To me, The Otago Central Rail Trail is possibly one of the best things we’ve done as a family in New Zealand. This 152km, gently undulating bike ride takes you through breathtaking South Island scenery, hospitable countryside villages and is the perfect way to hang out with the family while doing a fun, leisurely activity.
The trail can be walked or biked in either direction and follows the former Otago Central Railway line. This means it’s pretty flat, with a total elevation across the 150-odd kilometers of only 400m. It’s a popular ride, especially during summer but still you need to be pretty self-sufficient. There’s a few places to stay and eat along the way, and the odd tavern or coffee stop but we made sure each day that we had sufficient food and water to keep us all going. Being able to stop for a soda or ice-cream along the way, when we saw a place,was then just an added bonus. The countryside is pretty open too, so you need to be prepared for all weathers.
Rob and I had completed this as a two and a half day, pretty hard out ride back somewhere around 2008, on our mountain bikes, in the middle of winter, taking all our own gear with us in panniers. But this time around, with kids aged 9 and 11, we wanted a slightly less strenuous option and so spread out our ride across 4 pretty relaxing days and hired E-bikes to make the trip just about having fun.
Our ride took place when New Zealand was still closed to tourists in the early days of the Covid pandemic, in December 2021. We took the opportunity to explore our own country and complete a ride we’d been looking forward to going back to for a number of years, just waiting for the kids to be old enough to do the full ride themselves.
To make things super simple for ourselves, we went through the fabulous Shebikeshebikes, experts in the area’s bike trails. They collected us from our accommodation in Dunedin and transported us to their Middlemarch office at the start of the trail to get set up with our bikes and safety gear. They’d also booked our accommodation for us, transported our luggage to the next destination each day and collected the bikes at the end of the trip. They also had lots of helpful tips for us along the way such as great places to eat, and side trips from the main trail.
We arrived into Middlemarch in slightly drizzly weather but luckily this was the last we saw of the rain for the next 4 days. The kids picked up a rail trail passport each where they were able to add a stamp at each of the old train stations along the ride. The proceeds for this go to the upkeep of the tracks and the kids loved the sense of accomplishment filling these out. By the time we’d been fitted with our bikes, the rain had cleared up and we set off on our adventure.
Day one’s ride was just 27km from Middlemarch to Hyde. We hadn’t even left Middlemarch yet and we decided to grab some lunch from a lovely cafe to keep us fueled for the afternoon. Our ride took us alongside farmland and across bridges and rivers, and we took our time to take in the scenery. Our first accommodation stop was at Peter’s Farm where the kids got to feed the sheep and we built our own log fire. Then we filled our bellies at the nearby Waipiata Country hotel with some hearty, delicious pub food.
Day two was also a short day of riding – just 34km. This gave us a chance to relax along the ride to take heaps of photos, and stop at every coffee and snack stop going. There was a really long bridge for us to cross on our bikes and tunnels too and we arrived into Ranfurly in time for the kids to have a swim in the local pool. Our accommodation was Hawkdun Lodge, which was really nice and modern. We had an evening beer at the Ranfurly hotel and decided to self-cater that night. The pub’s menu wasn’t really blowing us away, plus our accommodation had a really homely, communal kitchen and dining area we could relax in. Ranfurly had a great Four Square for us to buy pasta for dinner and stock up on snacks and lunches for the next couple of days too.
Our largest ride, of 50km, was on day three taking us from Ranfurly to Lauder. This took us up over the highest point on the trail, at 618 meters above sea level, and over the 45th parallel. Our half way stop was at the Oturehua Railway Hotel for lunchtime beers and a look in the historic Gilchrist store over the road. This store, stuffed full of memorabilia from across the decades, is New Zealand’s longest running general store. It was interesting to look around and the kids appreciated their ice cream selection.
Our ride took us through more stunning scenery and then across the Poolburn Viaduct, the highest bridge on the Rail Trail. There were also a couple of longer tunnels that we needed our bike lights to get through. Our stop for the evening was in the old Lauder school that has been converted into a lovely BnB. Dinner was at another lovely country pub, at the White Horse Hotel. They’re a few kilometers from the accommodation, out of the village, so they come and collect you from your accommodation and take you home later, which is pretty handy as the kids (and us) were not keen to ride anymore for the day.
This left us then 35 km’s to ride on our final day through to Alexandra with lots of stunning flat riding yet again. Half way, we stopped at Chatto Creek for our packed lunch and then came across the village Tavern for a climb on the hippopotamus and a delicious coffee, and then we cruised on along to finish the trail. It was at this point that we were gently heading downhill and I remember riding past another family doing the uphill, on their regular bikes. The kids looked less than happy and it made me even more grateful we opted for the E-bikes. It’s definitely the way to go if you’re anything other than a very dedicated rider.
We’d decided to finish up our ride in Alexandra at the Alexandra Avenue Motel, rather than Clyde which is the official last stop, as we were due to hop on the Intercity bus to Queenstown the following day, and more accommodation options were available in the larger of the towns for us as well. We found out later that the bus also stops at Clyde on the way but this hadn’t been obvious to us at the time of booking. We had a fun night in Alexandra anyway with some yummy Thai food and a comfy bed.
We had such a great time as a family on the Central Otago Rail Trail, I’d still be keen to go back and do it a third time. The scenery of the Otago region is just stunning and the ride is so achievable by any age it’s just a super fun time rather than a hard out endurance event. In hindsight, we could easily have ridden the trail in 3 days rather than 4, but we wanted everyone to have a positive experience and were happy to stop every few k’s for photos and take the ride at a relaxed pace. And the Otago Central Rail Trail isn’t the only ride in the area too. The following year we returned to do part of the Roxburgh Gorge Trail as a day ride, and next on our list is the Clutha Gold trail.
If you’re planning a trip to New Zealand, the Otago Central Rail Trail would give you a really unique South Island experience and a taste of rural life. It’s a good compliment to the adrenaline activities in nearby Queenstown and an antidote to the cosmopolitan cities too. Hope you have fun riding, guys!
For more ideas of fun activities and places to travel in New Zealand with kids, check out our blog with our top 10 ideas here.
