Baldwin Street: Climbing The World’s Steepest Street in Dunedin
There was a strange landmark in Dunedin that I had to go and check out while I was staying in the city. It was Baldwin Street, which was the steepest street in the world. This had been declared by the Guinness Book of World Records. I decided that I would walk up the street one evening.
When I got to Baldwin Street, I saw that there were houses on both sides of the street. There were trees and bushes along the side as well. From the bottom, it didn’t look that steep.
Since the street was so steep, there was a series of steps on the right. In case people were walking up and down, it would be easier for them to use the stairs than to just walk along an incline.
I started walking up and I looked back. The houses and cars at the bottom already looked quite far away. Looking down, I realized just how steep the street actually was. I was sure cars had trouble climbing this street.
There was a sidewalk along the road so that pedestrians wouldn’t have to walk on the street itself. There were also some flat areas to the left and right so that houses could be built and cars could be parked. I walked past a huge bush that was taller than a human.
I couldn’t climb Baldwin Street in one go (This is definitely different from my relaxing walk at Queens Gardens or my visit at St. Paul’s Cathedral.). I had to stop frequently for breaks and to take pictures. The view behind me was lovely. I could see mountains in the background and the sun was setting.
Other people were also walking slowly up the street. But not many cars were passing me.
Halfway up, there was a large poster about Baldwin Street being the steepest street in the world. It looked like the city of Dunedin was quite proud of this.
I stood at the top of the street and looked at the stairs leading down.
The bottom of the hill looked very far away. There were so many steps! I could barely believe that I had climbed so far so fast.
I thought about how difficult it must have been for the people of Dunedin to build their houses on this hill. As you can see in the image above, the house was only one story at the back but two stories in front.
The sunset looked beautiful. I could see so many shades of yellow and orange. Above that, the sky was still blue. But it was starting to get darker. I couldn’t see the surrounding houses too well anymore.
Some people really seemed to be struggling as they climbed up Baldwin Street. People were almost crawling on hands and knees. I looked down at the rest of the city from the hilltop. The houses had started switching on their lights. Even the streetlights were now being switched on.
At the top end of the street, there was a wooden bench with some graffiti on the wall behind it. The graffiti was in black and white and looked like a drawing of the city of Dunedin.
The artist had even added some facts on one side of the graffiti. The notes said that Baldwin Street was the steepest street in the world and it had a length of 350m. It even talked about the maximum slope of the street and the name of the man who designed it. Some very well-known events took place on Baldwin Street like the Baldwin Street Gutbuster and the Cadbury Jaffa Race.
I sat on the bench to rest for a little while and admired the painting on the wall.
