Day 122 Portobello

I am nearing the end of my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin and tonight I walked all the streets in Portobello.  I walked 17 streets tonight.

1649. Tree Top Drive
1650. Sherwood Street
1651. Blackwell Street
1652. Hereweka Street
1653. Geary Street
1654. Ridley Road
1655. 1663Seaton Road
1656. Beaconsfield Road
1657. Densem Street
1658. Arnott Street
1659. Ryan Street
1660. Moss Street
1661. Nicholas Street
1662. Landreth Street
1663. McAuley Road
1664. Hatchery Road
1665. Allans Beach Road

Like many suburbs and streets in Dunedin, Portobello is named after a location in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Portobello has a number of streets that are surrounded by farmland.

Harbour Cone can be seen from many of the streets in Portobello.  The aptly named Harbour Cone is part of the hills that form the long extinct Dunedin Volcano.  There is a walking track that goes from sea level to the top of the cone. 

 

As I walked further up the streets that climbed towards Harbour Cone, the views started to open up.  I could see that it looked like rain on the other side of the harbour but it was dry where I was walking.

This is the closest I got to Harbour Cone, although if I had kept walking up the road for quite a few more kilometres, I would have gotten closer but this is where I turned down Seaton Street.

Seaton Street took me down  to the harbours edge.  It was a good street to walk down as I had great views looking across the habour all the way down the street.

 

And before I knew it, I was back beside the water of the habour.  The combined cycle/walkway continues around the harbour from the city and this is where I will be walking tomorrow.

But in the meantime, I turned around and walked back up the hill via another street.  This time my view was harbour cone which towers above Portobello.

 

Finally I was able to walk down the hill for the last time.  A lot of the streets in Portobello have views of the harbour. 

Then I followed a street around the side of the hill which took me back to the township where the shops are and back to where I had started my walk.  This is a popular place for day trippers from the city.

My final view of Harbour Cone is with the Portobello Hotel in front.  The hotel was built in 1874 and has been operating continously as a hotel since.

 

This building is Roy's Store and was one of two shops operating in Portobello in the early 1900's  the unusual corner of the building is where the door to the shop used to be.

 

An unusual piece of art that I walked past today is this old boat that has been filled with plants and resides on a bank on the side of the road. 

 

I walked past the Happy Hens premises.  Happy Hens is a Dunedin business that has been making happy hens for more than 35 years.  Each hen is hand made and painted with happy hens being sold around the world. 

I walked past one very nicely painted cabinet.  It has the hills of the peninsula and Harbour Cone painted on it. 

While walking the streets tonight, I walked past a few interesting letterboxes.  The first looked a bit like a lopsided house with moss growing on it and the second was an ammunition can.

I thought that you would get a lot of mail in the wine barrel and someone had a bright a cheerful letterbox with elves painted on it.

Distance walked:  7.2 km         Walking time  1 hr 23 mins    

Total distance: 1006.6  km          Total walking  188 hr 13 mins 

Day 121 Broad Bay

Since I only have to walk the streets on a couple of suburbs on the peninsula, I headed down the harbour to walk in Broad Bay tonight. I walked 15 streets.

1634. Virginia Avenue
1635. Greig Street
1636. Roebuck Rise
1637. Waikana Street
1638. Clearwater Street
1639. Matariki Street
1640. Sandpiper Street
1641. Frances Street
1642. Moerangi Street
1643. Solar Terrace
1644. Holm Avenue
1645. Oxley Crescent
1646. Bacon Street
1647. Cowal Street
1648. Gwyn Street

I started walking the streets down by the harbour and it was good to be able to look across the bay to Broad Bay and see the  the streets that I am walking tonight.

As usually happens in Dunedin, the streets mostly go up and up I walked.  Turning around at the top of the street gave me a good view looking across the harbour towards Port Chalmers and Mt. Cargill on the right.

And then I was back down at the waters edge again.  This has become the normal while walking the streets on the peninsula - walking up the hill, just to come back down again. 

The road down the side of the harbour weaves in and out of the bays.  Being beside the harbour also gives uninterrupted views across to the hills behind Port Chalmers including Mt. Cargill.

After walking around the headland of one of the bays, I was back to walking up the hill.  I have enjoyed walking the streets of Broad Bay as they are usually quiet streets with good views.

As I continued walking around the bays, I walked up Oxley Crescent that gave me an excellent view of the headland that divides Broad Bay.  This was a good chance to see the streets that I had just walked and also to look further back to the hills across the harbour.

 

While walking on the hill, I was given a glimpse looking towards Quarantine Island in the harbour. Most of the homes in Broad Bay have a view of parts of the harbour. 

Once I was back down the hill, it was a short walk around the edge of the harbour to finish walking the streets in Broad Bay.  I have driven through Broad Bay often but have never really stopped before so it was a pleasant surprise to see how many streets there are.

 

I walked past the Fletcher House today.  The Fletcher house was built in 1909 by Sir James Fletcher, founder of Fletcher Construction which became New Zealand's biggest building and construction business.  This was the very first double bay villa home built by Fletcher and this style of home became very popular throughout the country.  In 1990 Fletcher Construction bought the house and have restored it. It is the only fully restored and furnished Edwardian house of its type in New Zealand

I really liked this sign that I walked past.  It is a warning that there are 'free range children' in the area.  I am guessing it is not an 'official' sign but one put up by the residents of the street.

 

I have walked past a number of unusual objects during my challenge to walk every street in Dunedin, and this is the first time that I have seen a cannon.  This small cannon is on the grass verge outside a house.

I walked past a couple of interesting letterboxes today,  I liked the one that was painted with seals and thought the large tree stump letterbox made good use of an old stump. 

Distance walked:  7.6 km         Walking time  1 hr 28 mins    

Total distance: 999.4  km          Total walking  186 hr 50 mins 

Day 120 Ocean View

With Ocean View having only a few streets, I thought it would be a good place to walk in the evening.  I walked 7 streets.

1627. Edna Street
1628. Kayforce Road
1629. Bennett Road
1630. Hare Road
1631. Creamery Road
1632. John Street
1633. Brighton Road

 

I had missed walking the streets in Ocean View when I walked Brighton a couple of days ago as it seemed like a good area to finish walking one evening and tonight was a good night to complete the streets.  I started walking on the flat, not far from the Ocean View domain and beach.

The first street I walked took me up a hill where I was rewarded with a view looking down towards the beach and some of the streets that I was walking tonight.

Ocean View is a lovely seaside township that has the sea on one side and farmland on the other. I walked streets that took me to the edge of the township. 

There is a main street through Ocean View which runs along the flat with a few houses between it and the beach.  There are a few side streets which take you up into the hills. 

There are a number of nicely painted bus stops in Ocean View.  Most of them have scenes relating to the sea or beach and the wildlife that that can be found in the area. 

There were some interesting letterboxes - one was made from an actual surf board and the other was made from wood in the shape of a surf board.  Both very appropriate for being near the beach.

 

I really liked this letterbox and guess that it belongs to a family who like motorbikes

And this is the map of the streets that I have walked in Brighton and Ocean View. 

Distance walked:  4.9 km         Walking time   56 mins    

Total distance: 991.8  km          Total walking  185 hr 22 mins 

Day 119 Company Bay

Today I continued to walk streets further down the peninsula and walked the streets in Company Bay, Mission Cove and Cosy Dell.  I walked 16 streets.

1611. Luss Road
1612. Lauder Street
1613. Raynbird Street
1614. Glenfinlass Street
1615. Brenton Street
1616. Hinkley Terrace
1617. McLelland Street
1618. Porterfield Street
1619. Kellas Street
1620. Gorman Street
1621. Ngaio Street
1622. Bewley Avenue
1623. Bayne Terrace
1624. Mission Cove
1625. Castlewood Road
1626. McTaggart Street

 

The plan for today's streets seemed to be up and so I started at the edge of the harbour with the first street I walked taking me up the hill.  It rose steeply quite quickly.  Of course as I walked up, I took a rest stop to see the view of the harbour opening up.

And the higher I walked, the better the view became.  The residents of the houses on these streets get amazing views looking down the harbour towards the city.

And if I thought the streets weren't steep enough, they became so steep that they were sealed in concrete.  Concrete is used when it is too steep for asphalt to be used.  I have walked a few concrete streets around the city but this was something I was not expecting here.

Where ever I walked today, I was rewarded with wonderful views.  That is one of the good things about walking streets on the hills - the views! 

And then there were times that I was able to look across to the streets where I had been walking earlier in the day.  It is fair to say that I was surprised by how steep some of these streets are. 

Next thing I knew, I was back walking down near the harbour.  From here I was able to look across to Macandrew Bay where I had walked yesterday. 

The harbour is popular for recreation.  During my walking today, I saw lots of cyclists and walkers using the harbour cycle/walkway and on the water I saw a number of kayakers, paddle boarders and small sailboats.  This is a group of stand up paddle boarders.

I walked past this bus shelter painted with the likeness of John Noakes who lived in Broad Bay (the next bay around).  John Noakes spent  years painting murals on bus shelters around the city.  I have walked past many of the bus shelters that he painted and have featured them in this blog. John Noakes died in 2006 but not before he had painted 65 bus shelters.

 

And this is one of the bus shelters painted by John Noakes that I walked past today.

Something unusual that I walked past today was this Donald Duck sign.  I am not sure why it has been put there but it looks like it's been there for a while.

Another unusual thing that I walked past today was this huge wooden chair, positioned to take in the view looking across the harbour.  The large chair is near the top of one of the steep streets that I walked up today and was a good place for a rest.

 

 

I walked past a couple of interesting letterboxes today.  I really liked the letters on one of the letterboxes because they were made from Oamaru Stone and I thought the house letterbox looked fun.  I wondered if the people painted in the windows of the house represented the people who live at the house that the letter box belongs to. 

 This map shows the streets in red that I have walked.  On the left side of the harbour is Macandrew Bay and Company Bay where I have been walking the last couple of days and on the left side of the harbour are streets that I have walked a few weeks ago.

 Distance walked:  9.6 km         Walking time  1 hr 53 mins    

Total distance: 986.9  km          Total walking  184 hr 26 mins