The Otago Rail Trail

Day 4: Otureahua to Omakau

February, 2016

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The next morning we headed on down the trail towards the Poolburn Viaduct.

	Photo by Dona
Rock Pillar Range

Flower Xxx Yellow Photos by Dona		Flower Xxx Blue Violet	Berries

The Poolburn Viaduct is pretty cool. It's a big bridge on stone pillars spanning a small gorge.

Poolburn Viaduct

From the viaduct we could see a bird on a rock quite a ways below us. It turned out to be a Paradise Shellbuck.

Paradise Shelduck

There's a pretty long tunnel right after the viaduct; we walked when it got too dark.

Poolburn Tunnel 2

Poolburn Tunnel Exit Photo by Dona

In the gorge at the end of the tunnel is the remains of the old railway workers' camp. About all that is left is the chimneys from their shacks and a few foundation rocks. Judging by the steep terrain and the small size of the apparent foundations, they were pretty cramped quarters!

Poolburn Gorge	Poolburn Gorge Info	Worker's Dwelling Chimney

Pretty quickly we came to the Manuherikia Bridge, which was having some repair work done on it. Then we rolled into Omakau, our destination for the day.

Manuherikia Bridge

We took a detour and rode around into the town of Ophir, where we stopped for a bite to eat and mailed some postcards.

Ophir

We finished our loop back to Omakau over the old Ophir bridge. A plaque on the bridge says it opened in 1880, is named after the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell, and was designed "in its original form" by L. D. Macgeorge.

Ophir Bridge

Our lodging in Omakau was another tiny box-like affair in the campground; spare but sufficient. The wind had come up a bit and we must have been tired, because we crashed and slept. When we awoke we headed for the Omakau Commercial Hotel where we enjoyed more great New Zealand lamb.

Omakau Campground Photo by Dona

Omakau Commercial Hotel	Chowing down on Lamb

The next day was our last on the Otago Rail Trail; we would ride from Omakau to Alexandra, then follow the Clutha River to Hyde.

• Gary's home page
•     Years of stuff Index
•         Winter 2015 - 2016 index
•             New Zealand 2015 (main page)
•                 Visiting Frappells in Hobart
•                 Southland -- around Stewart Is.
•                 Taieri Gorge
•                 Otago Rail Trail
•                     Otago Rail Trail, Day 1, Middlemarch to Hyde
•                     Otago Rail Trail, Day 2, Hyde to Ranfurly
•                     Otago Rail Trail, Day 3, Ranfurly to Oturehua
•                     Otago Rail Trail, Day 4, Oturehua to Omakau
•                     Otago Rail Trail, Day 5, Omakau to Clyde
•                 Mt. Aspiring Area
•                 Haast Pass
•                 Aoraki (Mt. Cook)
•                 WestCoast
•                 Nelson Lakes
•                 Abel Tasman
•                 Wellington
•                 Hawkes Bay
•                 Whanganui River
•                 Bushy Park
•                 Tongariro Crossing
•                 Mt. Ruapehu
•                 Taupo
•                 Rotorua
•                 Tree Walk
•                 Waihi Rail Trail

This page last updated on 2016-11-29.