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!

Mueller Hut

On Friday 15th of April I departed with a group of six people from my flat complex and embarked on a journey to Mueller Hut in the Mount Cook Nationalpark. Along came Rosie from the UK, Ian and Seth both from the US, Hannah from Norway and Sofia from Hungary, all in all a pretty international group of fantastic people! 

Our first stop was a lookout point at Lake Pukaki along the road to Mt Cook. 

Clear blue sky, not a single cloud in the sky and tepid temperatures around 20 degrees, what a perfect day for a journey to the heart of the South Island!

180 degree view of Lake Pukaki

Our second, not entirely voluntary stop was just a few minutes later when we had to stop to give way to some sheep. So New Zealand...

The road to Mount Cook

Pleasant company during our first break at a pick-nick-table halfway up the mountain: a Kea bird

The New Zealand Kea is beautiful to watch, but can sometimes be quite annoying; especially when it tries to destroy your lunchbox or your backpack with its sharp bill.

Ian and his faithful walking stick

Time´s flying by in good company and soon it was evening and the sunset was coming closer and closer, creating stunning colors in the sky!

His majesty Mount Cook in the last rays of the setting sun, what a view! 

We reached the hut right on time to watch the sun finally setting down and vanishing behind the mountains. 

We had some pasta and sandwiches in the hut and went to bed quite early as it had been a pretty exhausting day and we all had in mind to get up early the next day and watch the sunrise.

6:45 am    The first light of the rising sun approaches

The surrounding mountains in the first morning light.

Mueller Hut, where we stayed the night.

The hike down the mountain back to the car-park was way easier than the way up and we made it back in a little less than three hours. We arrived in Dunedin at around 6 pm, had a shower and some dinner and got ready for the night: a beach party/cave rave at Long Beach. The party was great and we slept on the beach afterwards. This is how we woke up the next morning: 

Seth, Sofia, Rosie and me

All in all it was a great weekend, probably one of the best I´ve had so far here in New Zealand!