Making space

Otago Central Rail Trail trustee Ken Gillespie (left) and project mastermind Ian Begg finish placing the rings on a model of Saturn, near Kokonga Lodge, in the Maniototo, as part of an ``interplanetary'' project on the Otago Central Rail Trail.

Yesterday the team finished placing the last planets along the trail. The project is a 100,000,000:1 accurate scale model of the solar system. Not only is the distance between the planets to scale, the planet structures also are.

The project was the brainchild of Cromwell man Ian Begg. He said the rail trail was an ``ideal spot'' for the models.

``The wonderful landscapes, people are pondering the meaning of life while they're riding along on their bikes so they have time to absorb the concept.''

There was only one more thing to do before it was complete.

``We've just got to build a great big sun in Ranfurly. We haven't quite got our heads around that; it's a 14m ball,'' Mr Begg said. 

 - by Tom Kitchin