FIND THESE STEPS – Epuni Street is off Aro Street, and just a short walk away is Levina Avenue, between 37 and 39 Epuni; it ends among a few cottages at the top.
Ms Irvine-Smith records that Epuni Street is properly ‘Te Puni’; named for the rangatira of Petone, and one of the signatories of the Waitangi Treaty.
The Avenue is named for Lavina Adams, the wife of one of the original land owners of this area. There’s only 50 steps, and just up to a tiny garden area surrounded by a few villas, but it is a lovely little excursion with a great view across to the Aro Valley hills.
Ms Irvine-Smith wrote of this street – ‘Leading to the Central Park Hospital is another of our “women” streets’; the Central Park Hospital fronted on Ohiro Road and had been The Ohiro Benevolent Home for retirees, established in 1893, then became a small hospital before closing in 1975. I can find no further details about the eventual destruction of the hospital, or the path or steps rising above Levina Street to reach there.
Wellington Steps 