Day Forty Eight City Rise

 Today my walk took me around the edge of the city centre and, in total I walked 9 streets.

611. Maori Road
612. Alva Street
613. William Street
614. Airedale Street
615. Serpentine Avenue
616. Maclaggan Street
617. Clark Street
618. Cannongate 
619. Arthur Street

 

The first street that I walked was Maori Road which is part of the town belt and is like a tunnel through the trees.  I then headed down Serpentine Avenue before walking along Alva Street which took me to High Street.  A cable car ran up and down High Street from 1883-1957 and was the most popular way to get from Mornington to the city until 1945 when maintenance of the line became an issue and eventually trolley buses took over the route.  Below are photos of High Street - then and now.

William Street gave me a good view of Mt Cargill which had been covered in fog for the last couple of days so it was good to be able to see it today.  Mt Cargill is easily recognizable with it's distinctive shape and TV transmitter on the top. 

The next street I walked along was Airedale Street which is a street I had never been on before and I was pleasantly surprised with the fantastic views looking down to Maclaggan Street, the city centre, the harbour and the hills of the peninsula. 

After Airedale Street, I walked down the hill to Maclaggan Street then walked a couple of short side streets which were surprisingly steep.  Clark Street certainly gave my legs a good work out but the views from the top gave me a good opportunity to look over some of the taller buildings of the city

And I got to look back to the top of Airedale Street where I had been earlier in my walk.

And lastly I walked Cannongate which is on the border of the city centre and is high enough to give the residents great views of the city looking over South Dunedin and to the Pacific Ocean. 

Dunedin has a lot of great public art where buildings and fences are painted by artists and I saw two very good ones on my walk today.  One is painted on the side of a plumbers with flowers and a kereru

And the other is the Motorcycle Club clubrooms. 

I also passed the old Horse Sale Yards building which was opened in 1889 and is unique as it is the only sale yards building known to exist in New Zealand as most horse sales were held outside.  The Horse Sale Yards is now owned by The Warehouse. 

Another old building I walked past was the Clarendon Hotel which operated as a hotel for more than 100 years.  I remember coming here in my younger days when it was a pub.  Now, no more drinks will be served as it has been converted to an apartment block

And lastly there is the High Street School war memorial gates which are made of Oamaru stone and were unveiled in 1921.  The gates are all that is left of High Street School which ran from 1887 until it closed in 2010.  The school site was sold and now apartments have been built but the gates still remain. 

Distance walked:  6.4 km      Walking time   1 hr 14 mins    

Total distance: 387.6 km       Total walking  72 hr 48 mins