Better Than Disneyland

The last leg of our 160km trip across Central Otago. We awake refreshed from our lazy day yesterday and walk out into a foggy morning. As we ride, the fog quickly burns off, revealing views of the Rock and Pillar Range on the right (west) and the valley stretching down, eventually, to the South Pacific on our left (east).

Many critters pop up along our trail, from the ubiquitous sheep and cows to a billy goat in a box, some beautiful, delicious-looking turkeys (a few days too late for Thanksgiving!), and the occasional alpaca or two. The views get better again, and finally the trail flattens out to a straight 6k run along the base of Rock and Pillar Range to Middlemarch, the end of our journey. We celebrate with Hokey Pokey-flavor ice cream and board a train back to civilization.

The Taieri Gorge Express is easily the most gorgeous (in the Ithaca sense of the word) ride we’ve ever taken, with a sheer drop to the Taieri River on one side and steep slopes thick with yellow wildflowers on the other. We kick back with a Bundaberg ginger beer and an Emerson’s London Porter and enjoy the ride.

Eventually, we arrive in Dunedin, on the southeast coast of the South Island, the southernmost point of our journey. We’re well below the 45th parallel at this point, and the sun stays up until 10pm. We make the most of it by walking around the town and getting tapas and local brews at Inch Bar, then head up the hill to our B&B for some well-earned shuteye.