Day Seventy North East Valley

 It's winter and the sun sets early so tonight I walked some streets closer to home.  I walked  7 streets today.

850. Dolphin Street
851. Carlyle Street
852. Cornhill Street
853. Allen Street
854. Northumberland Street
855. Paris Street
856. Crown Street

Today I was walking along the flat of North East Valley from the Gardens corner, walking along the streets on the left of North Road.  These streets are narrow with mainly student flats.  One student flat that I  walked past is this old historic stone cottage.

Another historical building I walked past is the Santa Sabina complex overlooking the valley.  This historic building was built in 1929 and housed Dominica nuns until the buildings and land was sold in the early 2000's. Apartments has been built on the land and the building has been turned into flats.  

The streets that I walked tonight were on the flat of North East Valley and I was able to look up towards Opoho.  I have not walked any of these streets yet.

 As I walked the streets, there was a beautiful sunset  with lovely reds and blues.  The night air was very cool with the feel that there will be a frost tomorrow morning.

During my walk, I crossed the Lindsay Creek.  The creek flows from Mount Cargill and travels the length of North East Valley.  There is a strong community focus on the health of the creek.  

 

I walked past some very nice public art. This striking Kaka is a reminder of the Orokonui Ecosantuary Halo project which aims to develop an urban ecosantuary with predator trapping and native plantings  that will ultimately encourage native kaka back into people's gardens.

The other piece of art is this dinosaur advertising the dinosaur display in the Otago Museum. 

Distance walked:  4.3  km         Walking time    47 mins  

 

Total distance: 561.9 km       Total walking  105 hr 19 mins 

Day Sixty Two Glenleith

Today I enjoyed walking in the quieter streets with all the autumn colours.  I walked 11 streets

761. Malvern Street
762. Harden Street
763. Islay Street
764. Andail Street
765. Fulton Road
766. Glenmore Street
767. Glenholm Street
768. Tanner Road
769. Garden Place
770. Hadley Close
771. Leithton Close

 

 My walk today started beside the Water of Leith.  It is a picturesque river surrounded by trees with a lot of bird life.  While I didn't see many of the birds, I could hear them often.

 

Malvern Street crosses the Leith a couple of times with houses on one side and the Water of Leith on the other side.  Malvern Street took me to the bottom of Flagstaff (the hill at the end of the street in the picture below).  I have been able to see Flagstaff from many parts of the city and have slowly been walking my way towards it. 

It was nice to walk up the hill as the views started to open up and I was able look towards the Northern Motorway and bush surrounding the northern end of Dunedin. 

Once I reached the top of the hill, I was able to follow the streets along the top of the ridge.  There were openings between the houses which gave me great views looking towards Pine Hill and the hills of Opoho in the background. 

Being on the top of the ridge also gave me a good view looking the other way at Flagstaff.  There is a popular walking track to the top of Flagstaff that starts just around the corner in the photo. 

And the final views I had for the day before walking down the hill, back to the Water of Leith, were looking towards the houses at the top of Pine Hill.  I have not walked the streets that I can see from here.

 

The last part of Tanner Road is a narrow, winding road that is only one way for downhill traffic.  It is quite picturesque at this time of year but I am pleased it is only one way because it is so narrow. 

On my walk today I passed this painted telephone cabinet.  The cabinet sits beside the Water of Leith and fits into it's surroundings beautifully as it is painted to represent the Water of Leith both in and above the water.  I have seen many painted telephone cabinets on during my walking every street in Dunedin and this is one of my favourite so far. 

Just across the road from the telephone cabinet is this bus stop that is painted with the birds of the area.  I heard the call of the Tui (as painted on the bus shelter) during my walk today.

One of the more unusual streets that I have walked is Andail Street.  Many years ago, part of the road slipped away and has never been fixed.  I am guessing that since Andail Street is a short street and the slip is after the last house the council thought the cost of repair wasn't worth it.  You can drive into both ends but the section that has slipped is only a walking track.

Today I walked past Craigieburn was a farm settled in 1860 by the Rankins whose daughter, Elizabeth Rankin lived on the site until her death in 1949 at the age of 93.  The farm is of significance due to having the Ross Creek Reservoir and untouched native bush.  The property with the resevior and bush was purchased for the people of Dunedin after the death of Elizabeth Rankin. 

I walked past two letterboxes worthy of a mention today.  Bothlook like they represent the kea with one being a painted letterbox and the other is metal representation. 

Distance walked:  8.6 km      Walking time   1 hr 38 mins     

 

Total distance: 497.6 km       Total walking  93 hr 06 mins

Day Forty Four Halfway Bush

 Today was one of my shorter walks as I finished walking all of the streets in Halfway Bush.  I walked 8 streets today.

570. Balmain Street
571. Tilburn Street
572. Ashmore Street
573. Mooltan Street
574. Ellersley Street
575. Lincoln Street
576. Blake Street
577. Bonar Street

Halfway Bush has great views and I was able to see as far as the harbour and Waverly where I had started walking weeks ago.  There is a large part of Halfway Bush that is open green space where the power lines travel through. 

Halfway Bush borders Frasers Gully with the area being lucky to have easy access to the walking tracks that wander through native bush right on their door step.  By following the walking trails you can walk down the hill to Kaikorai Valley. 

The streets of Halfway Bush are in the shape of two almost full circles with some short cul-de-sacs that are easy to walk. The updated map shows all the streets I have walked in red.  It does not include Middlemarch or Aramoana streets.  I have completed walking most of the hill suburbs. 

Distance walked:  4.2 km      Walking time   46 mins    

Total distance: 362.4 km       Total walking  68 hr 07 mins

Day Thirty Four Town Belt

It's been nearly a week since my last walk of the city streets but back walking today with my goal being to walk all of the town belt.  Today I walked 6 streets. 

447. Queens Drive
448. Montpellier Street
449. Lane End
450. Braid Road
451. Duchess Avenue
452. Bute Street

The Dunedin Town Belt is over 200 hectares of native bush across several suburbs in central Dunedin.  It is one of only three Victorian Town Belts in the world.  The town belt is a good example of what Dunedin would have been like before the first settlers arrived and started cutting down the bush to build their homes.  Today the town belt is an important habitat for many birds including the kereru, tui, bellbird and rifleman.  It was a pleasure to hear many birds on my walk today

Queens Drive is the road that runs the length of the town belt and as it is narrow and windy, there is little traffic making it a great place to walk.  I started my walk on Queens Drive  from Eglington Road, Mornington and walked all the way to Prospect Park, Maori Hill.  There are open grass areas in the town belt giving the opportunity for views of the city.  

During my last walk, I walked past the front of Otago Boys High School today I walked past the back of the school.

The next bit of Queens Drive past Otago Boys High School is busy I walked past the city's public swimming pool.  Moana Pool was opened in 1964 and was one of the countries first Olympic sized swimming pools.  In the early 2000's the hydro slide was added.  

It was good to get past Moana Pool and back into the quiet and the green of the town belt.  The town belt has a number of walking tracks through the bush making it popular with walkers and runners. No  cars passed me during my walk today. 

As Queens Drive traverses a number of suburbs, the views of the city kept changing .  The residents of the houses that border the town belt are very lucky to have this quiet, green space so close. 

As I neared the end of Queens Drive, I came across a gap in the trees allowing me a great view of the University of Otago campus with all it's tall buildings and the stadium and harbour behind it. 

Once at the end of Queens Drive, it loops around the playing fields of Prospect Park giving great views down to Leith Valley and over to Pine Hill, North East Valley and Opoho.  I have not walked any of these streets yet and looking at them today,  I can see that I still have quite a few hills to walk up. 

I really enjoyed my walk of the town belt today and there were a few interesting things I noticed along the way. I came across this lovely big tree with it's commemorative stone telling how William Thomson had planted it and many others in the town belt from 1888 to 1923.

I also passed this old style post box outside Olveston.  It is one of only a few of it's type remaining in New Zealand

 It is great to see families making use of the green spaces along the town belt with areas for children to play. 

Distance walked:  8.0 km      Walking time  1 hr 32 mins    

Total distance: 291.2 km       Total walking  54 hr 36 mins