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

Day Twenty Six Mornington

 Today I finished walking a number of streets that I had done part of yesterday.  I walked 24 streets

312. Glenpark Avenue
313. Haig Street
314. Iona Street
315. Henderson Street
316. Mailer Street
317. Brunel Street
318. Mosgiel Street
319. Lawrence Street
320. Havelock Street
321. Durham Street
322. Whitby Street
323. Galloway Street
324. Argyle Street
325. Ventor Street
326. Springhill Road
327. Crosby Street
328. Cook Street
329. Picardy Street
330. Lesney Street
331. Maryhill Terrace
332. Mitchell Avenue
333. Crewe Street 
334. Macnee Street
335. Laurie Street

The first street I walked today was Glenpark Avenue where a cable car operated in straight line from the back of the Mornington Cable Car House on Mailer Street from 1885 to 1955.  It was the world's steepest public tramline and was nicknamed 'the big dipper' as it first went steeply down then  back up Glenpark Avenue similar to a roller coaster.  Today there is not much to see where the cable car went and the steepest part now has houses with steep steps up to Mailer Street. 

Glenpark Avenue goes to the bottom of the very steep part before becoming Haig Street and moving around and up the hill with a couple of short streets branching off.  It was good to walk along Iona Street to be able to look onto Glenpark Avenue and see where the cable car went. 

It is interesting to compare how the area looks now compared to the turn of the century when the tramline was operating.  Mostly the houses have changed but there are some buildings that still remain.

Once onto Mailer Street I had a look around the Cable Car House where a group called the Light Rail Trust are hoping to restore the cable car line down High Street and have cable cars running again in Dunedin.  The Cable Car House was not open today so I could only look in from the outside.  Also on Mailer Street is the historic Mornington Post Office which was built in 1905 and operated as a post office until it's closure in 1990.

After Mailer Street, I was onto walking the streets behind the main shopping area of Mornington, which are steep and narrow.  In English Avenue I found a hidden gem where part of the children's playground has a seat that has a lovely outlook towards the harbour. 

One thing  I noticed on my walk today was the number of churches.  This one in Glenpark Avenue is an impressive church.  It was opened in 1881 as the Mornington Presbyterian Church and operated for 127 years until it closed in 2008. 

 

Also of note is the lych gate to St Mary's Anglican Church on the corner of Lawrence and Whitby Street. 

And to finish today is a Google map of the streets (in red) of the streets I have walked so far.  This is about 20% of the streets that I need to walk and does not include the Aramoana and Middlemarch streets that I have walked. 

 

Distance walked:  10.2 km      Walking time  2 hr 2mins    

Total distance: 218.3 km       Total walking  40 hr 46 mins

Day Nine Tainui

 It was a long, hot walk on the streets today.  I walked 12 streets today.

81. Gresham Street
82. Chisholm Place
83. Spottiswoode Street
84. Bayfield Road
85. Elliot Street
86. Arawa Street
87. Tainui Road
88. Dundonald Street
89. Kamura Street
90. Aotea Street
91. Norman Street
92. Tahuna Road

I also walked part of a number of other streets but can't count them until they are completed.  First thing today I walked part of Tahuna Road till it met up with Tomahawk Road.

Then I had to retrace my steps before heading down a walkway to get to Gresham Street and Chisholm Place.  Today's streets were a mixture of hills and flat and the views are changing, looking more over South Dunedin which is good to see where I am heading next. 

 

 

Today on my walk I found  this view, looking over St Clair towards Corstorphine from the end of Kamura Street.  I took this opportunity for a rest while admiring the view.

 It is becoming important to keep track of which streets I have walked part of so that I don't miss any parts of them out and sometimes this means walking some parts of streets twice (or three times!) The final part of my walk was completing Tahuna Road, and again, retracing my steps to get back to my starting place.  

Today I noticed a few things while walking.  The first is this old tram car, how great would it be to have in your back yard?!

I passed two more beautifully painted telephone cabinets.  It is great to see these necessary pieces of infrastructure being turned into art for the community. 

Distance walked: 10.9km     Walking time 2 hr  2 mins    

Total distance: 68.4km       Total walking  13 hr 04 mins