Length of the South - Day Two

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Route

Roxburgh to Omarama via Knobby range, Alexandra, Otago rail trail to Oturehua, Hawkdun Runs Road, West Branch of Manuherikia and Omarama Saddle.

Day Two Map

Distance: 184 Cumulative: 401

Leaving Roxburgh

The clouds from last night are skulking around the hills trying to look menacing as I leave Roxburgh a little before 0700 hrs. It’s chilly for the last 9km of the Otago Gold Trail which I leave just short of the dam, but it provides a warm-up for the grind up Knobby Range: about 800 vertical metres of knee crunching gravel road and track.

This is part of the 2014 Southern Brevet but in reverse. It’s easy navigating to the top of the road and the farm gate to Knobby Range (the one on the left). At this point much of the climb is done but there’s a few kms left on an overgrown farm track. The clouds are still somber but no rain and the Central Otago sun is burning through to the north; the day clears as the top approaches.

Looking back to Roxburgh Dam off Knobby Range

But first there is a locked gate with one of those annoying signs about farm hazards. I don’t like to enter without permission but after climbing all this way, and having travelled this way previously, and not seeing any indications on the internet about limited access, I elect to chuck the bike over and keep going. Behind, the valley around Roxburgh is grey; ahead the sun is shining. Across the valley there are a few small patches of snow on the Old Man Range.

On top of old Knobby

The downhill is good fun (apart from the gates): the schist makes for flatter rock surfaces with less sharp edges and interesting little drop offs, the clay is baked hard and fast, but with lots of little hazards to watch for. It finishes with the final clattering drop down the rockier Graveyard Gully to the road end then across the foot bridge into Alexandra around 1045 hrs and after 36 hard kms. I pitch into the same café as last year for toasted cheese and various drinks.

Cruising down to Alex

The Otago Rail Trail is more established than the Gold Trail, and there are heaps more cyclists, although apparently it is not peak season yet. The surface is good but chunkier than the Gold Trail, and the landscape less interesting without the river, and with fewer trees for shade. The Rail Trail is graded for a railway so easy going, but lacks the interesting twists and turns and the cooling presence of the Clutha.

It’s a hot day now but the wind is helping. At about 29km there is an option to stop at Omakau but I push on another 7km to Lauder where there is a café, arriving about 1300 hrs ready for a ginger beer and some shade. After Omakau, the Trail heads up a rocky gorge through which the Ida Burn flows to meet the Manuherikia and through a couple of tunnels to traverse Raggedy Range.

First tunnel through Raggedy Range. Looking northwest

Through the range and looking southeast across Ida Valley at North Rough Ridge

At 58km it’s time for another stop and drink at Hayes Engineering Heritage Centre. I’m more interested in the café than the exhibits and make a beeline for the shade, where there is free water for cyclists. This is Oturehua and the end of the Trail for me. The Rail Trail curves east and then south for Middlemarch, while I head north on gravel roads.

Shade! And a kind offer for thirsty cyclists at Hayes Engineering

Hawkdun Runs Road is in less than pristine nick, and tough going. I’m clock watching as progress now determines whether it’s a night in a DoC hut and crossing the saddle in the morning, or whether I can push through to Omarama tonight. It’s easy following the signs to the start of the 4WD track, which becomes rougher and more bouldery, then splits with the choice of East or West branch. I haven’t considered this, and discover that East is shorter by 5 or 6km although 100m higher; however, best stick with the plan.

It’s dramatic but not really beautiful country: mostly scrub and tussock. The track is just as rough as last time, and plays havoc with various sensitive areas, but it is drier so the crossings are shallower and there are fewer of the deep puddles that were a feature last year. It’s quite pleasant to cool hot feet in the river. Tyre marks indicate that a group of trail bikers have been through; their names are in the log book at Boundary Creek Hut but they are gone before I arrive.

At last the heat starts leaving the day as I leave Top Hut, and head up to the Omarama Saddle. As soon as the climb starts I’m off and pushing: it’s 250m, steep, and I’m stuffed.

At 1250m the wind is whipping through the saddle and shadows are getting long (1945 hrs) so after a few quick photos it’s off down the other side.

Omarama Saddle looking North towards MacKenzie country.
Ewe Range, Cloud Hill, Ben Ohau, Mt Saint Cuthbert, Diadem Range,
Neuman Range … I think they are all visible from here. I think this spot is pretty cool.

It’s better than a farm track with a fast start but the last half is steeper, rougher and in shade so I take it a little easy. However, I still lose my bottle (and the new second-hand bottle cage it was in) somewhere on the way. At the bottom the rising wind makes the flats fast work and at last it’s Broken Hut Road with the evening shadows chasing me the final 17km into Omarama in the golden evening light.

Racing the sunset into Omarama.
Ahuriri River and Lindis Pass road invisible between here and the clay cliffs.
Foot hills of Diadem Range on the left.

It’s 5 minutes before the camp ground office closes at 2100 hrs but the very obliging owner hands me the instructions she had written and was about to leave out for me to find my cabin (including complimentary Wi-Fi access).

Lack of fitness and poor fluid and nutrition management are starting to have a cumulative effect (as well as the need for a few calluses in strategic locations). A shower, plenty of water and some hot porridge go some way to restoring equilibrium before crawling into bed.

Options

Given the warning about access to the Knobby Range farm, the better option would seem to be to follow the trail up the Roxburgh Gorge and arrange boat pickup for Alexandra – or switch to the road. I wouldn't go via Knobby again without confirming permission. It is a fun downhill when done south to north though.

I suspect there are a number of interesting options for transiting from the Clutha Trail to the Mackenzie Country and/or Canterbury. There’s Lake Onslow and Dansey’s Pass of course. I wish now that I had taken the East Manuherikia Branch (shorter and a change) and I wonder about heading up Home Hills Runs Rd instead of Hawkdun Runs Road to see whether there is access from the Mt Ida water race into the East Manuherikia Branch. In the end though, I wanted to pick up part of the Otago Rail Trail and the Alps to Ocean and didn’t look closely at possible variations.

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