Day Seventy Two South Dunedin

 Today I was back walking the streets of South Dunedin and I walked 15 streets today

875. Hillside Road
876. Law Street
877. Burns Street
878. Neville Street
879. Murrayfield Street
880. Wilkie Road
881. Rankeilor Street
882. Broughton Street
883. Lorne Street
884. Waverley Street
885. Braemar Street
886. McBride Street
887. Brandon Street
888. Sullivan Avenue
889. Carey Avenue

I started my walk this morning with another beautiful sunrise.  The temperature was warmer than yesterday so there was not the frost that I had experienced yesterday morning.  

Today I started walking the streets that took me towards Carisbrook.  The streets here are wider than some that I walked yesterday with trees and grass verges.  In other seasons, the trees would be covered in leaves but in winter, they are bare of leaves

From the corner of South Road and Burns Street, I was able to look over the old Carisbrook site.  Carisbrook was a major sporting venue in Dunedin.  This site was first developed for sports in the 1870's and hosted international cricket in 1883.  Rugby international tournaments were first hosted at Carisbrook in 1908 with the last game being played at Carisbrook in 2011 when the home of Otago Rugby was moved to the new Forsyth Barr Stadium. 

Some of the land where Carisbrook stood has been built on with industrial buildings while much of it remains untouched.  It is sad to think that this land was once the infamous 'house of pain' due to it's reputation as being a difficult venue for visiting rugby teams to play.  

I was pleased to see the historic turnstile gates are still in place at Carisbrook.  These gates have ushered many sports fans into Carisbrook.

I had not realised till now how narrow that gates are.  People must have been smaller when the gates were built or maybe it was a way to ensure that only one person at a time could enter. 

Part of my walking the streets today was down the main shopping area of South Dunedin. The shopping area is an eclectic mix of second hand and small local shops.  The area is an alternative to the main shopping area.

Walking past the Gasworks Museum was very interesting and I only wished that I had been later in the day when the museum is open.  The Dunedin Gasworks Museum is part of the now closed Dunedin Gasworks which was New Zealand’s first and last gasworks, operating from 1863 until 1987. It is one of only three known preserved gasworks museums in the world.

I walked St Patrick's Basilica during my walk this morning.  This site was purchased in 1873 with plans to build a church and school here. A school-chapel was opened in 1878 with building of this Basilica being delayed. It wasn't opened until 1894.  In the early 2000's the Basilica was in a poor state of repair and underwent major renovations and reopened in 2016.

Just down the road from Carisbrook was a wall of graffiti type street art.  The street art makes good use of an otherwise blank wall that runs the length of the street. 

South Dunedin has much street art and below are some more that I walked past today.

Distance walked:  7  km         Walking time   1 hr 16 mins  

 

Total distance: 579.1 km       Total walking  108 hr 24 mins 

Day Seventy One Forbury Corner

 It was a frosty start to the morning so I opted to walk some more of the South Dunedin streets. Today I walked 18 streets.

857. Helena Street
858. Loyalty Street
859. Nicolson Street
860. Nelson Street
861. Richmond Street
862. Surrey Street
863. Wilson Avenue
864. Wycolla Avenue
865. Achilles Avenue
866. Fitzroy Street
867. Sussex Street
868. Ruskin Terrace
869. Thorn Street
870. Alfred Street
871. Edwin Street
872. Josephine Street
873. Eastbourne Street
874. Baker Street

The morning was lovely and clear which meant the streets were sparkling with frost.  I did my best to stick to the sunny side of the streets until the frost had melted.

Walking on the flat of South Dunedin means there are not many views, however the Frances Hodgkins Retirement Village dominates what view of the hills there was.  I have already walked the streets surrounding the retirement village back in late January. 

Other parts of my walk, I was able to see the hills of Kew and it is a good feeling knowing that I have already walked all of the streets that I could see on this hill.

Being on the flat the streets of South Dunedin are a bit like a maze, walking up and down the streets without being able to see how far I had come and how much further to go.  It was easy to lose sight of which streets I had walked and some streets I needed to walk twice to ensure that I hadn't missed any parts.

 

Some of the streets are very narrow with the houses pushed close up against each other. 

While other streets were wider, with grass verges and trees.  The houses on these streets were much larger but they still didn't have any views.  

South Dunedin is one of the older suburbs of Dunedin which meant that today I walked past quite a few older houses.  One in particular that I noticed is Faringdon House which was built in 1882.  At the time, most of the houses in the area would have been built from wood, whereas Faringdon House is made from brick.

I walked past this bus stop painted with people waiting for the bus

And the side of this shop that had a painting on the side that looked like a child playing on the other side of the fence.

And finally, I walked past this letterbox which looks like the person who lives here loves surfing.

Distance walked:  10.2  km         Walking time   1 hr 49 mins  

 

Total distance: 572.1 km       Total walking  107 hr 8 mins 

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 Nine Peninsula

Today I walked from the Andersons Bay Inlet to Macandrew Bay and the few streets in between.  I walked 6 streets today.

844. Ivanhoe Road
845. Irvine Road
846. Proctors Road
847. Weller Street
848. St Ronans Road
849. Rosehill Road

 

I started my walk just as the sun was rising and had a lovely view down the harbour.  Looking from here, I have a long way to walk before I get to Taiaroa Heads at the end.

I started walking from the Andersons Bay Inlet (at the 3D map of the peninsula where I had been walking yesterday).  Looking one way down the harbour, I could see towards Taiaroa Heads and the other way, I could see the city and Portsmouth Drive which I had walked along yesterday.
 

As I walked along the edge of the harbour, I was able to look over towards the city with Flagstaff in the distance.  It is a good feeling knowing that I have walked all the streets that I can see from here. 

I really enjoyed my walk today along the shared cycle/walking path.  Work began in 2018 to widen the road and put in this shared cycle/walking path from Andersons Bay Inlet to Portobello.  During my walk on the pathway, I saw quite a few people walking and running and was passed by many cyclists.

While I walked 8km of Portobello Road today, there is still another 8km to go before I can count it towards my street total.  I did get to walk up 6 streets that come off Portobello Road and these streets are narrow and some are quite steep.  The added bonus of these streets is getting good views back down to Portobello Road and I was able to see the houses perched on the side of cliffs above the road. 

All the way along my walk today, I saw many sea birds including sea gulls, oyster catchers and shags.

I reached the end of my walk today at Macandrew Bay.  The sandy beach at Macandrew Bay is popular at all times of the year and the interesting thing about this beach is that the sand is not naturally occuring here and is bought in each year by trucks to replenish the beach.  

Macandrew Bay is picturesque and has the feel of a small, seaside community that has the benefits and attractions of the city which is only a 10 minute drive away.  From here, I was able to see many of the streets that I need to walk.  Most of them look to involve walking on the hills again but there will be some great views I am sure.

There was a lot to see on my walk today.  I walked past a number of boat sheds and I found this one in particular interesting with it's wheel and gantry. 

Another unusual thing I walked past today is the floating golf pontoon with the hole in one challenge where you hit a golf ball from the land to the pontoon.  There was no one about this early so I didn't get to see anyone trying for a hole in one. 

The harbour is popular for recreation and today I saw a group rowing and a paddle boat group getting in some early morning training despite the cooler temperatures of winter.  

Yesterday I was lucky to see a fur seal lying in the sun on the edge of the harbour and today I saw a seal swimming just off the shore.  I first noticed it when it was thrashing around in the water, then realised that it was eating a large fish before it swam along beside me for a while. 

And this is as a photo of as close as I could get of the seal swimming in the harbour. 

 I walked past this stone wall and door into the cliff which is an old powder magazine built in 1864 during the gold rush because there was so much explosives being handled in Dunedin that somewhere secure to store it was urgently needed.  The stone wall has survived nearly 160 years in this environment.

I saw a number of pieces of street art today.  The bus stops on the peninsula are all cleverly painted and this one in particular was well done with a queue of  'people' waiting for the bus

There has been a huge amount of work that has gone into the wall that has been built to widen the road and include the cycle/walking path and it is a real asset for the city going by the number of people using the pathway. 

For me one of the highlights of walking the cycle/walking path are the views down the harbour.  There are lots of areas with seating and plants giving people the opportunity to just sit and enjoy the beauty of our city. 

 

Distance walked:  11.6  km         Walking time   2 hr 10 mins  

 

Total distance: 557.6 km       Total walking  104 hr 32 mins