Day 103 Mosgiel

Today I started walking the streets on the flat part of Mosgiel and I walked another 15 streets.

1367. Ayr Street
1368. Emlen Place
1369. Hall Street
1370. Mure Street
1371. King Street
1372. Inglis Street
1373. McDonald Street
1374. Shaw Street
1375. Dutton Place
1376. Steven Place
1377. Ashton Street
1378. Burns Street
1379. Duke Street
1380. Bruce Street
1381. Queen Street

I started my walk at the railway line.  Yesterday I walked the streets on the right of the railway line and today, I was walking streets on the left of the railway line.  

And once past the railway line, the streets were long, straight and flat.   Mosgiel is named after Mossgiel Farm in Ayrshire,Scotland which was the farm of the poet Robert Burns whose nephew Thomas Burns was a co-founder of the region in 1848.

While walking these streets, I was able to look over to Saddle Hill where I could easily see the reason for the name.  Saddle Hill is one of only two places in Otago to have been named by Captain James Cook during his 1769 voyage of discovery.  According to Maori legend the hill is the remains of a tanawha.  

The view of Saddle Hill is the only view I saw today and because the streets in this part of Mosgiel are set out in a grid, I needed to keep track of which streets I had walked so I didn't walk them twice.

 

Some of the streets end at a farm fence.  I imagine that over time, there will be new houses built in this area but at the moment, it is a lovely peaceful looking place. 

It was nice to see the farm paddocks which broke up the monotony of walking the long, straight streets of Mosgiel.  In this part of Mosgiel, there are some very royal streets with names such as King Street, Queen Street and Duke Street.

 

I walked past this plaque which commemorates the site of the home built for Arthur Burns in 1850.  Arthur Burns was the son of Thomas Burns who was one of the co-founders of the region.  Arthur Burns founded the Mosgiel Woolen Mills and was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives

 

One interesting thing I walked past today was this 'Beautiful Street' competition sign from 1992.  I have only seen a couple of these signs during my walk.  Most of the poles that these signs were attached to have been replaced over the years. 

While walking the streets of Mosgiel, I walked past these two fun advertising 'statues'.  The tin man is made from exhaust parts and the other tyre bear was outside a tyre shop.

Below is the map of Mosgiel and the streets we have walked are in red.  Today we walked the grid of streets on the left while the red streets at the bottom of the map are where I was walking yesterday.

 

Distance walked:  10.3 km         Walking time  1 hr 50 mins   

 
Total distance: 851  km          Total walking  159 hr 20 mins 

Day 102 East Mosgiel

After enjoying a couple of evening walks near the harbour, I headed back out to Mosgiel for a longer walk where I walked 15 streets.

1352. Cemetery Road
1353. Clachan Gange Road
1354. Jollie Lane
1355. McGlashan Street
1356. Gow Street
1357. Gladstone Road South
1358. McFadden Drive
1359. Joe Brown Avenue
1360. Heathfield Drive
1361. Calluna Crescent
1362. Erica Crescent
1363. Irwin Logan Drive
1364. Pinfold Place
1365. Prudence Place
1366. Gladstone Road North

I started my walk today on another of the long straight roads of Mosgiel.  This one ran for approximately 3.5km in a straight line.  Thankfully there were a few side streets that I walked, otherwise, I would have only walked two streets today.

Part of my walk today, included the streets of the industrial area of Mosgiel.  These streets are wide and, as it is the weekend, empty. I would imagine that this is a busy area during the week. 

Most of Mosgiel is flat but today I walked up some of the few streets that get a view.  These houses look towards the Chain Hills where there are new houses being built. 

As I walked further around the hill, I was rewarded with views looking over Mosgiel.  I have walked none of these streets yet and it was good to get a chance to look over the streets that I will be walking next.

 

A little further around the hill, I was able to see Saddle Hill.  This is the first time that I have seen it from this direction, where I can start to see why it has the name Saddle Hill.  

Once I had walked back down the hill, I was able to look back up to the streets where I had been walking.

 

The next part of my walk was through a new subdivision where the streets have been laid out and no houses built yet. It won't be long before this area is full of houses.

As I walked further into the subdivision, I was able to see over the part where most of the houses have already been built. 

As I walked back down to the flat, I was able to look over towards Saddle Hill.  I had enjoyed walking the streets on the hill.

 

And then I was back to walking the long, straight road to finish my walk.

 

I was quite excited to be walking along beside the train line when a train came past on it's way south.  The train was quite long and I could feel the power and size of it as it gather speed. 

 

After seeing the train go past, further along the road I walked past the Mosgiel train station. This station was built in 1875.  While trains still travel down the track, past the station, the station is not used anymore.  It has most recently been used as a function centre but it is looking deserted now.

One of the footpaths that I walked today is a shared cycle/walkway.  The power poles were once on the edge of the footpath, however to make it wide enough for both cyclists and walkers, the footpath was widened.  This leaves the power poles in the middle of the footpath, making it difficult for cyclists (and walkers) who aren't paying attention.

One of the streets I walked down today was called Cemetery Road and not surprisingly, there was a cemetery.  The cemetery was overseen by a lovely church (seen in the distance).  The East Taieri Church was built in 1853 and has some beautiful stained glass windows.

At the start to the subdivision, is this beautiful big Oak tree.

 

Distance walked:  12.9 km         Walking time  2hr 29mins   

 
Total distance: 840.7 km          Total walking  157 hr 30 mins 

Day 101 Roseneath

 I enjoyed my walk exploring the streets of Roseneath tonight.  I walked 9 streets tonight.

1343. Reeves Street
1344. District Road
1345. Downes Road
1346. Prospect Row
1347. Clyde Street
1348. Shandon Street
1349. Cove Street
1350. Fraser Street
1351. Kilgour Street

The suburb of Roseneath is on a promontory hill jutting into the Otago Harbour with great views in all directions.  I started my walk by looking towards Sawyers Bay and Port Chalmers.  Both suburbs that I have not walked yet.

And then as I walked further around the streets of Roseneath, I was able to look down the harbour towards the city.

Another view opened up as I continued walking around the streets.  I was rewarded with a great view across the harbour to the triangle shape of harbour cone and the hills of the peninsula.

On the forth side of Roseneath, I had a good view looking over farmland towards Mihiwaka which was covered in cloud. 

Some of the houses have the waters of the harbour across the road with great views looking at Port Chalmers. 

The railway line runs through a tunnel under Roseneath and I was lucky enough to see a train on the line heading towards the tunnel while I was standing here.

 I saw two interesting letterboxes during my walk in Roseneath.  I think the wonky triangle letterbox is supposed to represent a wave as it is outside a house which is across the road from the harbour while the tree letterbox is large and solid looking

The map below shows the streets in Roseneath that I walked tonight.

Distance walked:  3.0 km         Walking time  38 mins   

 
Total distance: 825.7 km          Total walking  155 hr 01 mins 

Day One Hundred West Harbour

Time for an evening walk and back to finish walking the streets named after New Zealand birds along the west side of the harbour.  I walked 8 streets tonight.

1335. Robin Lane
1336. Ruru Avenue
1337. Stevenson Lane
1338. Tui Street
1339. Weka Street
1340. Wren Lane
1341. Takahe Terrace
1342. St Leonards Drive

By following the old road to Port Chalmers there is very little traffic and the views from  are pretty.  I could hear a lot of traffic on the faster highway below me but there were no cars on this part of the less used St Leonards Drive.

As I walked further around St Leonards Drive, I was able to look down on the highway with the railway line beside the road and the harbour entrance in the distance.

Of course the streets beside the harbour climb the side of the hill and I need to walk up and then down each street as they do not join at the top. 

And while the residents in this area need to negotiate steep, narrow streets each day, they are rewarded with fantastic views of the harbour and the hills of the peninsula. I was quite happy to have a rest at the top of each street to catch my breath and admire the view.

 

One of the good things about walking every street in Dunedin is that I come across unexpected views in places that I had never been before.  The views of St Leonards Park from this angle is one of those unexpected rewarding views of the peninsula hills and harbour cone with it's distinctive triangle shape.

 

There was one interesting letterbox on my walk today.  This one with the giraffe is cute and I wondered if it was called Harold. 

I walked past this cute house nailed to a fence between the road and highway.  It almost looks like a bird house but there are no openings for the birds and I am unsure why it has been placed on the fence.

I thought it was time to share another map.  The map shows only a small number of streets that I have walked with those streets that I have walked highlighted in red.  Currently I am walking the streets down the left side of the harbour. 

 

Distance walked:  4.1 km         Walking time  50 mins   

 
Total distance: 822.7 km          Total walking  154 hr 23 mins 

Day Ninety Nine Wingatui

Having finished walking the streets in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city yesterday, I started walking the streets of Mosgiel.  I walked 9 streets today.

1326. Paterson Road
1327. Haggart Street
1328. Crossan Street
1329. Magazine Road
1330. Friends Hill Road
1331. Puddle Alley
1332. Henderson Street
1333. White Hart Lane
1334. Soper Road

Mosgiel is a satellite town  of Dunedin with a population of over 14,000 people within the Dunedin City Boundary.  Mosgiel was founded in the early 1850's on the flat land of the Taieri Plains and while most of the town is flat, the eastern boundary runs along the low hills dividing Mosgiel from the rest of the city and this is where I started my walking today.  

 

Mosgiel is a growing town with a lot of new homes being built on the fringes.  Only a few years ago, most of this area was farmland.

The houses that have been built on the slightly elevated land of the hills have a view looking over the Taieri Plans and towards Three Mile Hill which is one of the main roads over the hill into Dunedin's hill suburbs.

Once off the slight hill, I was walking the long, straight streets on the edge of Mosgiel.  Because the streets are long and straight, I did not walk many streets although I did walk a reasonable distance today.

 

The road I walked along today runs beside the railway line.  This railway line travels the length of the South Island and I have crossed the railway line a number of times during my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin.

I walked past the Wingatui Railway Station on my walk today.  This station was opened in 1875 with this particular stating being built in 1914.  The station was closed in 1983 with both the station and signal box being preserved.  The inside of the signal box still has all the levers once used to manually change the track points.

But mostly the streets that I walked today were long and straight with only a few shorter side streets.

And to show that I did manage to walk some shorter streets, this is looking down Henderson Street from the railway embankment where there is a walking track beside the train track.  I walked one way along the footpath beside the road and then back along the embankment.

And at the end of the short streets was open farmland, which I am sure will not remain as farmland for long with all the new houses being built.  This will mean that in a few years, there will probably be new streets for me to walk. 

 

On the railway line embankment is this cleverly planted and maintained hedge spelling out the name of the suburb.  A popular myth for the name was when William Stevenson, an early settler in the area,  shot a Tui in the wing. Liking the sound of “Wing-a-tui”, William Stevenson named his property Wingatui in the mid 1850’s or the name could be the English spelling of the area which has the Maori name Whiringatua  meaning the place of plaiting of straps

These hens became excited as I walked past their home today, coming out onto the road to greet me and see if I had any food for them.

Distance walked:  7.8 km         Walking time  1 hr 26 mins   

 
Total distance: 818.6 km          Total walking  153 hr 33 mins