FIND THESE STEPS – From 83 to 91 Sar Street, Wadestown, and at the next step from 109/113 Barnard Street, and from the top at  64 Anne Street.

These steps give you an unexpected experience – a grand, old staircase, and then spectacular views.

And I’m grateful to Robert Mosen for letting me know about them.

Looking up from Barnard Street to Anne Street.

Post- lockdown construction at the entrance from Sar Street.

Ms Irvine-Smith wrote about the ‘curiously derived S.A.R Street, commonly called Sar Street, as well as Anne Street’ as being named for Sarah Anne Rhodes, second wife of William Barnard Rhodes (Barnard Street is named for him). Rhodes has been described as one of the wealthiest men in New Zealand at the time, owning possibly a million acres of land in the North and South Islands, and was a founder of Bank of New Zealand. He built a large house, called ‘The Grange’ in  the 1860s in this area, and the drive to his house became Wadestown Road. Wellington being the small town it is, The Grange became the home of Katherine Mansfield’s father, Sir Harold Beauchamp. Mrs Rhodes presented the Mayoral Chain to Wellington City, and also left funding for the education of women at Victoria University.

After the pathway past the construction site.

Looking up to Barnard Street.

And back down toward Sar Street.

From Barnard Street to Anne Street.

 

 

 

 

The stunning views from the top on Anne Street – just turn to the left at the top of the steps and walk a bit up the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS – From Hobson Street, beside the German Embassy, at 94 Hobson Street and at 243 Thorndon Quay, in Thorndon.

Across the Wellington Urban Motorway a few steps lead from the upper hill of Thorndon to the Thorndon Quay, and offers one of the most desolate and unwelcoming pathways in Wellington. I”m only including these steps because they are, actually, useful to get from the upper level to the street below.

The pathway starts alongside the German Embassy.

The rather dismal view looking toward the yard of Hirepool.

 

The entry way is really a terrible experience unless you imagine yourself in some sort of urban futuristic film fantasy. Even that would be grim.

But on the upper level, on Hobson Street, you can find the lovely Lday McKenzie Garden for the Blind, and a good guide to the local historic area around Katherine Mansfield’s house.

 

FIND THESE STEPS – At 24 Tinakori Road, Thorndon.

This little set of steps is remarkable for its graceful enclosure of a tree. I don’t know if the tree was possibly subject to destruction for the utilitarian need for the steps. If so, this is a lovely solution.

The building across the road has been the home of the Wellington Bridge Club since 1989; the club itself was started by an American in 1934.

 

 

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS – Beside the Riverbank Footbridge

Wonderful, wide steps giving a great view of the redone riverbank area. The bridge was completed in 2014 nd connects to the Adelaide Oval Cricket Ground and Memorial Drive Tennis Club across the river from the steps.

The Riverbank Bridge is pedestrian only, and crosses the River Torrens near the Adelaide Railway Station further up the hill.

I’m  happy to see a website dedicated to ‘step streets’ in New York!

STEP STREETS

 

And these steps are now internationally famous thanks to a little known film.

They are actually in the Bronx, connecting Shakespeare and Jerome Streets, and they are attracting quite a bit of attention.

Tannadyce Street, Strathmore Park, 108 steps

 

Wellington has a lot of outdoor steps, and a lot of those steps have more than one hundred steps to them.

Here are a few notable ones, and more to come –

Maida Vale Road steps- 365 (above). One for every day of the year. Was that a coincidence? Or a dedicated steps designer?

Orangi Kaupapa Road steps- 192

Awarua Station steps – 210

The grand steps of  Armistar – 473

The list continues (you can find them in the website):

Upland to Rimu Road steps – 128

Hill Street steps- 142

Church Street – 188

Plimmer Steps – 73, and then 53 on left side only

Drummond 74 on the lower, then 11, and 53 more across the road – 139; to Raroa Street 168

Bombay to Quetta – 156

Birdwood – Lower section – 101; Upper section – 120

Fortification to Massey – 188

 

 

 

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS – Right beside the bus tunnel at 106 Pirie Street, Mt Victoria.

These steps seem to have drawn attention in 1929 by someone else who cared about Wellington steps –

These may be the other steps – “now broken boards” – further along the track in the Town Belt.

The Pirie Street steps are along side the bus tunnel, constructed between 1905 – 1907 with the loss of the lives of three workers.

Pirie Street is named for one of the directors of the New Zealand Company, Sir John Pirie, who also became Lord Mayor of London in 1841.

Now the Pirie Street steps are guarded by alert and watchful eyes.

 

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS – From 67 Epuni – just down from Levina Avenue and at the top from Tanera Park and then you can wander over to Ohiro Road, and then to Central Park.

Just a little bit of steps up to a lovely little park, and an opportunity for expressing your ecological preference.

A stunning tree on the other side of the park.

 

 

 

 

FIND THESE STEPS –  Just beside Scorch O’Rama at 499 Karaka Bay Road and at the top at 54 Fortification Road.

If you can tear yourself away from the spectacular beach and the very friendly cafe, there stands a wonderful climb and view of the bay all along the way.

That’s the steps just in the right portion of the frame, near the telephone pole.

This is a 188 step climb but oh so good.

The view from the top – reward for the climb!

And on the way back.

 

 

 

Terrace Garden steps

 

One of the joys I have walking the steps is that it takes time, and that allows for appreciating the various aspects of each one. These are my favourite steps. I will keep adding more favourites because they keep showing up.

Hankey Street

This was one of the first I found that shocked me that it could be so secluded in so near to busy streets.

Hawker Street

So many little step streets come off the non-step street – just find this street and there you have a whole collection.

Awarua Train steps

If you can get to these steps, just enjoy the stillness and the sense of a hidden passage just above a suburban train line.

Tanera Crescent Steps

The view is amazing, and just a bit quirky.

Dixon Street

Certainly one of the most used steps in the CBD, along with Church Street and the others closer to Parliament end of Lambton Quay, but this seems to be almost a vertical island, so close to university, business, shops, bars, and its own quiet self.

Flagstaff Hill, Percival Street, and Terrace Gardens

This is just astonishing to find in the middle of downtown Wellington. Its a ring of steps around a usually tawdry little park but it feels so much like a hidden valley.

 

and more…they are all each one just fascinating and keep me climbing them.