POSTCARD FROM CLYDE
MOST PEOPLE START or end their Otago Central Rail Trail journey at Clyde. Those who’ve done their holiday homework make sure to carve out an extra day or two in the small township, nestled alongside the emerald-green Clutha River, between Cromwell and Alexandra.
At the height of 1860s gold fever, as looking more like a “cute 19th-century gold-rush film set than a real town”. Pretty cottages are tucked behind rose-covered stone walls, and turn-of-the-century buildings have been given a new lease of life as art galleries, shops and boutique accommodation. In fact, so many treasures of the past survive that the town centre has been officially designated as a Historic Precinct.
