Day Twenty Nine The Glen

 I was back walking on the hills today and walked 14 streets

371. South Road
372. Eglinton Road
373. Walter Street
374. Patrick Street
375. Elbe Street
376. Neidpath Road
377. Dalry Street
378. Cochrane Street
379. McGeorge Avenue
380.  Peel Street
381. Aitken Place
382. Glen Road
383. Reynolds Street
384. Hayward Street

The first street I walked today was to complete South Road.  It was good to look back around the hills where I had walked already.

After completing South Road, it was up the hill on Eglington Road and I walked the streets on the left of Eglinton Road.  I had a good view from Walter Street and it was a good feeling to know that I had walked all the streets that I could see. 

After Walter Street, I was back onto Eglinton Road and enjoyed the walk past the rugby field because I had fantastic, uninterrupted views looking towards the harbour. 

At the top of Eglington Road I was back at the Mornington shopping area where I had been a couple of days ago.  I then headed down Peel Street where I had a good view looking towards the streets I had walked yesterday (in the rain) 

My next task was to complete the streets that joined up to where I had been yesterday.  Then it was back down the hill on Glen Road to where I had started.  

I saw a couple of interesting things on my walk today.  The first was this painted telephone cabinet which is painted in Otago colours (blue and yellow) to represent a crowd on the terraces at the 'House of Pain' , the (now demolished) Carisbrook Stadium which was just around the corner from this telephone cabinet.

 An unexpected sight was near the end of my walk in Glen Road was this sad, unloved old Dunedin trolley bus.  Trolley buses were a common sight on Dunedin streets when I was child and it looks like this bus has been here a very long time. It is hard to see but there is a for sale sign in the front window but I had the feeling that this bus is too much part of it's surroundings to be moved.

Distance walked:  10.0 km      Walking time  1 hr 57mins    

Total distance: 249.5 km       Total walking  46 hr 45 mins

Day Twenty Eight Clyde Hill & Maryhill

 Today I started my walk in fine weather and finished in the rain.  I walked 18 streets.

353. Parkside Avenue

354. Bridge Street
355. Saint Heliers Court
356. Leckhampton Court
357. Forfar Street
358. Dacre Court
359. Kirriemuir Street
360. Aylmer Street
361. Carson Street
362. Bryon Street
363. Rutland Street
364. Cooper Street
365. Kevin Street
366. Cross Street
367. Avoca Street
368. Appold Street
369. Vickery Place
370. Acacia Avenue

 

I started walking on the flat in Caversham, where I had finished a few days ago.  I walked along Parkside Avenue which runs beside the South Island Main Trunk Line (note the blue sky).

After walking beside the train line I got to walk beside the motorway on Bridge Street. I was walking after dinner so there was very little traffic on the motorway, in fact the motorway was empty. 

 

After Bridge Street, it was up hill and around onto Forfar Street where I was rewarded with some great views looking over South Dunedin.  From here I was able to work out that I have walked about half the streets on the flat

The higher I walked, the better the views got.  As I rounded the hill, I was able to see the harbour from another angle to what I have already seen from other streets.   I have walked the streets on the hill on the other side of the harbour.

Once at the top of Forfar Street I was back on Glenpark Avenue where I had been walking a couple of days ago.  Today I walked the streets on the right of Glenpark Avenue.  From some of the streets on my walk, I was able to look over towards Mornington where I have already walked. 

The streets I walked today are narrow and steep and I was able to walk quite a few streets in a short amount of time.  The good thing about steep streets are the views.

As I was heading down the hill, it started raining and one of the good things about rain are rainbows!

One of interesting things I saw on my walk today is the Carisbrook Hotel which has been operating continuously since 1863.  It was a very popular watering hole when the Carisbrook Rugby Stadium (also known as 'The House of Pain')  hosted rugby games.  Now the stadium has been demolished and replaced with the Forsyth Barr Stadium near Logan Park but the Carisbrook Hotel remains and continues to operate - for nearly 160 years!

I found Aylmer Street interesting as it is a short street with no houses, in fact it reminded me of a country lane rather than a city street. Alymer Street connects Carson Street and Maryhill Terrace. 

Distance walked:  7.8 km      Walking time  1 hr 33mins    

Total distance: 239.5 km       Total walking  44 hr 48 mins

Day Twenty Seven Kaikorai Valley

Today was one of my longer walks where I walked half of Kaikorai Valley Road, and all the side streets.  Today I walked 17 streets

336. Ensor Street
337. Short Street
338. McLeod Road
339. Eclipse Road
340. Townleys Road
341. Donald Street
342. McNab Street
343. Salisbury Road
344. Marshall Street
345. Bradford Street
346. Mulberry Street
347. Stone Street
348. Mataora Road
349. Borthwick Street
350. Hocken Street
351. Bryant Street
352. Fels Street

The first part of my walk today, took me through the industrial part of Kaikorai Valley with lots of car sale yards and commercial premises.  Once through this part, it was up Ensor Street to join onto the motorway near the Lookout Point Fire Station. Luckily there is a walkway that took me through to the top of Short Street.  The residents of Short Street have good views looking towards Saddle Hill. 

Once back at the bottom of the hill, it was a short walk to the bridge over the South Island Main Trunk Line.  From the rail bridge I could look down to where the Burnside Railway Station was. There is no station there now. 

The Burnside Railway Station was a local station used by commuters up until it's closure in 1982.  The train used the tunnel to cut out the hills making the journey to the city quite fast.  As cars became more reliable, the train was less popular and eventually the station closed. This picture shows how the station looked not long before it's closure. 

From here I walked back along Kaikorai Valley Road and past Kaikorai Valley College.  Kenmure Intermediate and Kaikorai Valley High School merged in 1996 to become Kaikorai Valley College.  

I turned onto Stone Street and headed up the hill.  It was good to be back on the hill as I was able to see the mix of residential houses and commercial buildings on Kaikorai Valley Road.

Once back on the hill I finished some of the side streets off on Kenmure Road then followed a set of steep steps down onto Hocken Street so I could complete a few more streets. 

Kaikorai Stream flows through Kaikorai Valley with the road crossing the stream in places.  Through walking the valley, I discovered the pathway that runs alongside part of the stream.  It is good to see the restoration of the stream with native plants.  

On my walk today I saw these two painted telephone cabinets.  I particularly like the kakapo looking out through the flax.  

 

Distance walked:  13.4 km      Walking time  2 hr 29mins    

Total distance: 231.7 km       Total walking  43 hr 15 mins

 

Day Twenty Six Mornington

 Today I finished walking a number of streets that I had done part of yesterday.  I walked 24 streets

312. Glenpark Avenue
313. Haig Street
314. Iona Street
315. Henderson Street
316. Mailer Street
317. Brunel Street
318. Mosgiel Street
319. Lawrence Street
320. Havelock Street
321. Durham Street
322. Whitby Street
323. Galloway Street
324. Argyle Street
325. Ventor Street
326. Springhill Road
327. Crosby Street
328. Cook Street
329. Picardy Street
330. Lesney Street
331. Maryhill Terrace
332. Mitchell Avenue
333. Crewe Street 
334. Macnee Street
335. Laurie Street

The first street I walked today was Glenpark Avenue where a cable car operated in straight line from the back of the Mornington Cable Car House on Mailer Street from 1885 to 1955.  It was the world's steepest public tramline and was nicknamed 'the big dipper' as it first went steeply down then  back up Glenpark Avenue similar to a roller coaster.  Today there is not much to see where the cable car went and the steepest part now has houses with steep steps up to Mailer Street. 

Glenpark Avenue goes to the bottom of the very steep part before becoming Haig Street and moving around and up the hill with a couple of short streets branching off.  It was good to walk along Iona Street to be able to look onto Glenpark Avenue and see where the cable car went. 

It is interesting to compare how the area looks now compared to the turn of the century when the tramline was operating.  Mostly the houses have changed but there are some buildings that still remain.

Once onto Mailer Street I had a look around the Cable Car House where a group called the Light Rail Trust are hoping to restore the cable car line down High Street and have cable cars running again in Dunedin.  The Cable Car House was not open today so I could only look in from the outside.  Also on Mailer Street is the historic Mornington Post Office which was built in 1905 and operated as a post office until it's closure in 1990.

After Mailer Street, I was onto walking the streets behind the main shopping area of Mornington, which are steep and narrow.  In English Avenue I found a hidden gem where part of the children's playground has a seat that has a lovely outlook towards the harbour. 

One thing  I noticed on my walk today was the number of churches.  This one in Glenpark Avenue is an impressive church.  It was opened in 1881 as the Mornington Presbyterian Church and operated for 127 years until it closed in 2008. 

 

Also of note is the lych gate to St Mary's Anglican Church on the corner of Lawrence and Whitby Street. 

And to finish today is a Google map of the streets (in red) of the streets I have walked so far.  This is about 20% of the streets that I need to walk and does not include the Aramoana and Middlemarch streets that I have walked. 

 

Distance walked:  10.2 km      Walking time  2 hr 2mins    

Total distance: 218.3 km       Total walking  40 hr 46 mins

Day Twenty Five Balaclava

 Today I reached another milestone - walking 300 streets which is 20% of the total number of streets in Dunedin.  Today I walked 12 streets

300. Agnes Street
301. Mercer Street
302. Leary Street
303. Barr Street
304. Shirley Place
305. Bowler Avenue
306. English Avenue
307. Blair Street
308. Stanley Street
309. Stansfield Street
310. Bernard Street
311. Elgin Road

I also walked part of a number of streets but I won't count them until I have walked all of the street.  I started my walk by going down Barr Street and completing the streets that run off Barr Street. 

Barr Street took me down to Kaikorai Valley with the residents having semi-rural views.  We are lucky to have a lot of green space in Dunedin. 

Once at the bottom of Barr Street, it was onto Kenmure Road which took me back up the hill to the height where I had started.  The bottom part of Kenmure Road looks down on the car yards and industrial part of Kaikorai Valley.

As I walked up Kenmure Road the views opened out and I was able to look over towards the streets I had walked earlier in my walk today, Barr Street, Agnes Street and Mercer Street.

Once at the top of hill again, I walked along Kenmure Road to Mailer Street then back along Elgin Road and completed all the side streets between Kenmure Road and Elgin Road.  One of the good things about being on top of the hill is being able to see where I will be walking soon.  From Kenmure Road I could look down to Kaikorai Valley and over towards Brockville on the hill opposite.

Today, one of the interesting things I saw on my walk was this lovely ANZAC painting on a power pole.  It would have been painted by a talented resident during lockdown in April last year. 

And there were two letter boxes that I noticed during my walk today.  The first was this sunshine letterbox (how could you not smile when you see it) and the other one reminded me of a key or something, not sure what it is but it is interesting.

Distance walked:  7.8 km      Walking time  1 hr 34 mins    

Total distance: 208.1 km       Total walking  38 hr  44mins

Day Twenty Four Maryhill

 I am walking my way around the top of the hill and today I walked 12 streets.

288. Warwick Street
289. Wills Street
290. Renfrew Street
291. Lancefield Street
292. Oakwood Avenue
293. Bridger Street
294. Benhar Street
295. Scoular Street
296. Forbes Street
297. Mornington Road
298. Blackford Street
299. Neatherby Street

I started my walk by keeping to the top of the hill and walking Warwick Street which looks out towards Corstorphine and streets that I have walked.  Then I walked around to Oakwood Avenue which also has some very good views over the city and again I have walked most of the streets that I could see from here. 

It wasn't all on the flat as I had to walk down Lancefield Street to meet up with a street I had walked yesterday, Sydney Street.  Lancefield is a very steep, narrow street that has an interesting 'passing bay' part way up.  While the residents of Lancefield Street have a couple of very sharp corners to negotiate they are rewarded with fantastic views.  

The rest of my walk was mainly on the flatter streets along the top of the hill, with the exception of Mornington Road which I walked all the way to the Lookout Point fire station.  Mornington Road is not overly steep and it does have some semi rural views looking towards Saddle Hill.  

One of the interesting things I saw on my walk today are these neat conifer trees that have been pruned to the shape of an O.  The owner of these trees has gone to a lot of trouble to keep them well trimmed.  

On my walks I like to look out for interesting letterboxes and today I saw this 'tardis' type letter box painted in the same colours as it's house and this yellow car letter box which is very cute.  

And finally there is this bus stop beside the Raglan Street playground that is painted to fit in with it's surroundings.  

Distance walked:  7.3 km      Walking time  1 hr 26 mins    

Total distance: 200.3 km       Total walking  37 hr 10 mins

Day Twenty Three Caversham

 Today I was in Caversham, walking the streets on the opposite side of the motorway to where I had walked the last couple of days.  I walked 11 streets today

277. Barnes Drive
278. McCracken Street
279. Hudson Street
280. Shortland Street
281. Sydney Street

282. Rockyside Terrace
283. Lindsay Road
284. Robinson Street
285. Thomson Street
286. Aberfeldy Street
287. Ballance Street

There was quite a bit of hill work today as some of the streets were steep.  Barnes Drive was the first street I walked today and it is very steep.  It reminded me of Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world.  This also meant that there are great views from the top of Barnes Drive.  

At the bottom of Barnes Drive is the walk bridge over the Motorway.  Yesterday I was at the other end of this bridge when I walked up Goodall Street. 

 

 

 

 

The next few streets after Barnes Drive are short and didn't take long to walk.  Then I was onto the hilly but short streets off Rockside Terrace.  The residents of these streets get great views over South Dunedin and Corstorphine. 

I enjoyed looking down onto the streets of Caversham that I walked yesterday and thought that from this angle the streets look a lot more flat than they really are.  

After walking the hilly streets, I did the last few streets beside the motorway before finishing my walk.  It was good to look back up the motorway, knowing that I had already walked these streets and stood on the bridge at the top overlooking the motorway. 

Today I walked through Sidey Park.  Despite being beside the motorway, I found it to be quiet and peaceful surrounded by the green of the park. A great place for children to play, exercise the dog or just enjoy the open space.  

Distance walked:  4.4 km      Walking time  51 mins    

Total distance: 193 km       Total walking  35 hr 44 mins