Day 114 Port Chalmers

As I walked the streets of Port Chalmers, I was able to watch as a large container ship being loaded in Port Chalmers tonight. I walked 10 streets tonight.

1539. Currie Street
1540. Scotia Street
1541. Aurora Terrace
1542. Kaio Lane
1543. Island Terrace
1544. Campbell Buchanan Lane
1545. Constitution Street
1546. Grey Street
1547. Magnetic Street
1548. Mary Street

During the first part of my walk I was able to look over to the historic Iona Church on the hill opposite. The Iona Church was opened in 1872 and is made from Port Chalmers Blue Stone and Oamaru Stone.

As I walked to the top of the hill overlooking Port Chalmers, I was rewarded with a great view of Goat Island and Quarantine Island.  Quarantine Island is the bigger island in the harbour.  Now a reserve and open to the public, the island was a quarantine station from 1863 to 1924.  When ships arrived into the harbour with infectious diseases, they stopped at the island to quarantine their passengers for a few weeks until they were no longer infectious.  In the 60 years the island was used, there were 9000 people quarantined and 70 deaths.  There is a small cemetery on the island.

Once at the top of the hill, there is a look out over the port where I was able to watch a container ship being loaded.  It was fascinating to watch the gantry cranes loading the containers into the ships and the straddle carriers moving around the port collecting containers for the gantries to load into the ships. 

From the lookout, I was able to see how small the township of Port Chalmers looks beside the huge container ship.  I could easily see the Iona Church and how the buildings cluster around the Port. 

The lookout also gave me a great view looking towards the harbour mouth.  This would be a great spot to be to see the ships arriving into the port. 

Further around the hill, I walked to the end of another street that gave me a great view of the other side of the port and I watched a forklift empty a wagon.  It was also a great spot to see how close the two islands are in the harbour with only a small opening for ships to travel down to Dunedin City. 

From the streets on top of the hill, I was able to look over other streets that I still need to walk as well as the street around the bottom of the hill that I walked yesterday. 

And then I was walking streets looking towards Mt Cargill in the distance.  I am enjoying walking in Port Chalmers as the views keep changing as I walk around the hill.

 

At the Port Chalmers lookout is the time ball that I saw while walking around the road the bottom of the hill yesterday.  The time ball is which has stood on this spot since 1867 with the ball dropping at 1pm each day so ships officers could set their  chronometers used in navigation.

 

During my walk tonight, I walked past the Hotere Garden Oputae.  Ralph Hotere was a Maori artist whose studio was on the point near the time ball, overlooking Port Otago.  When the port was expanded, part of the land was removed and in 2005 this garden was established in Ralph Hotere's memory.  There are a number of his sculptures in the garden.

 

I was surprised to find during my walk a number of conveniently placed seats that overlook parts of the port or harbour.  These are great places to stop and admire the view. 

 

Distance walked:  4.1 km         Walking time  49 mins   

 

Total distance: 942.3  km          Total walking  175 hr 46 mins