March 12, 2012
Hyde to Middlemarch then the train to Dunedin
I had really wanted to stay in Hyde as the place looked lovely and I wasn't disappointed. We stayed in the old hotel which is beautifully restored and very comfortable. There was a roaring fire on and together with that and a very long hot shower we gradually thawed out. Fred had joined us for the night and all the other guests were on the Rail Trail. Dinner was up at the old school and we all sat at a long table to enjoy a truly delicious meal, there was great sociability.
Ken and I (Jane was going home with Fred) had to leave early in the morning as although we only had 30km to travel we had to be at Middlemarch by 10.30 to catch the shuttle to the train. We left at 8.00am and of course were there by 10. The first point of interest is the memorial to the Hyde rail disaster of 1943. The driver having fortified himself in the Hyde Pub thought that he would beat all speed records and didn't make the bend, the derailment of the crowded trail killed 21 people and was until the appalling Tangawai disaster New Zealand's worse rail disaster. The drunk driver only got a few months in jail.
For us the next point of interest was Ngapuna. It was here that about the turn of the century Ken's Grandfather established a very small dairy farm, it was close to the newly established railway. The amazing thing is that the original house and barn are still there and I don't think have been used since they left in 1912 for the somewhat less harsh climate of the Taerie Plains. It is only a few km from here to Middlemarch and the track is once more smooth gravel rather than the bumpy rocks we have been suffering. From Middlemarch there is shuttle to the train at Pukerangi. The Historic Taerie Gorge Railway is all that now remains of this line and has become a tourist draw. Dunedin has many tour ships visiting and the passengers are shuttled onto a train at the point and up they come to Pukerangi. Local women set up stalls at the station and when the passengers are disgourged from the train (there were 16 carriages) they make a beeline for these and go into a shopping frenzie. There was a fudge stall than Ken thought he would like to get to but no hope as these rather overfeed people were crowding it out. In about 20 minutes they were herded back on the train where lunch and wine was awaiting them. Our train came in next with a more mixed bunch of tourists and we enjoyed the spectacular rattle down the gorge to Dunedin Railway Station to met and spend the night with our son and his family
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Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 214 km (133 miles)
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