Day Ninety Five Waikouaiti

Today I headed back to finish walking the streets of Waikouaiti and I walked 18 streets.

1255. Inverary Street
1256. Nairn Street
1257. Dumbarton Street
1258. Haddington Street
1259. Inverness Street
1260. Greenlaw Street
1261. Matanaka Road
1262. Rothesay Street
1263. Cromarty Street
1264. Perth Street
1265. Clackmann Street
1266. Cupar Street
1267. Forfar Street
1268. Edinburgh Street

1269. Glasgow Street
1270. Gill Street
1271. Victoria Street
1272. Main Road

In Waikouaiti today, I was walking the streets on the other side of the lagoon and race course.  These streets are more rural and are similar to other streets in Waikouaiti as some are long and straight.

These roads skirt around the furthest edge of the Hawksbury Lagoon.  This is the lagoon that I had been walking on the other side during last weekend's walk. 

 

As happened last weekend I eventually walked all the way to the beach.  This beach is 4km in length and is the landing place of  'The Magnet' in 1840 . 

There were only a few people at the beach today and I was lucky to see this horse being exercised on the beach by it's jockey.

 

I walked past the golf club at Waikouaiti.  This is a small golf course with only 9 holes and was started in 1935. Because the course has a sand based surface, golf can be played all year round, regardless of the weather. 

 

After the golf course, I walked past the race course.  I had seen the race course from a different angle last weekend and I remember coming here with my family when I was a child.  The race course no longer has any meetings and is looking run down, especially the grandstand.

One of the last things I walked under while on my way back to where I started is this war memorial arch built over the footpath by Post Office Creek.  This memorial has 41 names on it of people from the area who did not come home from war. 

 

On my walk today, I walked past another entrance to the Hawksbury Lagoon.  I have enjoyed seeing the lagoon from different angles and I would like to come back and explore it further.

I was surprised to walk past this sheep and her lambs as the sheep had literally given birth to the two lambs minutes before I arrived.  I watched as the lambs stood for the first time and then took their first steps to their mother for feeding.

 

Walking on the rural side of town today, I walked past many animals.  A lot of houses had horses and sheep with a few cows and the odd pig as well.  These friendly horses were grazing on the side of the road.
 

And lastly, I have included the map of the streets that I have walked in Waikouaiti.  The streets that I completed today are on the right near the racecourse and towards the beach.  The other streets I walked over two days last weekend.

Distance walked:  9.8 km         Walking time  1 hr 49 mins   

 
Total distance: 781.3 km          Total walking  146 hr 27 mins 

Day Ninety Evansdale & Warrington

My plan was to walk the streets of the townships/suburbs north of Dunedin today and I walked four townships - Evansdale, Warrington, Seacliff and Karitane.  In this blog I will concentrate on the streets I walked in Evansdale and Warrington, and my next blog will cover the streets of Seacliff and Karitane.  I walked 18 streets.

1163. King Street
1164. Jones Road
1165. Bank Road
1166. View Street
1167. Bay Road
1168. Esplanade 
1169. Church Road
1170. Watson Street
1171. Ferguson Street
1172. Park Road
1173. Hill Road
1174. The Terrace
1175. Station Road
1176. The Crescent
1177. Stephenson Street
1178. Couper Street
1179. Perry Street
1180. Porteous Road

 

Today Evansdale was the first stop on my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin.  There is not much at Evansdale apart from farmland, two streets, a handful of houses and a hotel but Evansdale is part of Dunedin which means that I need to walk it's two streets.  One of the streets gives a good view of the State Highway One as it heads up the hill called the Kilmog.

From Evansdale, I moved onto walking the streets of Warrington.  Warrington is a small seaside township within the Dunedin City boundaries.  The streets seem to all lead towards the sea which is not surprising as Warrington has a lovely beach that is popular with families.

Warrington beach is a sandspit and on one side of the beach is Blueskin Bay. I was able to look across the bay to Waitati where I was walking streets yesterday.  Mt. Cargill is the hill in the middle of the picture in thedistance and the city of Dunedin is on the other side of Mt. Cargill.

By walking along the road towards the beach, I came to the Warrington Domain which sits behind the sand dunes of the beach and is a popular place for families during the summer. There is also freedom camping available at the domain. 

After leaving the domain, it was up a small hill which gave me good views of the beach. It is early spring and with the temperature still being a little cold, there was very few people on the beach today.

As I walked away from the beach I had views of the hills surrounding Warrington.  There is also a lot of new houses being built in Warrington. 

The railway line passes through Warrington with part of the township on either side.  It doesn't seem to matter where you live in Warrington as most houses seem to have a view of the sea or Blueskin Bay.

Known locally as the  'Flying Saucer house', this Futuro house was on display at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, it was then bought and moved to it's present site at the entrance to Warrington  in 1975.  Apparently there are 8 Futuro houses in New Zealand and this is the only one that I have seen.

Like the Flying Saucer house, this hedge is a bit of an icon in Warrington.   A loving husband trimmed the words 'I Love Lois' into his macrocarpa hedge in 2002 as a loving gesture to his wife. The tradition has been carried on to this day, nearly 20 years later.

I did not see any interesting letterboxes during my walk in Warrington or Evansdale today but I did see this unique birdhouse that has been carved out of a large tree stump using a chainsaw. 

 And lastly I have included a map of Warrington with the streets that I have walked in red. 

Distance walked:  5.9  km         Walking time  1 hr 2 mins  

Total distance: 728.9 km          Total walking  136 hr 36 mins 

Day Four Aramoana

Today it was time for something a little different - as it was such a nice day, I wanted to walk the Heyward Point track starting from Aramoana and so it made sense to complete the streets in Aramoana before heading up the hill to Heyward Point. Today I walked 10 streets. 

24. Pari Street
25. Kahikia Street
26. Paloona Street
27. Poto Street
28. Mokoia Street
29. Muri Street
30. Plucky Street
31. Mole Road
32. Spit Road
33. Moana Street

I really enjoyed walking around Aramoana - the name means "pathway of the sea" in Maori.  It is an idyllic and peaceful place where you feel that time has almost stopped and there is no need to rush anywhere.  The houses are a mix of cribs and permanent homes.  

Kahikia, Paloona and Mokoia Streets are nestled close to the hill giving great views of the impressive bluffs.  It is at the bottom of the this hill that the track heading up to Heyward Point starts. 

The end of Muri Street comes out at the first of two beaches at Aramoana.  This beach is a great beach to walk along and going around the headland is a good place to see large ships entering the harbour. Sadly I did not have time to walk along it today.

It is also here at the start of Mole Road that the Aramoana Massacre Memorial is.  Follow the short path through the bush to the memorial for the 13 victims killed by David Grey in November 1990.  It is a sobering place to quietly sit and think.  

Mole Road officially ends at the locked gate to the Mole but a trip to Aramoana is not complete without a walk down the Mole. The Mole is an interesting place to walk and I watched people fishing and diving as well as seals frolicking in the water and of course there are the birds - so many birds!  There are plenty of terns, gulls and shags  that have made the Mole their home.  

The view from the Mole of the second beach at Aramoana and the cliffs that lead to Heyward Point are outstanding.  It is worth taking your time along the mole as there are so many things to see and you might be lucky enough to see a ship entering or leaving the harbour while you are here.

After my excursion along the 700m of the Mole, I ventured down Spit Road as far as the locked gate to look over the salt marsh and mudflats before following Moana Street back to my car.  The salt marsh is a coastal ecosystem and the wildlife that make it their home rely on it being flooded by the tides each day.

After completing my walk along the streets of Aramoana, I took the track that leads up the hill towards Heyward Point for a view over Aramoana.  This was the perfect place to  see the streets that I had already walked down.  If you have the time, it is well worth the effort involved in this steep but short climb.  

 

Distance walked: 6.1km     Walking time 1hr  10mins    

Total distance: 24.2km       Total walking 4 hr 32 mins