In land area, New Zealand (inclusive of both islands) is about the size of the state of Colorado.

Like each of our fifty states, New Zealand is divided up into administrative districts, similar to how states are carved up into counties (the exceptions being Alaska, which is divided into boroughs, and Louisiana which is split into parishes).

New Zealand’s regional governmental districts are appropriately called “regions,” the boundaries of which generally follow the outlines of regional drainage basins.

Regions are tasked with environmental and transportation planning. Municipal services, on the other hand, fall under the control of “territories,” which are similar to our local governmental units, which we usually call municipalities.

Queenstown is in the Otago region. It is one of the more rural of the 16 regions. Only five regions have a lower population density.

Our second day in Otago was outdoors: a 36-mile bike ride through the countryside. We rented bikes (e-bikes, actually) from Bike-It-Now in Clyde, booking the optimistically named “Otago Central Rail Trail One Day Wonder Tour.”

Here we are about 2.5 miles from our start point in Ida Valley:

We were concerned about the weather at the outset. In fact, it was raining pretty hard in Queenstown when we left for Clyde.

But the sky soon cleared and the weather was great for the entire ride, except for a light drizzle and headwind right at the end.

Like the Rails-to-Trails program in the States, NZ has converted abandoned railroad rights-of-way into bike paths, and the Otago Central Rail Trail is one of them (the complete trail is about 95 miles long, running from Middlemarch to Clyde).

Here’s a map of the section we rode, Ida Valley to Clyde:

Just past Auripo, we stopped after two magpies dive-bombed Dale. They settled on fence posts, just below the trail, pictured here:

We dismounted so that I could photograph the scenery and our two, brazen, feathered companions, but they didn’t like something about us and soared high into the sky before dive-bombing us again:

A little further down the trail, we passed a local couple going the other way and they told us it is not uncharacteristic of magpies to attack riders.

A little further on, we reached the Poolburn Gorge (121 feet deep) and Viaduct, built in 1901-02.

Just beyond the gorge, we came upon the first of two tunnels, cut through the hillside by hand during the same time period.

It was pitch black in the tunnels. In the middle of the longer, second tunnel (the 752-long “Tunnel No. 13”), it was so dark we couldn’t see each other.

Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel:

In case you didn’t know, NZ is sheep country. I don’t recall if there were so many on the North Island when we were there years ago, but here on the South Island, there must be more sheep than people. The wooly critters are everywhere.

Passing fields full of future mutton, Dale began to sing, “Rams to the left of me, lambkins to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with ewe.”

Further up the road, a ewe and her two lambs were making their escape:

On the home stretch between Alexandra and Clyde, we pedaled through wine country. I’ll be searching for a bottle from Ruru Wines when we get home, now that I know where they’re located.

For wine lovers reading this post, stay on the lookout for Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s Otago Valley. If you like Cabernet Sauvignon, you’ll love it.