100 trips for 100 years with Dunedin on Foot: Day Fifty One CBD

I decided that being Easter, it was a good day to walk the streets surrounding central Dunedin and the main shopping area while there weren't many people around. I walked 9 streets today.

643. Cargill Street
644. York Place
645. Smith Street
646. Howells Lane
647. Filleul Street
648. Bath Street
649. Octagon
650. Princes Street
651. Tennyson Street

I started my walk part way up the hill so I could walk down towards central Dunedin and the city centre. The views looking down to the harbour were a good chance for me to see how far the downhill I was going to be walking today.

As I walked down the hill I was able to look over the city centre and the main shopping area. This is the area that I planned to walk most of today.

Once I reached the main shopping area it was easy walking along the flat. The main street was relatively empty because of a combination of Easter and being too early in the morning for most people to be out.

I like the views looking down Lower Stuart Street towards Dunedin's impressive railway station. I see this view every day on my home from work.

Once past Bath Street, I walked around the Octagon which is the eight sided centre of Dunedin and is surrounded by some of the most significant buildings in Dunedin. First laid out in 1846, the Octagon was originally a reserve and has been developed over the years for pedestrians with bars and cafe's surrounding it's outer edge. Often in the summer there are craft markets held in the Octagon.

After the Octagon, I finished walking Princes Street and then up the back up the hill to where I had started. Half way up the hill, I was able to look back over the rear of Speights Brewery which I had walked past yesterday.

My final view of the morning's walk is looking towards the tall buildings and cathedral bordering the Octagon. This photo is good to show how close to the harbour the city centre is.

On my walk today I walked past King Edward Technical College which was established in 1889 as a school that offered technical education classes such as carpentry, cooking, woodcarving, chemistry, dressmaking, plumbing and typewriting. By 1955 King Edward Technical College was the largest in the country and in 1966 the college moved to be near the University of Otago and became the Otago Polytechnic with the secondary school part of the college being renamed Logan Park High School. Today the lovely old building is looking a bit neglected.

I walked past two high schools today. The first was Kavanagh College which is the only Catholic secondary school in Dunedin

And the other secondary school was Otago Girls High School which was opened in 1871 and is the oldest public girls high school in the southern hemisphere and the sixth oldest girls secondary school in the world.

I walked past another of Dunedin's beautiful old churches today. Knox Church was opened in 1876. Knox Church is on Dunedin's main street and is on the edge of the CBD and University.

Part of the charm of Dunedin's main street and shopping area are the old building facades. As you walk along the street, the shops don't appear to be any different to each other but look above the verandahs to the shops across the road and you can see all the lovely old building frontages. Each one had been restored and is different to it's neighbour.

Dunedin has a writers walk where plaques have been set into the footpath around the Octagon. Each plaque has a quote and name of a Dunedin published author and is designed to highlight the city's literary history

Again today I walked past a range of street art painted on the side of buildings. There is such a variety of art in the central city that I am unable to show you everything but here are some good examples.