Day 3 - Alexandra to Kokonga

After a good night of sleep we were up and about, breakfasted and ready to go on our bikes shortly after 7.30 am for the ride.

The day was scheduled to have a ride of about 80 kms along the Central Otago rail trail. The weather started quite cool but warmed up to high 20’ s during the day then later in the afternoon as we completed the last 20 kms it turned cooler with some showers 

The first half of the trail was a steady climb of about 400 metres with smallish gradients in keeping with the needs of railway engineers specifications.

The country was very dry and the trail surface was good but dusty 

We stopped for coffee at Omakou where we had good coffee and enjoyed the delightful muffins or pastries.

There were several other groups of riders at the coffee shop and we noticed most were using electric bikes for the ride.

After coffee we continued the climb to a couple of tunnels which were dug out of very solid rock.

During this time we saw several other riders making their way in the opposite direction and I noted most we’re enjoying the downhill run whilst we continued the uphill!

Finally we had a break for lunch at Oturhua where we enjoyed sandwiches provided by Ian who got them from Subway! Good to have a lunch of ham, cheese and salad washed down by ginger beer provided by the local general store.

After resuming the ride we reached the highest point in the ride and then…. It was all downhill with the wind behind us!!!! Yea…. Speeds of over 35 kph and the kms just went !

After reaching the proposed turning point for the turnoff to Naseby we decided to continue on the Ranfurly…. Then reaching Ranfurly we decided to continue on to Kokonga railway station. By this time we had completed over 100 kms but the weather was closing in with rain and a headwind! 

After stopping we loaded the bikes on the trailer and made our way to Naseby where we were greeted with great accommodation for the night

After cleaning up we made our way to the pub for dinner where the food was excellent.

All of us commented on the great day of riding but noted we might have a bit of wet weather for the ride tomorrow 

The start of the ride !

Some indication of the conditions of the ride 

View of a river we crossed 

Here is the bridge which crossed the river 

The tunnel we went through