Showing posts with label St Kilda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St Kilda. Show all posts

Saturday, January 23, 2021

Day Sixteen St Clair Park

 I took advantage of another nice day and walked the hills behind St Clair where there are plenty of great views.  Today I walked 12 streets

182. Isadore Road
183. Highgrove 
184 Clayton Street
185. Sutcliffe Street
186. Aberdeen Street
187. Ravenswood Road
188. Seaview Terrace
189. Kew Place
190. Ponton Street
191. Earls Road
192. Lock Street
193. Erskine Place

I also walked part of a number of other streets but I don't get to count these until I have completed  them.  The first street I walked down was Isadore Road and onto Highgrove and from here I could see the ruins of Cargills Castle.  Cargills Castle was built in  1877 for Edward Cargill who died in 1903 when it was sold and has had several owners over the last 100 years.  Sadly the castle is in ruins with no public access. 

It was a little windy in Highgrove today but there are also good views down the coast towards Tunnel Beach and Blackhead. 

Highgrove is also the first street that I have walked with a paving stone footpath.  It is a nice change from the normal asphalt. Highgrove also has nice street lights similar to parts of Waverley that I have already walked. 

After the relative flat of Highgrove and Sutcliffe Street it was onto the hilly streets with the residents of Ravenswood Street getting great views looking over the beach and South Dunedin.  It is great to look out and know that I have walked all the streets that I can see, even those on the hills in the distance

During all of my walk today, I was rewarded with great views of the city including this view from Middleton Road showing the city from a different angle to what I have previously seen it. 

There were a couple of interesting things I saw on my walk today.  The first is this donation box for Cargills Castle and also this telephone cabinet painted to represent a stamp.



I also came across this mirror at the bottom of Easter Crescent where it joins Seaview Terrace and thought I would have some fun taking a 'selfie'.



Distance walked: 9.2 km     Walking time 1 hr  47 mins    

Total distance: 133.3 km       Total walking  24 hr 17 mins




Thursday, January 21, 2021

Day Fourteen St Kilda

 Today was a longer walk as I wanted to complete all of the streets of St Kilda.  Today I walked 23 streets. 

141. Moreau Street
142. Plunket Street
143. Kennedy Street
144. Nile Street
145. Trafalgar Street
146. West Avenue
147. Bayview Road
148. East Avenue
149. Montreal Street
150. Alma Street
151. Corunna Street
152. Kings Ave
153. Hargest Crescent 
154. Waterloo Street
155. Ajax Road
156. Richardson Street
157. Bellona Street
158. Calder Street
159. Dalgety Street
160. Bird Street
161. Churchill Street
162. Mills Street
163. Young Street
164. Ajax Street
 
 I started my walk by heading towards the beach and walked part of Victoria Road where I passed Forbury Park, a horse racing track that was built on reclaimed land in 1870 and has been used as a horse racing facility ever since.  Currently it is home to harness racing and greyhound racing.  The spectator stand that can be seen from Victoria Road was built in 1962.
At the end of Forbury Park I turned right onto Kennedy Street and then began a complicated journey through the streets that branch off Hargest Crescent.  As the streets do not align with each other it required some back tracking and to ensure that no streets were missed.  It was on one of these streets that I came across this neat letter box.   

After completing the streets off Hargest Crescent I was back into the grid streets that run between Richardson Street and Bayview Road. Here I was able to walk all streets in one direction then walk the streets in the other direction which meant I did not need to often back track or walk the same piece of road twice.  I also walked down another concrete footpath. This is only the second concrete footpath that I have come across during my walking.

 

Another interesting thing I noticed on my walk today was this unusual bus stop.  I do not know why the signs would be so low  and as I passed them again later during my walk, there was a bus stopped at the bus stop. This is one bus stop that would be easy to miss. 

Today was a milestone as I have now walked over 160 streets, I am over 10% through my challenge of walking every street in Dunedin.  This map shows the streets that I have walked so far.


Distance walked: 11.6km     Walking time 2 hr  02 mins    

Total distance: 115 km       Total walking  21 hr 29 mins


 

Monday, January 18, 2021

Day Twelve St Kilda

 I'm walking on the flat streets of South Dunedin and as most of the streets are in a grid pattern, I am walking horizontal streets then vertical streets to ensure that I walk every street and some of these streets are quite long.  Today I walked 8 streets

123. Grove Street
124. Tedder Street
125. Eskvale Street
126. Annex Street
127. Begg Street
128. New Street
129. Market Street
130. Prince Albert Road 

 Walking streets on the flat means there are not many places to get views of the city, except some streets that look towards the hills.  This view is looking towards the hills of St Clair. 

 
 
It was quite fast walking today and one of the things I noticed today was how close the houses are to each other.  Being on the flat, South Dunedin was one of the first parts of Dunedin where houses were built and as a result a lot of the houses are wooden villas interspersed with more modern  townhouses.  I was quite intrigued by an old stone house built in 1879 that I passed today.  

An interesting thing I noticed on my walk today is this footpath that is concrete on one side of the street and the usual asphalt on the other.  Concrete footpath's are not common in Dunedin and this is the first street that I have walked that is concrete. 

Today I also walked past the St Kilda Fire Station which was built in 1965.  

Distance walked: 5.1km     Walking time 1 hr  00 mins    

Total distance: 95.5km       Total walking  18 hr 01 mins

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Day Eleven St Kilda

 I was walking early this morning to beat the heat, even so it was getting quite hot when I finished my walk at around 10.30am. Today I walked 9 streets.

114. John Wilson Ocean Drive
115. Kettle Park Road
116. Onslow Street
117. Normanby Street
118. Ascot Street
119. Marlow Street
120. Ravelston Street
121. Rugby Street
122. Queens Drive

John Wilson Ocean Drive was my first street today and it was also the longest street for the day at 2km each way.  I had to walk the full length of it twice, once to Lawyers Head and then back.  John Wilson Ocean Drive is named after John Wilson who was the chairman of the Dunedin Ocean Beach Domain Board 1930-1953.  


John Wilson Ocean Drive is very popular with dog walkers and I saw quite a few this morning, both on the road and on the beach.  I always enjoy walking John Wilson Ocean Drive as you approach Lawyers Head, the views are stunning.  We are very lucky to have such a beautiful beach so close to our city centre.  

From Lawyers Head there are great views looking towards Ocean Grove and the streets that I have already walk ed. During the week John Wilson Ocean Drive is open for cars to drive to Lawyers Head but on weekends it is closed, and is for dog walkers and families to use the road without the needing to look out for cars. 


Today John Wilson Ocean Drive felt a bit like the road to nowhere as I needed to walk both ways and I knew I had quite a few more streets to cover as well.  This view also shows how close to the city the beach is.  

It is also a good place to see the rest of the city from and, for me to contemplate how many streets there are in Dunedin and how many more I need to walk. 


I also got to walk Kettle Park Road which gave me good views of the Dinosaur Park.  I remember coming here when I was a child and also bringing my children to play when they were smaller. The Dinosaur Park was first built in the late 1960's and maybe it is just the height of Kettle Park Road but it felt like the Dinosaur Park is not as big or as exciting as I remember. 


In Dunedin we really are lucky to have great public art with some very good painted buildings and these are just a couple of the awesome painted buildings that I passed on my walk today. 


Distance walked: 8.7km     Walking time 1 hr  35 mins    

Total distance: 90.4km       Total walking  17 hr 01 mins


Otago Harbour Cycleway 30 October 2023

With my sister in town, it seemed a shame to waste a calm, sunny day so the two of us hopped on a bike each to enjoy the recently opened 32k...