If you're truly dedicated to doing the whole trail, then you should be starting or finishing here at the original Clyde Railway Station site in the heart of Clyde township. The Otago Central Railway reached here in 1907.

The official start/finish of the Otago Central Rail Trail is alongside State Highway 8 at the railhead created in 1980 to receive materials needed for constructing the Clyde Dam. The distance marker indicates the 215 kilometres that separates this railhead from Wingatui, the main trunk railway junction where construction of the Otago Central Railway commenced in 1877. The red box on the black post to the left of the photo houses a self-inking stamp for stamping 'Clyde' on the Otago Central Rail Trail Passport. This fun souvenir of achievement can be purchased at cycle hire, 'i' sites and other businesses local to the Rail Trail.

Look left. Look right. Look left again. Exercise caution at trail-road intersections such as this one between Clyde and Alexandra.

On the Clyde-Alexandra section, Muttontown Viaduct is one of only two wooden viaducts you'll cross while doing the trail

This signal on the Alexandra side of the Muttontown Viaduct is the last one left standing on the Rail Trail.

To reach the Alexandra Station site from Clyde, the Rail Trail takes you past the urban area of Alexandra. It is well worth the short ride or walk down Tarbert St (State Highway 85) to visit the shops, cafés and restaurants of this very attractive and vibrant Central Otago riverside town, the biggest on the Rail Trail. DOC Central is just off the trail about 100 metres on the Clyde side of the station site.

The Rail Trail skirts Tucker Hill, offering good views over Alexandra.

A great spot for a rest along Galloway Straight, all that remains of this once busy station serving Galloway Flat's farming community is the Ladies Waiting Room. Inside you'll discover an amazing display of petrified wood dating backs millions of years. The red box in front of the picket fence houses the Galloway Station self-inking stamp for stamping your Official Rail Trail Passport.

If you're coming from the direction of Clyde, this is one of the first of many cuttings wrought through solid schist rock

Depending which direction you're travelling, Olrig Gangers' Shed is either the first or last of the 12 trail shelter sheds housing information panels describing what can be seen from the shed, and things and places of interest up and down the trail from each shed.

You won't forgive yourself if you pass Chatto Creek without visiting New Zealand's smallest post office building. It was once near the station but a community initiative saw it restored and relocated close to the car park at the Chatto Creek Hotel.

There's not a lot of space to spare in New Zealand smallest post office building at Chatto Creek. Mail posted here still gets a Chatto Creek postmark

It's hard to miss this irrigation pipe near Chatto Creek. Instead of having to build a water viaduct, this inventive irrigation system uses siphoning to get water across a gully and up the other side.

This is what you came for. Escape from urban living to wide open spaces and big sky.

Tiger Hill is the longest and steepest climb on the Rail Trail. Even so it's only a 1:50 incline. Any steeper, steel-wheeled engines could never get up. This photo is taken looking west towards the Dunstan Mountains. Clyde and the Cromwell Gorge are at the start of this range.

If you're headed towards the summit of Tiger Hill, it's not far to go now. When you get there you'll find a Gangers' Shed to shelter, rest and read the information panel.

This culvert carrying SH85 over the Rail Trail frames the straight run to Omakau. If you're travelling the Rail Trail from west to east, the next stop after Omakau is Lauder.

Manuherikia No. 1 Bridge lies at the Lauder end of the spectacular Poolburn Gorge. This is the longest bridge on the trail at 110.6m, one of only two curved bridges on the trail, and the line's first major use of concrete as a construction material.

A Rail Trailer stops to enjoy the view at Manuherikia No. 1 Bridge. Taking your time is the key to making the most of your Otago Central Rail Trail experience. Allow at least four days to cycle the full 150km; longer if you plan to walk it.

Hand shaped schist rock quarried from alongside the trail frames either end of the 230m Poolburn No.2 Tunnel.

A good powerful camera flash reveals the engineering that want into building the three tunnels along the Rail Trail. After the Poolburn No.2 tunnel had been driven through a solid schist bluff, the ends were lined in an arch shape that left a space between the bricks and tunnel walls and roof. When the cement hardened the space was backfilled with schist rubble.

Between Poolburn No.2 and No.1 tunnels the trail is atop a high, steep sided embankment formed by construction gangs using little more than pick axes, shovels and wheelbarrows.

At the top of the Poolburn Gorge, the 37m high Poolburn Viaduct stands as a monument to the extraordinary effort that went into building the Otago Central Railway. This magnificent structure is New Zealand's third highest railway viaduct.

Auripo, a few kilometers east of the Poolburn Gorge, is an example of a small, wayside station that served the needs of farmers in what was, and to an extent still is, a very isolated part of New Zealand.

Cycling or walking the Otago Central Rail Trail, the Hawkdun and Ida Ranges will become very familiar sights. This photo is taken from the trail at Blackstone Hill in the Ida Valley.

Artist Grahame Sydney's talent took a disused goods shed, now returned close to its original location at Wedderburn station, to iconic status in his on-going series of representations of the Maniototo district of Central Otago.

Getting together with family or friends is a popular way to experience the Rail Trail. For a lifetime of memories, most Rail Trailers consider bicycle saddle 'numb bum' a small price to pay. Those who choose to walk argue tired feet are preferable to numb nether regions

Prices Creek Viaduct at the Hyde end of the Tiroiti Station site replaced an earlier wooden bridge and was the last major bridge to be built on the Otago Central Railway

This section of trail affords wonderful views of the Upper Taieri Gorge. It's hard to see in this photo, but if you look carefully you can just make out on the side of the distant hill the entrance to the 152m long Prices Creek tunnel.

Depending on which way you're travelling, this is either the entry or to the exit of the Prices Creek Tunnel.

The Upper Taieri Gorge provides pleasant riding for those Rail Trailers

Hyde village. A great place to take a break.

The Hyde station is 2km east of Hyde Village. The reason being this was the only area of flat land big enough for an engine shed and the line's first turntable. The station building and old style railway rolling stock are privately owned.

The trail between Hyde and Middlemarch skirts the Rock and Pillar Range giving plenty of opportunity to get up close and personal with schist outcrops and tors. Photo: OCRT Trust.

If you start out from Middlemarch this is one of the first substantial railway bridges you'll cross. The attention to detail and quality of workmanship that went into constructing bridges and culverts along the Otago Central Railway is all the more remarkable when you consider they went pretty much unseen by the general public until after the line closed and it became New Zealand's first rail trail. Photo: OCRT Trust.

Most bridges have these upright concrete pipes at either end. They are not rubbish bins put there for the convenience of Rail Trailers. In the days of steam these were kept full of water to be used to put out fires on the wooden deck started by hot embers dropped from locomotives. Photo: OCRT Trust.

This somewhat insignificant Totora post alongside the Rail Trail between Hyde and Middlemarch is historically important as one of very few original mile markers. Photo: OCRT Trust.

Where the Otago Central Railway passed through farms the Railways Department provided farmers with crossing gates. Quite a few remain along the Rail Trail with some, like these near Middlemarch, in good repair and showing that even gates were the work of craftsmen. Photo: OCRT Trust.