Day 10 – Clutha Gold Trail: Roxburgh Village to Millers Flat

Looking down the Clutha Valley  from the Roxburgh dam

 

Our second to last day on the trails.  By the time we get to Lawrence we will have ridden about 350 kilometres.  For the first time fatigue hit me when I finished riding for the day.

 

After a light breakfast we dallied until about 10am as we wanted to get to Roxburgh about midday to have one of the famous (in the south) Jimmy’s pies.  So we took our time leaving. 

 

The previous day, at the end of our ride,  we had ridden down what seemed a very steep road into the village and were dreading having to ride up it the next day.  Fortunately, that perception was inaccurate and we found ourselves having a relatively easy climb. 

 

We stopped at the top of the Roxburgh Dam and gazed down the valley to where the Clutha Mata-au River was running free at last.  It was a rather pretty sight.  Then we joined the Clutha Gold trail for a nice leisurely ride to Roxburgh.   

 

There were little signs about the history of the river and surrounds along the way making it an interesting ride.  About 9 kilometres on we were at the small village of Roxburgh. It is a bit of a hub and we rode up and down the street until we found Jimmy’s and bought a pie each.  I had a mutton one which was very tasty and Bev pronounced her mince one also be very nice.  This was followed by a cream bun, the likes of which I had not had since I was in my 20s or so.  It too was very fresh and delicious. 

Sculpture near the Roxburgh public toilets

Jimmy's Pies

Bridge into Roxburgh

 

The rest of the trail was a gentle roll alongside the river.  One of the highlights was stopping by a place called Pinder’s Pond which was created when an optimistic person thought that they might find gold at that point. They spent a fortune to get very little gold, but left  a big hole in the ground which eventually formed a little lake that now looks very pretty.   There were also a few camper vans parked up there enjoying the space.

 

Pinder's Pond

The next few kilometres continued rolling alongside the river until we moved slightly inland to reach our cottage at Millers Flat. As we continued on, we found our accommodation located right next to the trail.  It was a little cottage all by itself in the middle of a paddock as you can see in the photo. 

The Cottage

The cottage itself was made up of two containers joined by together and had a big lounge and dining area.  There was also a full kitchen which included a whole lot of essentials.  There were even locally made meals that you could heat up in the oven.  There were meant to be bottles of wine but when we went searching alas there were none!

 

This necessitated a ride into the village (about one kilometre away), which consisted of a café on one side of the river and a pub on the other.  The café had wine but could not sell it as they did not have an off-licence and  when we went to the pub it was shut and not opening for an hour.  Thus we returned to our cottage empty handed other than a nice salad that I had found in the café.  After all the meat I had had I thought I needed something green and crisp. This was accompanied by one of the frozen meals. It was rather nice and the salad complemented it nicely.

 

That evening while we were reading we left the windows slightly open which resulted in a massive insect invasion which we noticed far too late.  As a result, when we went to bed and put on the beside lights, we had every moth and other insect that were attracted to light flying above our heads.  It was quite a scene trying to keep the insects at bay.  Eventually I turned on the lights in the other room and turned ours out.  This resulted in a mass migration to the other room. 

 

Finally we were able to close the door and get some sleep.