Day Eighty Nine Waitati

 It was a change of scenery for me today as I headed over the Northern Motorway to walk the streets of Waitati.  I walked 18 streets today.

1145. Brown Street
1146. Pitt Street
1147. McLachlan Street
1148. Harvey Street
1149. Orokonui Road
1150. View Street
1151. Ree Street
1152. Hill Street
1153. Chelivode Street
1154. Barton Street
1155. Short Street
1156. Thornicroft Road
1157. Doctors Point Road
1158. Foyle Street
1159. Killarney Street
1160. Erne Street
1161. Quayle Street
1162. Almond Street

I started my walk by following the Waitati River.  The river runs along the side of Orokonui Road to the lagoon and is quite picturesque.

Before reaching the lagoon, I walked up View Street which is aptly named as the views looking toward Blueskin Bay from View Street are worth the uphill effort.

Once at the top of the hill I had great views looking inland towards the Silver Peaks.  The weather is calm with no wind, making walking today very pleasant.

 

Once back down the hill I continued walking along the road as it followed the Waitati River which meandered through the trees towards the lagoon. 

Once I reached the end of Orokonui Road, instead of going back along the road, I took a detour around the Orokanui Lagoon Walk to join up to Doctors Point Road.  The lagoon walk is a pleasant and peaceful walk around the salt marsh lagoon.  

From the lagoon walk I was able to look over to where the Orokonui Hospital was located.  In 1901, the farm was purchased by Dr Truby King who established a psychiatric hospital here.  The hospital treated patients, including having the patients working on the farm, up until 1984 when it closed.  

As I walked around the lagoon walk, I was able to see more of the lagoon and look back towards where the hospital stood.  I really enjoyed this part of my walk, particularly as it was not on a road.  

The lagoon walk took me to a different part of Waitati and I was back to walking the streets.  Now  I was walking alongside the railway line. 

The railway line and road run alongside Blueskin Bay which is a tidal estuary .  This is a popular place for people to gather cockles (clams) when the tide is low.  

 

During my walk I crossed the railway line and came across this small wagon which has been left as a display beside the railway line.

Waitati is a small township with the Dunedin boundary.  It is an idyllic place and being only 12 kilometres from Dunedin, it is an appealing place to live away from the busyness of the city.

During my walk, I saw this pou amongst some native plantings.  A pou (or pouwhenua) is a carved wooden post used by Maori to mark a boundary or place of significance.  A pou is similar to a totem pole in that the carvings tell a story linking the tàngata (people) and whenua (land).

 

My walk also took me past the Waitati war memorial which commemorates soldiers who did not come home from war.  This war memorial is well looked after and sits beside the Waitati River. 

 One of the unusual things I saw on my walk in Waitati today was the front part of this old truck which is part of a garden ornament.  It looks like it is half hidden amongst the trees.

I saw some street art on the side of buildings during my walk today.  This one was on the side of the new library. I noticed teapots are part of this art and during my walk of the streets of Waitati, I saw lots of old teapots attached to letterboxes.

 And this lovely piece of art that was on the side of a garage. I am enjoying find art like during my walks.

Today I walked past a number of interesting letterboxes.  I had to look twice at this door as it is the letterbox . 

And this is a selection of letterboxes that I walked past.  A number of letterboxes in Waitati had old tea pots attached to them such as the old red post box letterbox. 

This letterbox was huge.  As you can see by the size of the tractor tires that it is sitting on, this letterbox looks like it is dog kennel size.

Distance walked:  12.1  km         Walking time  2 hr 20 mins  

Total distance: 723 km            Total walking  135 hr 34 mins 

Day Eighty Eight Ravensbourne

I took advantage of the evenings starting to get lighter by getting another walk in.  Tonight I walked 13 streets.

1132. Neptune Street
1133. Magnet Street
1134. Taupo Street
1135. Ellesmere Street
1136. Gerrys Road
1137. Mark Street
1138. Rimu Street
1139. Waireki Street
1140. Ocean View Road
1141. Lindsay Avenue
1142. Tekapo Street
1143. Parry Street East

1144. Kowhai Street

I started my walk from near the stadium and walked along the shared walking/cycleway that runs along the side of the harbour.  The cycleway is popular with cyclists, runners and walkers, however tonight I saw very few people. 

 There are excellent views of the Otago harbour and peninsula all along the walk/cycleway.  I enjoyed looking across the harbour to see streets that I have walked.  I still have streets to walk further down the peninsula but I have walked everything that I could see from here. 

 

The cycleway/walkway runs along between the harbour and the railway line for a couple of kilometres before crossing the railway line at Ravensbourne.  From here it was all uphill for me.

 

 

Once I started walking up the hill, it didn't take long before the views across the harbour started opening up. 

The streets became steeper and narrow the further up the hill I walked.  The residents of these streets get great views of the harbour and hills of the peninsula.

Near the top of the hill the streets followed the contour of the land and flattened out which gave me the chance to see the views looking across the harbour to harbour cone and the Soldiers Monument.

After reaching the streets at the top of the hill, I then walked back down to the hill and was rewarded with more views, this time looking towards the city.

I timed my walk well as I neared the bottom of the hill, the sun was setting and the lights of the city were coming on.  Despite the hills, it had been a good walk to a part of Dunedin that I had not seen much of before.

I walked past this large kuri (dog).  Placed here in 2008, this kuri looks out over the Otago harbour and is a cultural guardian looking after the people of Dunedin and the surrounding environment.

I liked this unique stainless steel seat conveniently placed with a view of the harbour.  It was a good place to rest and catch my breath before continuing up the hill.

 During my walk today I saw both black sheep and white sheep.  The black sheep were inquisitive and had cute faces while the white sheep moved away when I got closer to them.

 

There were a few interesting letterboxes on my walk today.  I thought the railway signal one was unique and the blue postbox is also very good.

Distance walked:  10.4  km         Walking time  1 hr 58 mins  

 

Total distance: 710.9 km        Total walking  133 hr 14 mins 

Catch up of streets not counted

If you have been following this blog on my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin, you will know that I have walked over 1100 streets.  Now that I am over 2/3 through my challenge I went over the list of remaining streets to check that I have not missed counting any streets.  As a result I am able to count another 18 streets

1114. Great King Street
1115. Alexander Street
1116. Alton Avenue
1117. Bellevue Place
1118. Beverley Place
1119. Bombay Street
1120. Corrie Street
1121. Dundas Street
1122. Eglin Road
1123. Harrow Street
1124. Jellicoe Crescent
1125. Liverpool Street
1126. Lookout Point overbridge
1127. Mellor Street
1128. Monro Street

1129. Raglan Street
1130. Samuel Street
1131. Thesis Street

I have walked all of these streets but I missed counting most of them as I walked the streets over two days or in some cases over a number of days, either way I didn't realise that I hadn't counted them at all.  There are some streets that changed names partway along the street and I didn't count them as separate streets and there is also the odd street that I just didn't count at all.  Whatever the reason that I missed counting them, I did walk them so am adding them to my total. 

There remains around 400 streets still to walk. 

Day Eighty Seven Fairfield

Lockdown in New Zealand has been eased with a move to Alert Level 2 which means that I can travel further to exercise so today I went back to Fairfield to finish the streets that I had started walking three weeks ago. Today I walked 20 streets

1094. Hartley Street
1095. Park Lane
1096. St James Place
1097. Cockburn Street
1098. Fry Street
1099. Martin Road
1100. Fairplay Street
1101. Centennial Road
1102. Freyberg Road
1103. Coach Road
1104. Saddleview Place
1105. Sickels Street
1106. Robert Street
1107. Walton Park Avenue
1108. Hogan Place
1109. Estuary Crescent
1110. Blanc Avenue
1111. Edith Street
1112. Alfred Place

1113. Main Road

After walking the steep streets of North East Valley and Opoho over the last couple of weeks, the streets of Fairfield were a complete contrast as Fairfield is mainly flat.  There is not the same views in Fairfield, however the area is surrounded by some small hills with farmland and trees.

Part of my walk today, took me along the old road that was once the main road out of Dunedin before the Southern Motorway was built.  I have slowly been walking my way towards Saddle Hill. 

 

And this is the Southern Motorway which is now the main route out of the city.  I was out walking early in the morning before there was much traffic on the motorway.  During the week, this motorway can be very busy.

 

Built in 1904 this house was the former Coach and Horses Hotel and has been extensively renovated. While it is now a private home, it features many of the original fittings from it's former days as a hotel. 

On my walk today, I walked past the Fulton Hogan yard where there is this old mechanical loader/shovel.  Obviously not in use anymore, it is much smaller than modern machinery.  

Some of the street art that I walked past today was the wall of this building painted with some local wildlife and their habitat

And this bus shelter painted with art from children at the local school.  I am really enjoying seeing all the painted bus stops around the city. 

I walked past a number of interesting letterboxes today.  The most unusual is the old water pump one, the most fun is the yellow smiley one.  The small barrel is probably my favourite letterbox of the day.

Distance walked:  10.7  km         Walking time  1 hr 55 mins  

 

Total distance: 700.5 km        Total walking  131 hr 16 mins 

Day Eighty Six Normanby

Today I walked in an area where I grew up and knew the streets well. I walked 10 streets today.

1084. Echovale Avenue
1085. Tannadice Street
1086. Uxbridge Street
1087. Hillingdon Street
1088. Rolla Street
1089. Antrim Street
1090. Birchfield Avenue
1091. Pleasant Place
1092. Dryden Street
1093. Bonnington Street

 

I started my walk on Norwood Street before walking up North Road which gave me a good view down onto Norwood Street where I had just come from.

As I walked up North Road, I was able to look along Norwood Street towards Mt Cargill.  I would think the houses on Norwood Street would not have a lot of sun during the winter months as they are hemmed in with hills on both sides.

Once I walked up the hill, I then walked back down the hill.  As I have often done during my walking the streets of Dunedin, I was able to see how much green space Dunedin has. 

The amount of green surrounding the city was even more apparent to me as I was able to look over to Mt. Cargill which is the rounded hill in the distance.

 

Some of the streets I walked today had a good view down to the Cricket pitch at Chingford Park and the hills leading up to Pine Hill behind. 

An interesting thing I saw on my walk today was this wall which reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes dancing men code. 

 Today on my walk, I walked past this 'Sure to Rise' painted telephone cabinet.  'Sure to Rise' is associated with Edmunds baking powder and is part of our kiwi culture just like the Watties tomato sauce bottle, chocolate fish and monarch butterflies.

 

 I walked past this fence where the owner has put lots of NZ art.  I think this is something that I would like to do - if I had a fence that faced the street. 

 It wasn't just the fence that stood out but the owners have also made their letterbox interesting as well.

This has to be one of the most fun letterboxes I have seen on my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin.  Not only is it covered in tiles and moss but it has it's own pond complete with ducks. 

 

 

 Distance walked:  5.0  km         Walking time  58 mins  

 

Total distance: 689.8 km        Total walking  129 hr 21 mins