Dunedin-based John Z. Robinson and Annie Villiers made a tribute respectively in paint and words to the Central Otago scenic route.
The two cycled side by side through the diverse landscape of the 150km journey, the first rail trail in New Zealand to be dedicated to cyclists, hikers and horse riders.
With acrylic paint, Robinson creates a collage of colours and moods assigned to the seasons on the rail trail, its destinations, tunnels and viaduct.
Villiers already had a connection to the railway track, having travelled on it many times by train as a child.
‘‘I counted rabbits in hidden valleys, and monitored the progress of seasons, measuring them carefully in the colour of willows or the volume of water in rivers and creeks,'' Villiers says.
She calls the rail trail ‘‘the place where souls come to be mended''.
Her poems are flavoured with imagery.
‘‘It is a place that engages the people who live there and those who pass through; a place of quiet and disquiet, where the honey of existence seeps into your bones, and never quite leaves.''
The book would appeal to anyone considering the journey or to carry in the saddle bags of those taking part for light reading after a day of peddling.
The light poetic tales and pictures would certainly intrigue your bikeriding colleagues.
