The Otago Rail Trail

On Saturday 30th of April it was time for an adventure I´d had in mind ever since I had come to New Zealand last July: the Otago Rail Trail. A 152 km long cycling track built on the grounding of the former railway from Dunedin to Central Otago.
I apologize in advance for the poor quality of most of the pictures! I destroyed my Samsung Galaxy S4 a few days before I departed and forgot to bring my GoPro along, so I only had the camera of my very very cheap Huawei phone... Nevertheless, here are some impressions from my cycling-adventure.

Map of the Otago Rail Trail, 150 km from Middlemarch to Clyde

Elevation profile: 150km and about 600 meters of altitude make the rail trail a very easy biking trail.

The Start 

Middlemarch Station: still 150km to go until the end of the Rail Trail in Clyde

The first few kilometers of the Otago Central Rail Trail.

The Wedderburn Tavern where I spent my night. It´s located 73 km from Middlemarch and 77 from Clyde, pretty much in the midpoint of the trail. After a scrumptious dinner I went to bed very early (around 9pm I believe) to get a good amount of sleep before I would continue my journey early the next day. A continental breakfast with muesli, bread, butter, jam, fruit and orange juice was included in the accommodation price at the tavern.

After about half an hour of biking on day 2 I reached the highest point of the Rail Trail. From there on it was only downhill until the very end of the trail.

The Otago Rail Trail was a great adventure and I am glad that I finally found the time to do it. Definitely a must do for anyone living in Otago!

Stewart Island

On Friday 22 April I left Dunedin after a long day in the lab and went down south to Invercargil where I would spend the night in a hostel. I got up early the next morning and drove further south to a little town called Bluff where I entered the ferry to Stewart Island. 

After about one hour on the boat we finally arrived at the harbor on Stewart Island. The entire island is pretty much one big national park which makes it pretty unique.

Apart from shark-diving there´s only really one other thing to do on Stewart Island: hiking. The Rakiura Track is about 35 km long and one of the nine Great Walks in New Zealand. 

The track is pretty flat and very easy to walk. The path leads through a lush and absolutely staggering rain forest for most of the time.

Typical fern-trees along the way

Every now and then the path leads out of the forest onto a beautiful beach. 

Ant then back into the woods again.

Stewart Island sees a lot of rain, so the paths are pretty muddy and slippery year round. 

Northarm Hut where I stayed the night

Back at the ferry terminal on day 2 there was a surprise waiting for everyone. As the winds were too strong, the ferry operator had decided to cancel all ferries for the day, meaning we were basically stuck on the island and had to spend another night on Stewart Island. Luckily the next day (Monday) was ANZAC day, so I didn´t have to be back at Uni. 

Stewart Island was definitely a unique experience and one of the most gorgeous walks I´ve done here in New Zealand so far!