I rode the Otago Central Rail Trail with my 85-year-old dad

When an opportunity arose to ride one of New Zealand’s best multi-day bike tracks, I didn’t need to ask if he felt up to it.

Mum and Dad have always been keen travellers and big cyclists. In holiday snaps they’re often helmeted, sweat-sheened, and beaming. Not just dedicated pedallers, they belong to the tandem bike sub-tribe. Dad steers their double-seater from up front while Mum is “the stoker”, in charge of leg power and unsolicited advice.

But things change, life tramps on, the years disappear, and now Dad has bionic knees, and Mum has late-stage dementia. They still cycle. Dad swings by the aged-care home and helps Mum into her helmet and onto the back of their trusty yellow steed, and off they pedal. But not too far and not too often.

So when an opportunity arose to ride one of New Zealand’s best multi-day bike tracks – the 152km Otago Central Rail Trail – I didn’t need to ask my 85-year-old dad if he felt up to it. I only asked if he thought I’d be up to it. Because, of course, Dad had already conquered the Otago, and my favourite kind of bike is a car. “Sure,” he enthused. “You’ll be right.”

Mum and Dad rode the trail – which follows the route of the former Otago Central Railway – independently in 2006, but for this trip Dad and I went with Intrepid, who handled the accommodation, Queenstown transfers, luggage transport, and provided a fantastic guide. The four-day ride is suitable for beginners, but you’re advised to do some light training. Intrepid encourages you to bring “an enthusiasm for bike riding and adventure”, which I took as a nice way of saying “it might rain”.

The trail begins in beautiful Clyde, 90 minutes east of Queenstown, a town so quaint and well-preserved it resembles a movie set. Sam Neill grows grapes nearby and Brad Pitt is visiting the area, but no one seems to care. Clyde’s bright-green landscape is daubed with autumnal streaks at the trailhead, but as we follow it north, we ride into a headwind and much starker terrain.

The trail begins in beautiful Clyde, a town so quaint and well-preserved it resembles a movie set. Picture: James Jubb/supplied.

Central Otago is known for its scenery, but I found this section rarely pretty or truly spectacular, at least by New Zealand’s very high standards. And yet there’s something about it. Film directors covet its wide open spaces and ghostly beauty. The Lord of the Rings,The Power of the Dog and, more recently, Netflix’s East of Eden have all relied on Central Otago’s low-slung light and moody vistas.

We bond over travel stories and pints of Dark Horse that night at Blacks Hotel in the former gold-mining settlement of Ophir. The next day, we’re up early and pushing for Wedderburn – and the most dramatic section of the trail – as the sun rises. The scenery presses in as we wind through the steeply walled Poolburn Gorge, eventually dismounting to navigate a long unlit tunnel. It feels eerie, but instead of drooling hobgoblins awaiting us on the other side, there are only mountain goats and school kids.

We stay in two historic pubs and a lovely farm stay along the way. The dining reaches a delicious peak on Saturday night at the lively Wedderburn Tavern where publican Angela Stockdale regales us with hunting tales and movie-catering feats. It’s cycling blasphemy, but the thing I like best about multi-day riding is stopping for the day. A shower is restorative. Beer tastes better. Your arse thanks you.

We bond over travel stories and pints of Dark Horse at Blacks Hotel in the former gold-mining settlement of Ophir.

There’s the chance to mingle with ruddy-cheeked farmers at the country pubs, but I never get refreshed enough to bridge the farmer/cyclist divide. I figure we’re a bit like elves and dwarfs – mutually dependent but wary. Some local farmers strongly opposed the bike track initially but have since come around – 20,000 cyclists spend their travel dollars in the local towns along the trail each year. It’s been voted New Zealand’s favourite ride.

Dad handles the track without a problem and impresses everyone with his vitality. He’s now the oldest Intrepid client to complete the trail and an inspiration to many in our group. Dad and I are both on e-bikes but are warmly accepted. Still, I intuit there’s a time for jovial commentary as you cruise past a puffing cyclist on your battery-powered e-bike, and that time is never.

Griff, our wonderful guide, brings the region’s history to life and proves a boon companion. Early in the ride, he calls us his whanau – a Maori word for extended family and friends. And we are a real gang by the end. We’ve all shared 10 meals and some pretty personal stories. I’ve learned a few things – including the going rate for crutching a sheep ($1.50).

The last day of riding is one of the best. It’s mostly downhill, and we leave the austere high plains for picturesque fields dotted with fluffy sheep. Picture: James Jubb/Supplied.

The last day of riding is one of the best. It’s mostly downhill, and we leave the austere high plains for picturesque fields dotted with fluffy sheep. We roll into Middlemarch in time for a late lunch, buzzing on endorphins and success. The weather has been amazing the entire ride, but there’s talk of an imminent change. Back near Clyde, we’re in the transit van and returning to Queenstown when the temperature plummets. Less fortunate cyclists will be cursing, but for our whanau, the rain, when it hammers down, sounds like applause. We did it!

What is the best way to ride the Otago Central Rail Trail

Intrepid offers four-day cycle tours on the Otago Central Rail Trail for about $1780. Pick up and return from Queenstown. Not available in winter.

Kirk Owers was a guest of Intrepid.

Originally published as I rode the Otago Central Rail Trail with my 85-year-old dad