Omakou 9th Mar

Wednesday 9th March: Brilliant sunshine, sunny but very cold, 4°C to 20°C

Cromwell to Omakau: Dep Cromwell 9.15am, arrived Omakau 4.15: 66k, 7hrs

Accommodation: Blacks Hotel Ophir 2k from Omakou

Looking back over Cromwell and Clyde Dam

Jenny dodging cars on State Hway 8

The deep man-made Lake Jackson

Sunny skies at the Clyde Dam

Rolling down into Historic Clyde

Donna and Milton on a Seafood diet

Our new motto

Hot Cafe Latte after a 4°C ride

Clyde and beginning of Rail Trail

Official start of Otago Rail Trail

Today we cycled all day on the Otago Central Rail Trail in near perfect weather - very cold early this morning, warm and dusty after lunch. Jenny left us today after lunch to catch a bus to Dunedin, to fly home in time for her niece's wedding.

It's really cold this morning when we go to the kitchen of the Cromwell Backpackers at 8am to have breakfast. Sue, our host tells us they bought the building and converted it from a medical centre to a backpackers hostel - and it's proven to be so popular with almost full occupancy. It's perfect and really suits our style of hiking/biking with a big bed, clean showers and a kitchen to self-cater. Sue explains how the whole town of Cromwell was shifted or rebuilt in the 80's so that the Clyde Dam could be built and as a bonus the town received millions in new sporting facilities and infrastructure. The old town is below the water level and so is the last section of the Otago railway from Clyde to Cromwell.

It's brilliant sunshine when we meet in the car park looking for a sunny spot and donning jackets before leaving at 9.15am. Once across the bridge, it’s 23k down State Highway No 8 - very busy with 100kph traffic, as the Old rail trail on this section is under water. We hug the tiny shoulder as we zoom along, freezing in the early morning shade. It's 2 hrs when we reach the turn off to Clyde just past the dam wall and into the closest coffee shop. Donna and Milton relish the home made cakes to have with their latte's.

It's midday when we leave to follow signs to the official start of the Otago rail trail, about 1k through the town of Clyde. The dirt trail is smooth shingle, and bumpy - you wouldn't want to do it on a road bike. About 8k down the track at Alexandra, Jenny turns off to go to the town centre to catch a bus back to Dunedin so she can fly home for her niece's wedding. The rest of us keep going and soon we're stripping off our jackets as the day warms up. At 1.30pm, we find a spot under a shady tree for lunch.

For the next 2hrs it's a long dusty trail, slightly uphill - a gradient you can't see but just feel in your legs. The valley trail is like the Disneyland train passing rocky outcrops and mid-western USA country side. It's barren with a few lone trees on hill tops. I read that 800 years ago it was estimated that 80% of New Zealand was covered by forest. Within 200 years of the Maori arriving in the 13th and 14th century, they had burnt almost half of the vegetation for tribal warfare purposes and cultivation. Some commentators were dumbfounded that so much destruction could be caused by so few people in so little time. The Europeans arrived in the late 1700's and continued the deforestation for agriculture and in another 200 years, they had destroyed half of what was left, leaving just 20% of New Zealand covered. Today that has slowly increased to 25% with better forestation practices. Is it any wonder all the birds have gone!

Finally we cycle under a road overpass and it's downhill into Omakau where we zoom though the fifties style town with a hotel, service station and produce store, and cycle 2k on a side road to the historic town of Ophir and the Blacks Hotel. The first thing we do is have a cold beer in the bar, courtesy of Graham following Jenny's instructions. We watch as he chats to the manageress over the cash - probably some Vietnamese coins he's brought back with him. The beer is nice and icy cold, though a bit hoppy then it's off to our hotel rooms for a shower and washing.

Graham knocks on the door at 6.45pm to say they are taking orders for dinner. I've already decided on Steak, medium-rare with chips and salad and Ian is having battered Blue Cod with chips and salad. And when its served at 7pm its lovely with an old country hotel feel. Some of us have dessert of pavlova, chocolate cake or sticky dated pudding with ice cream, some of us just want an extra spoon to share with a partner. I'm a partner and Ian has the sticky date pudding. The house sav blanc is nice. Its a better option than the NZ reds which are hit and miss. By 10pm we're all in bed.