Baldwin St relishing restoration as steepest
Dunedin’s Baldwin St is busy with sightseers during the summer break with its status as the world’s steepest street restored.
Even when it was closed to vehicles yesterday after a fuel spill, people still challenged themselves by climbing it.
There are days when there are more people on the North East Valley street than on the footpath and dozens of cars parked below.
German tourists Jordan Christiansen and Kim Weyenberg this week hid their exhaustion as they walked right to the top.
“We had heard of Baldwin St before we had come to Dunedin. It’s pretty amazing, but exhausting to walk up,” Christiansen said.
Last year, Guinness World Records reversed its decision to strip Baldwin St of its claim to fame.
The street was dethroned as the world’s steepest by Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, Wales, in July 2019.
But in April last year, Guinness backtracked, accepting its measuring method was wrong.
From the Czech Republic via Tauranga, Vit Novak and Lucie Novakova admired the view from halfway up Baldwin St.
“I can’t help but think about the people who live here, in a normal street with so many tourists,” Novak said.
Closer to home, Cantabrian Sayali Godsay was giving her Auckland friends a South Island tour.
She said Baldwin St was a challenge that had to be tackled by visitors to Dunedin.
“It was fun driving up the hill.” Godsay said she had been to Baldwin St once before four years ago at night to avoid the swarm of tourists.
Grace Hsu climbed down from the top of the hill for the first time since she was a student in the city.
“It’s pretty tough. If you’ve seen it, you would know it’s the steepest.”
Firefighters were called to Baldwin St yesterday afternoon after reports of fuel running down the street from the top of the hill.
It was unclear how much fuel had been spilled.
Willowbank Station Officer Phillip De Rooy said the spill was about 300 metres long, and that while footpaths were still open to the public the street would remain closed to vehicles.
Baldwin St is under 350m long but rises from 30m above sea level at its lowest point to 100m above sea level.