Day Sixteen St Clair Park

 I took advantage of another nice day and walked the hills behind St Clair where there are plenty of great views.  Today I walked 12 streets

182. Isadore Road
183. Highgrove 
184 Clayton Street
185. Sutcliffe Street
186. Aberdeen Street
187. Ravenswood Road
188. Seaview Terrace
189. Kew Place
190. Ponton Street
191. Earls Road
192. Lock Street
193. Erskine Place

I also walked part of a number of other streets but I don't get to count these until I have completed  them.  The first street I walked down was Isadore Road and onto Highgrove and from here I could see the ruins of Cargills Castle.  Cargills Castle was built in  1877 for Edward Cargill who died in 1903 when it was sold and has had several owners over the last 100 years.  Sadly the castle is in ruins with no public access. 

It was a little windy in Highgrove today but there are also good views down the coast towards Tunnel Beach and Blackhead. 

Highgrove is also the first street that I have walked with a paving stone footpath.  It is a nice change from the normal asphalt. Highgrove also has nice street lights similar to parts of Waverley that I have already walked. 

After the relative flat of Highgrove and Sutcliffe Street it was onto the hilly streets with the residents of Ravenswood Street getting great views looking over the beach and South Dunedin.  It is great to look out and know that I have walked all the streets that I can see, even those on the hills in the distance

During all of my walk today, I was rewarded with great views of the city including this view from Middleton Road showing the city from a different angle to what I have previously seen it. 

There were a couple of interesting things I saw on my walk today.  The first is this donation box for Cargills Castle and also this telephone cabinet painted to represent a stamp.

I also came across this mirror at the bottom of Easter Crescent where it joins Seaview Terrace and thought I would have some fun taking a 'selfie'.

Distance walked: 9.2 km     Walking time 1 hr  47 mins    

Total distance: 133.3 km       Total walking  24 hr 17 mins

Day Fifteen St Clair

 It was a change of scenery today as I walked some streets on the hill and along the esplanade.  Today I walked 17 streets

165. Massey Avenue
166. Pretoria Avenue
167. Ings Avenue
168. Coughtrey Street
169. Albert Street
170. Victoria Road
171. Esplanade
172. Back Beach Road
173. Cliffs Road
174. Bedford Street
175 Norfolk Street
176. Beach Street
177. Sandringham Street
178. Hobson Street
179. Valpy Street
180. Mavis Street
181. Motu Street

I enjoyed the walk to the beach and along the esplanade which is very popular with the children's playground and coffee shops in the area all very busy.  It was good to see a number of surfers in the water and people enjoying the warm afternoon at the beach.  It was also a good place to look along the beach towards Lawyer Head where I had been walking a few days ago. 

Next I headed up the hill on Cliffs Road which was a nice change after the flat of St Kilda as I was able to get some nice views over South Dunedin and Forbury Park looking towards the hills of Waverley which I have already walked. 

 

It was only a short venture up the hill as I went back down onto the flat and along Norfolk Street to Mavis and Motu Street where I got an equally fantastic but slightly different view. 

This bought me onto the 'infamous' Jacobs Ladder with 135 steps that was built in 1884.  I did not need to walk up these steps as I had a few more streets on the flat to complete.

 I came across these two painted telephone cabinets on my walk today.  I particularly like the beach scene which highlights the mid winter swim at St Clair beach on the shortest day each year.  

I also noticed a lot of Pohutukawa trees in flower during my walk today.  The Pohutukawa is often called the New Zealand Christmas tree as it usually flowers around Christmas time with beautiful red flowers. 

Distance walked: 9.1km     Walking time 1 hr  41 mins    

Total distance: 124.1km       Total walking  22 hr 30 mins

 

Day Fourteen St Kilda

 Today was a longer walk as I wanted to complete all of the streets of St Kilda.  Today I walked 23 streets. 

141. Moreau Street
142. Plunket Street
143. Kennedy Street
144. Nile Street
145. Trafalgar Street
146. West Avenue

147. Bayview Road

148. East Avenue
149. Montreal Street
150. Alma Street
151. Corunna Street
152. Kings Ave
153. Hargest Crescent 
154. Waterloo Street

155. Ajax Road
156. Richardson Street
157. Bellona Street
158. Calder Street
159. Dalgety Street
160. Bird Street
161. Churchill Street
162. Mills Street
163. Young Street
164. Ajax Street

 

 I started my walk by heading towards the beach and walked part of Victoria Road where I passed Forbury Park, a horse racing track that was built on reclaimed land in 1870 and has been used as a horse racing facility ever since.  Currently it is home to harness racing and greyhound racing.  The spectator stand that can be seen from Victoria Road was built in 1962.

At the end of Forbury Park I turned right onto Kennedy Street and then began a complicated journey through the streets that branch off Hargest Crescent.  As the streets do not align with each other it required some back tracking and to ensure that no streets were missed.  It was on one of these streets that I came across this neat letter box.   

After completing the streets off Hargest Crescent I was back into the grid streets that run between Richardson Street and Bayview Road. Here I was able to walk all streets in one direction then walk the streets in the other direction which meant I did not need to often back track or walk the same piece of road twice.  I also walked down another concrete footpath. This is only the second concrete footpath that I have come across during my walking.

 

Another interesting thing I noticed on my walk today was this unusual bus stop.  I do not know why the signs would be so low  and as I passed them again later during my walk, there was a bus stopped at the bus stop. This is one bus stop that would be easy to miss. 

Today was a milestone as I have now walked over 160 streets, I am over 10% through my challenge of walking every street in Dunedin.  This map shows the streets that I have walked so far.

Distance walked: 11.6km     Walking time 2 hr  02 mins    

Total distance: 115 km       Total walking  21 hr 29 mins

 

Day Thirteen St Kilda

 It was another day on the flat of South Dunedin and I walked 10 streets today.

131. Moana Rua Street
132.  Larkworthy Street
133. Jackson Street
134. Douglas Street
135.  Council Street
136. Crete Street
137. De Carle Street
138. Hardy Street
139. Scott Street
140. Freyberg Street

 

The only bit of up hill today was Moana Rua Street which is a small street that borders Kettle Park.  This was a good place to see how big Kettle Park is and also think about how busy it must be on weekends for sport.  

Once we headed onto Larkworthy and the surrounding streets there was not a lot of views and it became important to keep track of the streets I had walked as the streets are in a grid formation and it would be easy to miss a small section.  In fact I did miss one block of a Freyberg Street and had to go back to walk just this one small part so I could tick it off as being completed.  

 

 

One obstacle I came across was De Carle Park which cuts some streets in half meaning I had to make a complete circle of the park and back track a bit to make sure that I had completed all  parts of the surrounding streets.

 

A couple of things I noticed on my walk today was this very large Eucalyptus tree which seemed to dwarf the houses and this 'bee friendly' part of the berm that the residents have left to grow to encourage the bees. 

 

And finally two pieces of public art I walked past today.  A bus stop near the beach is painted with a mermaid and seaweed and a telephone cabinet with a very cool surfing horse. 

Distance walked: 7.8km     Walking time 1 hr  26 mins    

Total distance: 103.3km       Total walking  19 hr 27 mins

 

Day Twelve St Kilda

 I'm walking on the flat streets of South Dunedin and as most of the streets are in a grid pattern, I am walking horizontal streets then vertical streets to ensure that I walk every street and some of these streets are quite long.  Today I walked 8 streets

123. Grove Street
124. Tedder Street
125. Eskvale Street
126. Annex Street
127. Begg Street
128. New Street
129. Market Street
130. Prince Albert Road 

 Walking streets on the flat means there are not many places to get views of the city, except some streets that look towards the hills.  This view is looking towards the hills of St Clair. 

 

 

It was quite fast walking today and one of the things I noticed today was how close the houses are to each other.  Being on the flat, South Dunedin was one of the first parts of Dunedin where houses were built and as a result a lot of the houses are wooden villas interspersed with more modern  townhouses.  I was quite intrigued by an old stone house built in 1879 that I passed today.  

An interesting thing I noticed on my walk today is this footpath that is concrete on one side of the street and the usual asphalt on the other.  Concrete footpath's are not common in Dunedin and this is the first street that I have walked that is concrete. 

Today I also walked past the St Kilda Fire Station which was built in 1965.  

Distance walked: 5.1km     Walking time 1 hr  00 mins    

Total distance: 95.5km       Total walking  18 hr 01 mins

Day Eleven St Kilda

 I was walking early this morning to beat the heat, even so it was getting quite hot when I finished my walk at around 10.30am. Today I walked 9 streets.

114. John Wilson Ocean Drive
115. Kettle Park Road
116. Onslow Street
117. Normanby Street
118. Ascot Street
119. Marlow Street
120. Ravelston Street
121. Rugby Street
122. Queens Drive

John Wilson Ocean Drive was my first street today and it was also the longest street for the day at 2km each way.  I had to walk the full length of it twice, once to Lawyers Head and then back.  John Wilson Ocean Drive is named after John Wilson who was the chairman of the Dunedin Ocean Beach Domain Board 1930-1953.  

John Wilson Ocean Drive is very popular with dog walkers and I saw quite a few this morning, both on the road and on the beach.  I always enjoy walking John Wilson Ocean Drive as you approach Lawyers Head, the views are stunning.  We are very lucky to have such a beautiful beach so close to our city centre.  

From Lawyers Head there are great views looking towards Ocean Grove and the streets that I have already walk ed. During the week John Wilson Ocean Drive is open for cars to drive to Lawyers Head but on weekends it is closed, and is for dog walkers and families to use the road without the needing to look out for cars. 

Today John Wilson Ocean Drive felt a bit like the road to nowhere as I needed to walk both ways and I knew I had quite a few more streets to cover as well.  This view also shows how close to the city the beach is.  

It is also a good place to see the rest of the city from and, for me to contemplate how many streets there are in Dunedin and how many more I need to walk. 

I also got to walk Kettle Park Road which gave me good views of the Dinosaur Park.  I remember coming here when I was a child and also bringing my children to play when they were smaller. The Dinosaur Park was first built in the late 1960's and maybe it is just the height of Kettle Park Road but it felt like the Dinosaur Park is not as big or as exciting as I remember. 

In Dunedin we really are lucky to have great public art with some very good painted buildings and these are just a couple of the awesome painted buildings that I passed on my walk today. 

Distance walked: 8.7km     Walking time 1 hr  35 mins    

Total distance: 90.4km       Total walking  17 hr 01 mins

Day Ten Musselburgh

It was a very good day walking where I completed a few streets that I had started and also to start early before the temperature got to high.  Today was a big day where I walked 21 streets. 

93. Crest Road
94. Magdala Street
95. Botha Street
96. Cranley Street
97. Cavell Street
98. Lochend Street
99. Musselburgh Rise
100. Wardlaw Street
101. Musselburgh Rise Left
102. Rochester Terrace
103. Belmont Lane
104. Moana Crescent
105. Rewa Street
106. Rawhiti Street
107. Marama Street
108. Shore Street
109. Gourley Street
110. Rona Street
111. Culling Street
112. Auld Street
113. Royal Crescent

 There was a lot of walking today and most of it was on the flat but there were a couple of small hills just to keep it interesting.  One of the few places for a view today was from Moana Crescent and it was particularly good to stop and look over the streets that I had walked earlier this morning.  This area is also called Sunshine and it lived up to it's name as the sun broke through the clouds and shone while I was walking the streets in Sunshine. 

Another highlight of my walk was Shore Street and looking at the inlet from another vantage point.  I have now walked three sides of the inlet and each 'side' gives a different view.

 I passed the Rongo Stone Memorial on the corner of Shore Street and Portsmouth Drive today.   The Rongo Stone Memorial commemorates the 211 Maori prisoners transported to Dunedin between 1869 and 1879.  74 Maori prisoners were sent to Dunedin after an armed dispute in Pakakohe in South Taranaki in 1869 and 137 prisoners were transported from Parihaka in 1879. 

 Today I walked past the Albion Cricket Club which is the oldest cricket club in Australasia and has been operating continuously 1862.   

 

Also on my walk I came across this beautifully painted telephone cabinet and I loved how this one represented the community it is in.  

 

Distance walked: 13.4km     Walking time 2 hr  22 mins    

Total distance: 81.7km       Total walking  15 hr 26 mins