Newcastle Track essence of Upper Clutha

Make tracks and walk straight into a Central summer.

If winter’s had you going cold turkey for some Central Otago, the Newcastle Track mainlines the sights, sounds and smells of your strongest cravings.

It’s used mostly by mountain bikers but there’s room for all users. Best of all, there’s an openness and big, big skies.

Starting near Luggate, the track taunts the Clutha at river height, giving walkers a thrilling taste of the water’s chunky power. After some pleasing manuka regeneration then a patch of pines spreading arrogantly up the hill, there’s a more restful poplar or two. If you’re lucky a breeze will stir the leaves with a soft crackling hiss. Instant summer.

Pretty soon you’re on top of the high riverbank of the Clutha/Mata-Au. The track’s mostly flat now as it follows the hyperactive river getting up to its turbocharged tricks below.

Views open out to farmland vistas with background mountains, proper peaked mountains with snow, even in the warmer months. Wanaka’s Mount Iron, near the track end at Albert Town, looks far closer than it actually is.

Across the river, walkers doing the Upper Clutha River Track are within waving distance. Above, there might be a circling skylark with its psychedelically never-ending trill.

Wide, baking skies are the essence of Central summer. Everything’s so open and big.

Counterintuitively, the vastness is a comfort. It’s nice to be just a small insignificant dot. No expectations, no social displays required. No mutual masks hiding the damage, the worried ape.

Walking poles provide the extra limbs and balance of a four-legged animal, allowing the eyes to gaze up and around, back and forth. Go completely gaga, but with some background brain on stand by for mountain bikers.

It took about six hours to walk the 22 return kilometres so one-way could be the way to go, maybe an overnighter in Luggate or Albert Town, forming a loop with the Upper Clutha Track.

Although this other track accesses some dreamy riverside spots, there are narrow, tight, hill-edge corners that would make meeting an oncoming mountain biker semi-violent.

I’ve just ebiked the route. Electric bikes are magnificent machines, allowing you to cover large distances with minimal effort. It seems that all you have to do is think about pedalling and next thing you’re spurting forwards.

The semi-gnarliness of biking the Newcastle Track changed the experience from the groundedness and "aaah" of a walk to something a lot more "eek" and "oof". Anything that necessitates pulling a couple of involuntary mini-wheelies and occasionally checking your friend behind you is still behind you, is a completely contrasting form of leisure. That said, I recognise my status as an unseasoned wus.

Biking seems to be gaining more traction on this track than walking, judging by the deepening groove down the centre. It’s so concave in parts that your pedals scrape the edges.

It makes you wonder at the long term maintenance required on these shared tracks. Maybe at some stage they get scraped afresh.

Wish the Newcastle Track happy 10th birthday - it was opened in 2012.