| Otago Central Rail Trail | |
|---|---|
 On the Otago Central Rail Trail | |
| Length | 150 km[1] |
| Location | Otago region, New Zealand |
| Trailheads | Middlemarch 45°30′11″S 170°07′33″E / 45.50293°S 170.12594°E Clyde 45°11′41″S 169°20′08″E / 45.19476°S 169.33562°E |
| Use | Walking Cycling Horse riding |
| Highest point | 618 m (2,028 ft) |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Season | Year round |
| Sights | Otago Central landscape, railway viaducts |
The Otago Central Rail Trail is a 150-kilometre walking, cycling and horse riding track in the South Island of New Zealand. A pioneering project for New Zealand, the successful rail trail joined the New Zealand Cycle Trail umbrella organisation in 2012, having been one of the inspirations for it.[2][3]
The trail runs in an arc between Middlemarch and Clyde, along the route of the former Otago Central Railway. The trail has become a popular tourist attraction, with 10,000–12,000 users per year as a conservative estimate, and yearly (and ongoing) user increases for 6 out of the last 7 years (as of 2011).[1][4] The trail is also accepted as being, by a large margin, the biggest non-farming economic factor in the Maniototo-Alexandra area.[5]
- ^ a b "Rail trail still proving popular". Otago Daily Times. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ^ "Pioneering Otago rail trail joins national cycleway". 2 January 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
- ^ "Key hails success of 'inspirational' rail trail". Otago Daily Times. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
GOLDwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Opinion: Great for the cycling public, but what about the landowner?". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 4 August 2011.