WORLD’S STEEPEST STREET

Baldwin Street

A postman negotiates the 274 steps that help pedestrians climb Baldwin Street, in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s steepest street. Photographs really don’t convey the terrifying steepness of the incline. To be physically there and gaze up at the impossible incline makes the heart skip a few beats.

Located in North East Valley, Dunedin,  Baldwin Street hosts a number of strange events including the now famous ‘jaffa throw’ which is part of the annual Cadbury Chocolate Carnival.  Cadbury has a large factory in the city. A total of 75,000 red candy balls called ‘jaffas’, are let loose at the top of the street in three separate races. The spectacle created as they bounce their way to the bottom, attracted 15,000 onlookers for this year’s races. Believe it or not, each jaffa is numbered and worth a dollar with people betting on the winners and the money going to charity.

Jaffa race

The  grueling Gutbuster Race is another annual Baldwin Street highlight. Around 1000 fitness fans entered the race this year with the current record for charging down the steep gradient an unbelievable 116.6 seconds, and that’s after jogging to the top first!

The dramatic incline has attracted some crazy escapades including skateboarders and car towing. Unfortunately, with fearless people constantly looking for new thrills to outdo previous ones, a mishap was always on the cards. In 2001, two students climbed into a wheelie bin and used it as a sled. The bin hit a parked trailer at the bottom of the street and killed one of the students and seriously injured the second young occupant.

The street was first created in 1877 when a Captain Baldwin purchased ten acres in the valley. He had it surveyed and sold sections the following year with no concession for the steepness. The upper part of the road was in rough grass for many years. The lower part was sealed in the 1950s with the middle part sealed a decade later. Finally in 1972, roughened concrete was laid on the upper surface because it was discovered bitumen literally rolled off the surface in the summer heat. Josie, a resident on the street for eight years, admitted to a reporter that she had never made it to the top of the street in all the time she had lived there, but added she would attempt to make it someday.

When I lived in the city, I once attempted to drive my car up the street to impress a friend on a visit to Dunedin. Like Josie, I didn’t make it to the top. I really had the truly frightening feeling that the front wheels would lift off the road and the whole car would flip onto its roof. I found a driveway to gingerly turn around and cautiously negotiated my way back to the bottom where I could breathe again.

Baldwin Street is now an important part of the city’s tourist circuit but only a small percentage of visitors attempt to climb more than half way. Even fewer make it to the top. The vast majority, on seeing the heart stopping gradient are content to stand at the bottom and take photos of the steepness that has made Baldwin Street world famous.

A post office at the bottom of the street has been converted into a museum tracing the street’s development with a gift shop offering souvenirs of a suburban street with an interesting world record.

Comments

  1. wow, awesome blog article.Much thanks again. Will read on…

  2. I value the blog.Much thanks again.

  3. Major thanks for the post. Cool.

  4. Great blog post.Really thank you! Want more.

  5. wow, awesome article.Much thanks again. Keep writing.

  6. I value the blog article.Thanks Again. Much obliged.

  7. Thanks a lot for the article.Thanks Again.

  8. Fantastic article post. Cool.

  9. Very neat article.Thanks Again. Really Cool.

  10. Very informative blog article.Much thanks again. Cool.

  11. Awesome article post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.

  12. Major thankies for the article post.Thanks Again.

  13. I simply want to mention I am just all new to blogging and site-building and seriously savored this web site. Very likely I’m going to bookmark your website . You definitely have really good articles. Thanks a bunch for sharing with us your website page.

  14. Hey, thanks for the article post.Thanks Again. Keep writing.

  15. . You surely come with fabulous articles and reviews. Thanks a lot for sharing with us your blog site.

  16. Passion the website– very user pleasant and lots to see!

  17. Muchos Gracias for your article post.Thanks Again. Much obliged.

  18. It is best to take part in a contest for among the finest blogs on the web. I will advocate this website!

  19. I really like what you guys are usually up too. This sort of clever work and reporting! Keep up the great works guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.

  20. Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any tips and hints for beginner blog writers? I’d genuinely appreciate it.

  21. I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Great work!

  22. Hi! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the great work!

  23. I absolutely love your blog and find the majority of your post’s to be exactly what I’m looking for. can you offer guest writers to write content available for you? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on a few of the subjects you write in relation to here. Again, awesome weblog!

  24. Thanks for the marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you are a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and may come back very soon. I want to encourage you continue your great posts, have a nice holiday weekend!

  25. I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. All the best

  26. Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you

  27. Hi there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thanks!

  28. Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!

  29. Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website discusses a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!

  30. Thank you a lot for giving everyone an extremely terrific possiblity to discover important secrets from this site. It is often so useful plus full of a good time for me and my office fellow workers to visit the blog a minimum of 3 times in one week to study the newest stuff you have got. And indeed, I am actually fascinated considering the dazzling guidelines you give. Selected 1 ideas in this post are surely the most efficient I have had.

  31. Hi this is somewhat of off subject but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or in case you need to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a weblog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any support would be greatly appreciated!

Trackbacks

  1. Great post

    […]Best Bosnian Rock Music Band – AXA (later INGRAY)[…]

Leave a Reply to read review Cancel reply

*