Day Ninety Seacliff & Karitane

Continuing on from my blog yesterday, today's blog post is about the streets that I walked in Seacliff and Karitane which are small townships further along the coast.  I walked the streets of these townships/suburbs as they are in the boundaries of Dunedin City.  I walked 24 streets.

1181. Russell Road
1182. Kilgour Street
1183. Palmer Street
1184. Barvas Street
1185. Halkirk Street
1186. Parata Avenue
1187. Rawhiti Street
1188. Kamura Street
1189. Seaforth Street
1190. Sulisker Street
1191. Roneval Street
1192. Harris Street
1193. Rona Street
1194. Karitane Reserve Road
1195. Scarp Street
1196. Grimness Street
1197. Stornoway Street
1198. Eris Street
1199. Kerr Street
1200. Barra Street
1201. Bernera Street
1202. Pentland Street
1203. Dunnet Street
1204. Coast Road

The second part of my walk today, saw me walking the three streets at Seacliff.  In 1884, the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum was opened.  At the time it was the largest building in New Zealand and housed 500 patients and 50 staff.  In 1889 Truby King was appointed medical supervisor and 'prescribed' fresh air, exercise, good nutrition and productive work to the patients.  By the 1940's the hospital became more like a prison where the treatment would be considered cruel today.  The old hospital grounds are a reserve and thought to be haunted by patients who were locked in their rooms and died when a fire broke out at the hospital in 1942.  The Seacliff Lunatic Asylum closed in 1971.  Today the small settlement has a quiet and peaceful feel to it.

After leaving Seacliff, I drove to Karitane to continue walking the streets.  Before reaching Karitane, I stopped at a lookout which gave me a good view of the township which is in the middle of this picture.  The Huriawa Peninsula is to the left of the township and juts out into the sea.  The peninsula was home to the Huriawa Pà which is a Maori fortified village. 

Karitane is a small seaside settlement located near the mouth of the Waikouaiti River and is within the boundaries of Dunedin City.  The river mouth is tidal and is a popular place for kayakers and boaties. 

At the end of some of the streets in Karitane are walkways to the beach.  This was useful to me as it meant I could walk along the beach to the next street, rather than rewalk some of the streets.

Dunedin is lucky to a large number of readily accessible beaches and as a result, there are a lot of beaches for people to use.  This often means that beaches are deserted and it is a pleasure to have a beach to yourself. 

 Some of the streets in Karitane are right on the beach.  There are houses just across the road so the owners have the beach literally on their doorstep.  I imagine it will be a magical place to have a home during the summer months.

In other parts of the town, the road runs beside the tidal Waikouaiti River.  On a calm day, it is a very picturesque and peaceful place.

The views of the river mouth from this road was quite spectacular on such a calm day. 

Not all the views were of the beach and river mouth.  Parts of the township looked over farmland with Mt. Watkin in the distance. 

Overall though, most of the houses in Karitane have views of the river mouth. The township is popular with day trippers from Dunedin City and it is easy to see why. 

On my walk today, I walked past these gates at Seacliff reserve which are a war memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Seacliff area. 

 Later in my walk, I walked past these gates in Karitane which are a war memorial to the fallen soldiers of Karitane.

 

At the entrance to Karitane is this cute whale welcoming people to the township.  This whale is everywhere as it has been made into street numbers for the houses. 

 

I saw some unusual sights during my walking today.  I came across this pile of old fishing pots at the end of a street. They look like they have been here for a while.

This boat looked like it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.  It was almost like it had just been parked on the side of the road and forgotten about by it's owners.

And I don't known when this car was last driven but it's certainly been here for a long time.

This giraffe is very cleverly made out of old junk but it looks quite realistic. Whoever made it has put a lot of thought into it.

During my walk today, I walked past the Karitane public toilets that have wildlife found in the area painted on all sides.

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

Distance walked:  11.9 km         Walking time  2 hr 12 mins  

Total distance: 740.8 km          Total walking  138 hr 48 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 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