Tuesday 8 March 2016

Two intrepid walkers - day one.


As you know my middle sister has been over from Australia, visiting. One of the reasons is that for quite some time we have been planning to walk the Otago Central Rail TrailWell we have finally begun our journey. Of course there is nothing to be fearful of on the trail, except maybe our legs not wanting to keep going :)


On Tuesday 1st March we picked Sis up at 8:15am 
and headed up to Middlemarch where the trail ends/begins.
A quick comfort stop and were on our way by 9:15am.


This was the view as we started out.
The Rock and Pillar range on the left and the 
Taieri Range on the right. And lots of farm land.
As we walked Sis told me about the trip 
she had had on the Trans Siberian Railway and this
filled in quite a bit of our time as we walked.
We didn't notice the time passing. 


We did notice quite a few of these heading
 in the direction we had just come from. Or the end for them :)
Everyone called out greetings and were very friendly.
And yes, looking forward from the start,or looking back
 from where we were it seemed an awful long way to the corner.


But it was a coming up. Just above the gate in the right of this 
photo is a bend in the trail.And when we turned the corner  
we came across the first hut and stamping post. Ngapuna. 
The huts were built after the style of shepherds huts to provide shelter for such intrepid walkers and cyclists as ourselves. 


Oh, were we pleased to see it. Inside we went, bags down,
 drinks out, snacks out and some of that winter gear
 taken off and packed in the backpacks. Yes when we started out it was rather cool but after an hour of fairly solid walking we were feeling quite warm, and the temperature had risen slightly.
And just in case you are interested, that long straight walk was seven kilometres and we had covered it in an hour!


How do we know this? All the information is in the huts,
 along with maps and details of the area you are walking in.
Needless to say, the next part of the walk was slightly slower
but we did the walk in good time for a couple of older gals.


 The next section was also a bit more scenic 
with some interesting sights.Can you see 
the rabbit in the picture above? It hopped slowly
 along the fence line and took very little notice of us.
Then it took off into the gorse.


On one side of the trail was dairy and sheep farming.
This is two paddocks, the cows are in a paddock behind.


Then a bit further up the track were these three old 
girls keeping out of the midday sun.They just looked
 at us and kept on chewing, probably thinking
 "mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun".



Four k's more of walking and we were at Moynihan's Hut, 
a very welcome sight. We stopped here for a few minutes 
as well. The huts are very basic, corrugated iron 
and a wooden form inside to sit on. And we took the 
opportunity to sit each time, but made the mistake
 of letting our feet just dangle. Big mistake at this point
 as they didn't take too kindly to hitting the trail again.


Three hours and 14 k's after we set out we reached our destination. 
We were met at the Rock and Pillar Station by my GKB with
 the car and, another flask of hot water. For  a hot cuppa. He was such a lovely patient support person, he drove us back to camp
 and then took us to the shop to get ice creams :)

Originally we had intended to walk to Hyde which was 28 k's in all, but were so pleased to see our great supporter with the car we decided to stop. It was all a learning curve and set us up for a more relaxed walked the next day and more realistic expectations.
But I'll tell you about that another day. Thank you if you have stayed the distance -  I really should have warned you to make a pot of tea before you started reading.


joining Amy at:


That's it for this week.
I'll see you here next time. 
Keep well.
Diana

21 comments:

  1. What a wonderful walk, with so much to see. What a good idea those little stop off stations are.

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  2. Diana, I am very impressed. I walk every day but that is a work out!!

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  3. What a wonderful adventure! Doing it with your sister must have made it even more special. I imagine your hot cuppa was very welcomed after all that walking!

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  4. Sounds like a fun walk, Diana. Keep posting and we will take the trip with you virtually. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  5. That sounds like a lovely walk. An old rails trail is fairly level or a gradually incline/decline right?

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  6. What a wonderful walk to do with your sister! I am sure that you enjoyed the walking and the time spent together! Hope the next stretch went well! xx

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  7. How great that your sister came for a visit and you get to enjoy doing things together. I enjoyed seeing all the scenery in your photo's.

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  8. How nice that you got to take such a wonderful walk with your sister. I would have loved to walk along with you. Beautiful pictures along your way.

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  9. What a wonderful walk to do with you sister, Diana. There's nothing like sisterly love and togetherness.

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  10. Diana, such pretty pictures. What a lovely walk with your sister!

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  11. What a lovely thing to share together! Family love is so precious.

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  12. I loved joining you on your hike but glad it was the two of you ladies doing the walking lol!! It looked like a beautiful day, so glad you enjoyed yourself.

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  13. A very scenic walk. I think those huts are interesting. I think people have the best conversations over tea and long walks.

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  14. Diana, how great to get away with Your sister on a long hike.I have 2 sisters and those would be the two ladies I would pick to go hiking with too.I love being in nature-How lovely.Diana, thank You for stopping by My blog to encourage Me concerning blogging,yes I have decided to continue because of the friends I've met from near and far-Hugs to You -Denise

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  15. Such a great achievement and quality time spent with your sister. Hope the rest of the trip went as well.

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  16. Diana, I apologize for contacting you this way, but I couldn't find any other way on your blog to contact you. Due to the recent changes in Google, I can no longer receive any emails from the "noreply+feedproxy@google.com", which is where your blog emails are generated from (for those who are subscribed via email). I miss getting your posts in my inbox, and I was wondering if you had ever considered using your email address as the return address or using another means of sending them out (such as mailchimp)? If I am no longer getting them, I am wondering if your other subscribers may not be getting them either? Just wanted to bring it to your attention, as I surely miss your posts. It is hard to find time to actually visit all of the blogs I am subscribed to, and it is so much easier to just get them in our inbox! God bless you, Diana.

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  17. I admire your stamina, don't think I can walk that far now or even ever.

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  18. So great to see more of your walk and to know that you had a great time with your sister! Thank you for sharing at Five On Friday, I hope that you have been having a great weekend and that you will have a great Easter too! xx

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  19. Now this is the way I like to hike! You take the photos, I enjoy the walk through your eyes while I sit on my tush. Thank you.

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  20. Hello Diana,
    I met you on my blog Teach The Younger Women today and came by to visit you on your blog. I am going to add you to my side bar so I can keep reading. You certainly live in a beautiful spot. I love your photos.
    Blessings from Shirley

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  21. It's wonderful to 'tag' along with you and 'see' such wonderful scenery.

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