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Clutha Gold Trail 
 

Clutha Gold Trail

Kaiya Ishida, Year 12 —

On the 9th and 10th of April last term, myself and four other students from Year 12 completed our two-day cycle tour.

We planned to bike from the Roxburgh Dam to Lawrence along the Clutha Gold Trail covering 73km. Starting at Roxburgh Dam we cycled through the outstanding natural beauty of Central Otago following the powerful Clutha Mata-au River. We all stopped at Roxburgh for a chance to taste their world-famous Jimmy's Pies and then set off on our journey to camp at Miller’s Flat. Along the way, there were small information signs that revealed a range of amazing stories - from Māori Moa hunting to the Gold Rush, the building of the railways and hydro-power stations, to the farming and fruit orchards that are still flourishing today. We reached Millers Flat camping ground and set up our tents and we then made our homemade pizzas that were outstanding. After a cold but well deserved sleep we packed up our tents and headed to the local cafe for our most important meal of the day -  banana, bacon and berry waffles to start our day’s journey biking from Millers Flat to Lawrence. 

The second day was filled with striking mountain ranges and rain. The day started pleasantly with a flat bike along the valley following the bright blue river heading through the Beaumont Gorge. The trail was a mix of roads, old railways and the Clutha Gold custom built trail. About five kilometres out from Beaumont it decided to start spitting but being great outdoor ed students we all put on our raincoats and sucked it up. But, by the time we got to Beaumont, it was more than raining, it was pouring… with a quick lunch break and toilet stop at the local pub we continued in the rain heading to Lawrence. By this time we were all feeling a bit miserable, biking through puddles covering the track on the side of State Highway 1 with the occasional truck spraying water all over us. All we could do was cycle on. At this stage, everything was soaking and the rain had even seeped into our waterproof jackets - it was that bad. We decided to call it quits just before the big tunnel, due to it being closed, and we would have had to push our bikes along the highway. We all loaded up the van and drove back to school, stopping for hot chocolate courtesy of Ms McNatty. Overall the biking wasn’t bad and neither was the food. The weather could have been a bit nicer on the second day but it was all worth the credits in the end.