Day Eighty Two North East Valley

 Lockdown continues and I am still confined to walking the streets closest to home.  I walked 12 streets today.

1014. Glendening Avenue
1015. Chambers Street
1016. Craigleigh Street
1017. Logie Street
1018. Randolph Street
1019. Dee Street
1020. Taine Street
1021. Maybank Street
1022. Montrose Street
1023. Frame Street
1024. Islington Street
1025. Mechanic Street

Today I was walking on the hill side of North East Valley and luckily (for me) most of the streets had walkways between the top of them which saved me a lot of walking up and down hills. 

 

This is one of those walkways.  They are narrow but save a lot of time by joining the top of streets together.   

Some of the streets that I walked up today were very narrow and steep.  So narrow that there is very little room for a vehicles to pass

In some streets, the cars are allowed to park on the footpath as the street is too narrow.

Other streets that I walked up today were very wide, especially considering how narrow some of the other streets are. 

This elevation chart shows the hills that I went up and down today.

North East Valley is home to some great street art and today I walked past this beautifully wrapped building. 

Spring is definitely in the air and I enjoyed seeing all the colourful flowers starting to come out. 

Distance walked:  4.2  km         Walking time  58 mins  

 

Total distance: 661.1 km        Total walking  123 hr 38 mins 

Day Eighty One Dalmore

Today my walk was shorter than the last couple of days as I continue to walk around the streets close to home.  I walked 8 streets today

1006. Fea Street
1007. Ramsay Street
1008. Bank Street
1009. Clifford Street
1010. Orbell Street
1011. Falkirk Street
1012. Fortune Street
1013. Franklin Street

This is State Highway One, the main road into Dunedin from the North and is usually a very busy road.  This morning as I walked beside the road, it was deserted with only the occasional truck going up or down.  This is what lockdown looks like. 

My walk today was similar to yesterday in that I walked down the hill, only to turn around and walk back up a different street. The streets I walked today are on the steep side of Pine Hill that gave me good views of Opoho.  I have not walked any streets in Opoho yet.

Once at the bottom of the hill, I walked alongside another quiet street that is normally very busy.  The last time I was in this area walking was back in April when the trees were covered in their Autumn leaves.  

 One of the quick ways up the hill is via the steps off Bank Street. These steps are a good workout and meant that I gained height very quickly. 

Once at the top of the stairs, the views start to open out again.  I enjoyed a rest at the top of the stairs to get my breath back. 

 

The last few streets were steep and I was glad to get to the top.  The good thing about stopping for a break on my way up these steep streets is looking at the view and knowing that I have walked every street that I can see.  

 

One of the more unusual things I saw today during my walk was a chicken walking along the footpath.  It didn't seem concerned to be out on the street or that I walked close by.  

Distance walked:  3.9  km         Walking time  48 mins  

 

Total distance: 656.9 km        Total walking  122 hr 40 mins 

Day Eighty Liberton

I enjoyed my walk in the sunshine around the streets close to home today.  I walked 20 streets

986. Raleigh Street
987. Hillary Street 
988. Dover Street
989. Lowe Street
990. Tasman Street
991. Tensing Street
992. Egmont Street
993. Allenby Avenue
994. Blundell Street
995. Hislop Street
996. Wilkinson Street
997. Truby King Crescent
998. Pryde Street
999. Croydon Street
1000. Barclay Street
1001. Buccleugh Street
1002. Glencairn Street
1003. Gladstone Road
1004. Forrester Avenue
1005. Newhaven Street

 

 It was a frosty start to the morning and I walked gingerly around the streets that were still in the shade.The first group of streets I walked around are all named after mountains and climbers.  Hillary Street and Tensing Street being the most obvious along with Lowe Street for climbing Mount Everest. Tasman and Egmont are New Zealand mountains and Dover is a mountain in Antarctica.

Many of the streets in Liberton have great views.  Some of the streets have good views of Flagstaff and look towards where I was walking yesterday.

Streets on the other side of the hill have great views looking towards the city.  After stopping to admire the view, I walked down the hill to then walk back up to where I started.

The further down the hill I walked, the views changed to looking towards Opoho and North East Valley.  The road also became very narrow as it grew steeper the nearer I got to the bottom.

The residents of these houses have very steep sections/gardens and very little parking but the views they get are outstanding. These are streets that I have not walked yet.

Of course what goes down must also go up and some of the up was quite steep but as I walked up the hill, I was reward with more great views.   This is looking towards Opoho and are streets that I have not walked yet.

The higher I walked up the hill, the views changed and I was able see over to the Dunedin Botanical Gardens with a glimpse of the harbour and Waverley beyond.

And as I neared the crest of the hill, the view changed back to Flagstaff.  The weather is beautiful and the views have been fantastic today. 

I stopped to have a look at the Dalmore Reserve which has been turned into a community vegetable garden.  The garden is a little overgrown after the winter but it does have great views of the city.

One of the more sad things that I have walked past during my challenge of walking every street in Dunedin is this wooden seat which has a fantastic view of the city.  The seat is dedicated to baby Mae. 

Today I walked past three interesting letterboxes.  One is an ordinary letterbox that is painted like a house while another has used a large piece of interesting wood to cleverly create a letterbox and the third letterbox has been decorated with mosaic tiles.

 

 

The ultimate in recycling is this used chain to make the house number on the fence.

The Pine Hill bus stop has been beautifully painted with scenes of the early Pine Hill School. The scenes are taken from old photographs of the school and have been faithfully replicated in the bus stop.

 

Distance walked:  11.2  km         Walking time  2 hr 10 mins  

 

Total distance: 653.0 km        Total walking  121 hr 52 mins 

Day Seventy Nine Pine Hill

New Zealand is in Lockdown  Alert Level 4 which is our highest level of restrictions due to an outbreak of Covid 19 in the community. It means that I am only allowed to exercise locally.  I have not walked the streets close to home as I had thought if NZ was to go into Lockdown, then I would be able to continue my walking the streets of Dunedin.  Today I walked 3 streets

983. Pine Hill Road
984. Maxwellton Street
985. Patmos Avenue

I started my walk by walking up the hill towards Mt Cargill from my home.  It only takes about 10 minutes walking to reach farmland and the views of the city really start to open up. It was a good feeling looking at this view knowing that I have walked every street that I could see. 

As I walked around the hill  I was rewarded with a view of Pine Hill which is where I live.  I still need to walk these streets but with Lockdown, these will be the next streets that I will be walking. 

 As I started walking down the hill to Leith Valley I crossed over a bridge that goes over the Northern Motorway.  This is State Highway One and is the main road to get into the city from the North.  Normally this is a very busy road but as we are in Lockdown and the only travel allowed is for essential services (e.g. food and medicine) there was very little traffic. 

On my walk I caught a glimpse of the magnificent house built by Dunedin's first bishop.  This house is huge and was built in the 1880's by the the first Bishop of Dunedin who lived here for 50 years and raised a family of five children.

At the entrance to the property once owned by the first Bishop is the gatehouse which is, itself, a beautiful home.  The gatehouse is much smaller that the main house.

Spring is definitely in the air and it was wonderful to walk past these trees covered in beautiful blossom.  I have walked past these trees before back in April when they were losing their leaves.  

 

And finally I walked back up the hill towards home by walking up Pine Hill Road, and over the bridge over George Street which is the main street of Dunedin.  As it is Lockdown, the streets are very quiet with no traffic today. 

It might seem a strange photo but this fence is a new fence, only a few weeks old,  that replaced a very old fence that ran up the side of the road.  This is a much nicer and safer fence.  

 

Looking over the side of the fence part, I could see that road has been built up with most of the road not actually on the ground but suspended on a bridge. 

On my walk today I walked past a number of these traps which are part of the Halo Project.  The Halo Project maintains a number of predator traps to protect the native wildlife.  There are a variety of traps for possum, stoats and rats around the fringes of the city that are regularly checked by volunteers

To show that half my walk was past farmland on the edge of the city, here are some of the farm animals that I walked past today.

I walked past this lovely stone fence built from the stones that the farmer cleared from his paddocks.  This is a very old style way of making a fence but this fence is only a few years old.

I walked past these two letterboxes.  One is painted with a kereru (NZ wood pigeon) and the other is shaped like a man going walkabout.

Lastly is this painted telephone cabinet that I walked past today. 

Distance walked:  10.4  km         Walking time  1 hr 55 mins  

 

Total distance: 641.8 km        Total walking  119 hr 42 mins