The small South Island town of Ranfurly is well known for its Art Deco architecture. It wasn’t until Heather Whelan cycled there that she realised it’s also home to the sun, the planets and the central point of the Interplanetary Cycleway.
I’d spotted some interesting sculptures along the Otago Central Rail Trail, but the sun installation straddling the trail was something else – it was big, for one thing. Unlike the other planetary models, Ranfurly’s sun is a circle 139 metres in diameter, framed by a sunny yellow fence.
Intrigued, I looked online for information and discovered that Ranfurly’s sun is the centre of an installation that is a scale model of earth’s solar system, shrunk by a factor of a hundred million to one. Carefully mapped on the trail between Clyde and Middlemarch, the sculptures accurately reflect the size of the sun, moon, planets, and the distances between them.
It’s an astonishing achievement and the idea originated from Ian C Begg, a local and the grandson of John C Begg, one of the founders of Dunedin’s Beverley-Begg Observatory. His concept became a reality when the Otago Museum and the Otago Central Rail Trail Trust got together, with the museum’s science engagement team building the models, together with local sculptors, artists, and builders.
Discovering the Planets
Middle: Saturn
Right: Venus
Not far from the sun, on both sides of Ranfurly are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon. The scenery around the Mercury sign is very different, but the 4.9cm negative space of the hole representing the planet is the same, graphically contrasting its size compared to the sun. Nearby, the pitted, powder coated, stainless steel sphere showing Venus has a bigger diameter at 12.1cm.
Both representations of the Earth’s globe look more familiar, the surface seemingly showing oceans and land masses. Further on, there is a shadow board by the tiny Moon, where, at the March and September equinoxes, the shadows of the Earth and Moon merge, revealing the cycle trail’s lunar eclipse. Mars is the last of the terrestrial planets, again represented by a small hole in the sign.
Jupiter is nearly 8 km from Ranfurly (as the crow flies but not as the trail winds – the cycling distance was longer). Crafted from barbed wire, it’s the largest of the sculptures. Saturn, at 120cm is next in size and distance, and is easily identifiable by its rings. Depending which way you cycle, Neptune at 45km from Ranfurly, is the first and last sculpture on the trail (except for dwarf planet Pluto in Clyde).
Back to Earth
Not all the sculptures along the rail trail are galactic. There are plenty of whimsical structures along the way, and of course, the iconic historic railway sheds.
This cycle trail is an excellent adventure for contemplating and understanding the immensity of space and the relationship of planets to each other. If it helps, at a scale of one hundred million to one, which this is built to, 1cm becomes 1000km. Each revolution of your bike wheel propels you over the equivalent of 200,000km in space.
Back in Ranfurly, I stopped for coffee and explored the quirky second-hand stores. I wandered along the streets, admiring the many murals and the historic buildings. The gardens outside the refurbished railway station were a delight. It’s now the local information centre. Nearby, there’s a small museum housed in the iconic Art Deco Centennial Milk Bar building.
The locals already think Ranfurly is the centre of the universe – they just might be right.
Some Strange Science to Consider
Right: Interesting statue near Tairi Lake
In this scale, each bicycle wheel revolution is the equivalent of 200,000km.
Because the speed of sound also slows down to scale, a bike’s bell would take a year to be heard 100m away.
Each step on the rail trail is equal to 75,000km.
Staying Nearby
There’s a NZMCA Park in Ranfurly for members, alternatively Ranfurly Holiday Park is next door.
Waipiata Domain is 6km south of Ranfurly where self-contained vehicles can freedom camp. (There is an honesty box for donations.)
Explore the Universe More
Visit the Perpetual Guardian Planetarium at the Tūhura Otago Museum in Dunedin. There are multiple shows, including the Otago night sky: otagomuseum.nz
