Avenues of St Clair

The benefits of walking both sides of the street

It is a complicated task walking all the streets.  Have you walked a street if you have just walked down one side?  This was a street I had already walked on my last walk but walking down the other side I discovered this fence!  It really took my fancy.

Flowers, flowers and more flowers.

On this Sunday walk there were more people about.  I came across one very old lady sitting on a chair weeding her garden.   She had a lovely garden but it did look like very hard work.  The hydrangeas are fantastic and how about the window box of geraniums?

Empty streets

 

There were more people about but i did manage to stand in the middle of Macandrew Road for this shot… not a car in sight.

Wilson and Wycolla Avenues

I always try and visit in spring.  For about one week these streets are transformed into fairy land.  It makes me remember the childhood story about the princess who was sad at leaving her snowy country.  Her prince planted blossom trees so that in spring she would see trees covered in blossom snow so that she would feel that she was back in her childhood home.

Gentleman’s residences

The gardens are perfect and tucked behind fences are some delectable gentleman’s residences – like dolls houses.

 

Forbury Road grandeur

The houses are varied in sizes and types along Forbury Road – one of my favourites is this gingerbread confection.    But others boast magnificent doorways.

Massey  and Pretoria Avenues

Hidden away you will find these two Avenues.

Memories of Mum

Bathgate Park and Dongageys Rope Walk.

Walking down Helena Street the views across Bathgate Park tof Donaghey’s Rope Walk give you a better picture of the building and its purpose.  No other building is like it.  Look closely in the photo and the seagulls are being feed.  Bathgate Park throbs with life on T-ball days.

The houses on Helena Street have a great view. That door looks like it could be in a village in Italy.

Bathgate School             

MacAndrew School is no longer now becoming Bathgate School.  Over the years the school has had working relationships with different artists.  These dolphins at the school entrance I imagine are from one of the artists involved with the school.  I would love to see tussock growing around the dolphin’s so it looks like they are jumping out of the sea they look a bit stranded at the moment – a bit like Bathgate school.

Gardens

This area was once full of market gardens; the ground remains fertile resulting in lovely displays of flowers.

The changing face of the suburbs

This building used to be the home of Pixie Pastry but now belongs to the Tart Tin.  They sell at the Saturday market.  Once every corner had a dairy on it.  This one would have sold to all the Kings and Queens children but is now bordered up.

Sleepy Sunday

The streets were empty – I didn’t see anyone.

Kings and Queens

Kings role for year 9 students has increased dramatically this year.  I don’t know much about Queens – we used to play tennis on the courts there but not for a while.  I had never noticed the Q in the fence before.

Gentleman’s residences

There are a couple of gentleman’s residences that creep into this area.  I always feel like knocking on the door and asking for a viewing!

My Mum lived in this area for many years.  I avoid her house now, I don’t know why that is.  Maybe it is denial.  I walked past it during this walk.  Her garden was unchanged; she loved her garden.   Over time it could get easier to go past her house.

In the beginning…

There is an island of houses caught between the southern motorway and the steepness of the hills behind it; I’m calling it upper Caversham.  Even with in this area there is a diversion between the houses to the right along Barnes Drive and the houses to the left along Rockyside Terrace.

The birth of a Surveyed Otago.

This area is where Thomson (our first surveyor)  lived and took his points from when he began surveying Otago.  Therefore this is when Dunedin as we know began.    Ranfurly has a statue of Thomson; Dunedin has a sign outside a quarry and a road named after him.  Maybe we should do better than this for the beginning of our province?

Caversham Rail Tunnel

It was hard to capture a photo of the entrance of the Caversham Tunnel -it’s very leafy and quite well hidden.  However I’m not sure if I would want to travel through it after the Christchurch earthquakes, but for the brave it would make a nice flat trip to Green Island.

Views

The views are magnificent from here; the houses are at the right height and angle to have  sweeping vistas.

Houses

According to local folk-lore this house was originally built for unmarried mothers. It looks very smart now.

This  secret area seems to allow home owners to  give expression to their individuality.My favourites were the little doggies on the doorstep with their welcome sign and the pretty pond.

Motorway

The area has been a hive of activity with the motorway extension.

Surfs Up 16/1/12

 

One of my husband’s relatives has moved into Fulton Home in Eastbourne Street so the next few walks are going to radiate out from this location.

Garden sculpture

Immediately over the road from Fulton Home this house captures my attention with wonderful classical sculpture dotted amongst the garden.

St Peter’s

St Peter’s Church feels very English; the surrounding streets lined with trees amplifying this feeling.  I would like to have gone inside but although the outer door was open it only gave a tantalising glimpse of the locked interior.  I have attended church fairs and have great memories of pikelets with jam and cream.  I want one now!

 

 

Surfs up

Just looking at this letter box makes you feel happy.  The owner has gone to heaps of trouble and must have been satisfied with the result as they have signed their work.  NZ Post could run a letter box competition.

Lace

It is hard not to take photos of every cute little cottage with lace on their verandas; blue and white combinations work very well on these houses.   Some are tucked away behind hedges others boldly face right onto the street.

Black velvet

I meet this friendly cat warming itself on the pavement.  Just as well Red the dog wasn’t with me!

People

Ending my walk I passed two young people having a very heated ‘conversation’;   I was invisible to them.  However I did feel the young man made a mistake when he said ‘If only you would do as I tell you!’  That received an explosive reply.

Country Corstorphine: 4/12/11

Spring lanes

There is more to Corstorphine than state houses.  At the top of the hill in Cleminston Avenue the air is the best in all of Dunedin.  The air seems to have a texture to it; developed as it roars up from the south pole past the Maungatuas straight to Cleminston Avenue.  Nothing compares to taking gulps of that air.

Corstophine was developed as an estate and there are interlinking ally ways to the streets.  These are what I am featuring in my photos; I want to share the prettiness of Corstorphine.

The area is an eclectic mix of different types of houses; state houses to the grandeur of Corstorphine House  in Milburn Street with everything else in between.  Some house have fantastic views (Skibo Street) others are nestled in hidden valleys (Corstorphine Road).

Dogs love this park!

Daffodil Daze 27/9/11

So much for my good intentions but this is a new year a new day a new beginning.  I have done some walks so I am retrospectively going to talk about them.

Spring in Dunedin

New beginnings

I try to view spring in Dunedin but you have to be quick before it disappears.  This walk started at the Dunedin Railway Station; it was surrounded by a froth of pinky white blossom. It wasn’t that long ago that the road ran straight past the station and there were no gardens in front.  We are so lucky that it has been restored and we can now share it with the tourists and their cameras.

Daffodils on Cumberland

Less manicured than the Railway gardens are the trees on Cumberland Street.  I was trying to capture the wildness of the daffodils but was struck instead by the shadows of the trees on the footpath.

The Oval

Driving past the Oval all you see is an expanse of flat greenness.  But the Oval hides its secrets.  Around the borders are hedges and shrubs making hidden path ways and then in spring the bank beside the motorway bursts into a riot of spring.  Only it is nearly impossible to view the daffodils.  The can’t be viewed by car and even walking among them is difficult.  The photos look like you could be in deepest country, who would know there was a motorway right beside you?

Welcome to my walking world

I love walking!  I love Dunedin.  So I have combined these two into one.  I’m going to walk every street in Dunedin.  I hope to discover secret ”nooks and crannies”, streets and parks, and unknown areas I have never seen. Plus gain some great exercise.  This is my story….

Tulips in a trunk

Well you know I have been talking about this project for ages and ages – well today’s the day  Red  (the dog) and I began my odyssey to walk every street.

I picked South Dunedin to start with because of the beautiful old houses, many untouched since they day they were built.  Even the ones that have been ‘modernised’ have a charm; their modernisation happening many years ago.

I started In Wesley Street (named after the Wesleyan Church on the corner).  There has been recent controversy over the plan to demolish the church.  What do you think?

Rowland Avenue –  a tiny little private street where the houses sit directly onto the pavement.  Look at this cute cottage.

Next was Prendergast Street.  It has a row of workers’ cottages that I just love.  They seem so evocative of a time gone by; my photos really couldn’t capture what I wanted.  Some are very original.

Walking up Cutten Street, builders on the roof called out, “ That’s a scary dog.  We won’t come near!”  If only they knew; any trouble and Red would be hiding behind me!  It did seem to me that people would wait till I had gone past before getting out of their cars; pedestrians even crossed to the other side of the street to avoid us.  It’s a strange sensation being feared.

Crowder Avenue, Joyce Avenue and Largo Avenue; who knew they even existed?

I stopped to road test a gorgeous chocolate brownie at my friend’s house in Bathgate Street before turning into Bradshaw Street.   Dongahy’s rope walk runs the length of this street and is a historic registered building.  The building’s shape resembles the rope it makes; very long and thin.

My favourite sight had to be the tulips in the trunk.  The garden was a wilderness but centre stage there was a lime green trunk with parrot coloured tulips.  What was the story behind this?

You can follow my route at Maps.  You can join me and walk the streets.  You only need a map and some good shoes.  Together we can exercise and get fit!