left our bags to be picked up and loaded up the panniers with the things we thought we would need for the trip ahead.  It was going to be mostly uphill.

Ophir Bridge

Our first stop was to look at the historic Ophir Bridge a kilometre or so outside Ophir.  It was steady drizzle as rode to it.  It really is a very beautiful bridge.  I clambered up some rocks to get a nice picture of it.

Drying off at Stationside Cafe

It had begun to rain as we left for our first stop at Lauder a mere 7 kilometres away.  First we went via the historic Ophir Bridge, which is beautiful and I even managed to take pictures of it despite the falling rain.  It became steadily heavier as we proceeded through Omakau and onto the rail trail but the contrast in weather conditions added to the experience .  Fortunately the rain came down from slightly behind us.  Soon my feet were drenched from the water kicked up by the front wheel.  Fortunately it was did not feel too cold probably because I had a couple of thermals on to ensure that I was warm enough.  The base of the track has this golden sandy gravel which was soon coating shoes, the panniers, the bikes and even our backs.  At Lauder we found a nice little café called, of course, the Stationside Café where we could escape the rain.  We were welcomed in and offered towels to help dry us off.  We had a nice a cup of coffee and we sat there waiting for what were meant to be showers to ease off.  There were two other couples waiting for the rain to ease off, one couple who had arrived just before us.  While we waited we talked with the owner who we found out was from Northland and had come tripping around the South Island four years ago and had never gone back.  She had the nicest date scones I have had in a while. After an hour or so it did not look like it was letting up, despite the lovely owner suggesting that it was, so we decided to head on up the trail as we still had quite a way to go.

Heading up the gorge

It began easing off soon after we left.  We continued up the trail, literally, with our next big stop to be Oturehua about 23 kilometres away.  It was a steady climb up to the Pool Burn gorge section.  Several kilometres before getting to the gorge we traversed one of the longer bridges on the route which looks much more like a modern bridge as opposed to the pictures of bridges further along the trail.  The engineering is very obvious and it is interesting to imagine what it must have been like for the men built it with only their picks, shovels and wheelbarrows and some explosives.  The climb up through the Pool Burn gorge was spectacular.  There are sheer drops on one side  but it is 1:50 gradient that was noticeable.  At the first of two tunnels we stopped.  Bev had got there first and headed off to see the remnants of the camp where the builders of the tunnels and this part of the track lived while they constructed it.  There was a man there sitting at the entrance of the tunnel keeping out of the rain.  He was not like any of the middle class middle aged cyclists like ourselves and had a bike with trailer which looked like it had his life’s possessions on it . It turned out that he was a bit itinerant and travelled the trail regularly.  I headed for the camp site assuming that Bev had already been there but once I got there and it had taken me 5 minutes I realised that Bev not gone that far.  I took a few photos and then climbed back up the trail.  By this time the rain had eased off to light showers.  I got back and another crowd of cyclists had arrived in the meantime this man had given Bev some little known facts about the area, some I assume were pure fantasy.  It turned out that Bev had been worried he might nick our stuff while we were away whereas I was much more relaxed about it as it became apparent  that locking things were not the usual on the trail, for instance there were no bike padlocks. Bev (who lives in Sydney) later confessed  to having a vivid imagination (given the backdrop and isolation and prior to the arrival of the other cyclists) which had transported her to a “Wolf Creek” type scenario with all sorts of evil outcomes.   

We then proceeded through the first tunnel, which I believe is the longest on the trail.  While going through something peculiar happened with my vision and I was almost blinded.  I was riding my bike and almost banged into the wall.  I think it was an effect of my damaged eye. 

Ida Burn where curling takes place in winter

The trail continued around and above the gorge, crossed the Manurehikua River via a lovely looking bridge before descending down to the Ida Valley.  We stopped in what are gangers huts which have interesting information about the area and are dotted along route.  There we came across a couple who we had met in café at Lauder and who had taken off a bit before us.  We talked and then after an apple we proceeded toward Oturehua crossing the Ida Valley, taking a picture of the Ida Burn dam where they do the curling in the winter. It must be seriously cold to get ice on that dam!!

We arrived at Oturehua at about 2:30pm where we had a nice pub lunch.  We had an interesting  conversation with the pub owner who was from Christchurch and had come to Oturehua where he bought the pub which was very rundown.  He said that the previous owner discourage cyclists and was only interested in the locals.  It was a pub from the fifties and sixties in terms of design (although probably a lot older) and he has spent the past three years trying to change its reputation while at the same time improving its design   He seemed to enjoy what he was doing, was entrepreneurial and very welcoming.  Over the road from the pub was this country store from the past.  It was very cute and we wandered around and I paid a premium for a post card to send to Sophie.

The final part of the day was the ride to Wedderburn.  However, before doing that we went and looked at an old gold mine a kilometre or so out of the Oturehua.  It was nice to walk around a bit and look at the old structures that were still there including a poppet head, which is a system of hauling up the material from the mine for crushing to get the gold.  There were lots of tailing around but because it was all underground the disturbance to the landscape was  relatively minimal. It was interesting to see how the land over time reclaims the disturbance.

The highest point

It was steady climb from there to the highest point (610m) on the trail a couple of kilometres from Wedderburn.  We had our pictures taken and then it was downhill to our accommodation at the Wedderburn Cottages which are right beside the trail.  We arrived a bit after 5pm.  There was no one to tell us where to go and then I discovered a note in the which said where we were staying. No key!  We were in The Lodge (which was probably the old homestead for the station), and we had shared facilities making it bit like living at home.  It was a bit cool when we arrived but there was  a couple Roger and his wife from Tauranga  who were already there and seemed overjoyed to see someone else  and welcomed us inside. They had a fire going and also the  heat pump so the place was very warm and provided an opportunity to dry out our sodden shoes.  They immediately invited us to join them for dinner, but we wanted to shower first and generally clean up so we declined.   Roger said that it was recommended that we book a table, at first I did not think it was needed and said I would take our chances. 

After thinking about it I thought that eating was very necessary so I shot down to the pub to make a booking.  It was getting quite cool a sure sign of autumn.  The shower was wonderful.  It was over an old cast iron bath which would have been nice to soak in.  My bum was a bit sore, well actually quite sore, with some chaffing I think.

Ready for food at Wedderburn

The pub was 500 metres or so down the road so we walked down there and had nice meal and a reasonable bottle of Central Otago pinot noir aptly called Trail Rider.  The meal was huge; roast hogget for me which was superb but there was too much.  Bev had the pork which consisted of three pork cutlets which she struggled to eat.  It was getting dark when we got back.  Roger and his wife were watching TV and so we spent some time talking with them; finding out that he had sold a business a few years ago and they had been travelling in a van around the south for a few weeks.

Again when my head hit the pillow I was asleep, not surprising as we had cycled 55 kilometres that day and much of it uphill.