Central Otago Rail Trail Day 4

A lot of the track ended up on our back!

The rain was a steady downpour between 6.00am and when we were setting off on our bikes just before 9.00 in our full wet weather gear. We decided to cycle from Tiroiti, where we were parked, rather than return to Daisybank because of the weather. The track was very wet, muddy and full of puddles but luck was with us again and the rain stopped after about 10 minutes with the wall to wall cloud starting to disperse ahead of us.
Rabbits abounded everywhere (we must have seen hundreds!) along this picturesque part of the trail in the Upper Taieri Gorge which went over bridges, a viaduct and through another tunnel. We walked down into the gorge where the Chinese goldminers diverted the river by carving out a tunnel in the hillside so it was easier for them to search for gold in the riverbed.

7 km down the road we stopped for early morning tea at Hyde where the sparrow that has been following us everywhere joined us again.

The 2 birds I shared a scone with!

We then cycled onto Middlemarch through a wide valley or Strath with the Rock and Pillar range to our right. People consider this to be one of the less scenic parts of the 150km trail but we enjoyed the ride with the wind again blowing at our backs and generally gentle downhill terrain. They have improved about half of the trail surface on this stretch with the gravel and stones being replaced by a very fine grit - much easier to ride on although you had to watch the cambers.

Arriving back to our camp site after the days ride

There is very little to see in Middlemarch where we arrived about 12.00 after seeing about a dozen other cyclists en route. We returned our comfy hired bikes, visited the Historic Museum and then passed the time with lunch at The Kissing Gate Cafe before being taken by the RailTrail Journeys bus (prebooked) back to Debussy at Tiroiti. Because we had missed doing 5 km of the trail between Daisybank and Tiroiti because of where we parked as well as the drenching weather we hopped on our own bikes and did the return trip there before driving back to Middlemarch. By now it was very hot and we had a headwind on the first leg but again it was nice coming back with the wind behind. It also confirmed that we had done the right thing by hiring bikes which were more comfortable than our own.
We stayed the night at the Holiday Park in Middlemarch which is expensive at $34 a night compared with other campgrounds for what there is here eg the water is not potable and has to be boiled so none of that for us - we'll have to find somewhere else to fill up. However we had a nice shower and I washed all our muddy gear and other clothes which had all dried on the line by the time we went to bed.