At the recent 2025 Living Streets Aotearoa Walking Summit, speaker Julie Woods talked about her walking journey, which eventually led her to walking every street in Dunedin. Julie is a professional speaker, Global Ambassador for Blind Low Vision NZ, advocate, author, and coach.
In 1997, Julie was 31 years old, a wife, and a mother of two young boys when she was told she would never see again. Julie says at the time she went blind she “had no idea how she was going to cope”. She couldn’t drive, read, or even “get outside [her] front gate”. 
With help from Blind Low Vision New Zealand, Julie began to navigate her new life and learned how to use a white cane, cross streets, and use stairs. But, Julie wasn’t sure about trying new things. When the recreation advisor asked if she would go cross-country skiing, she was worried about the danger and potential she would fall over, so she said “no”.
However, that “no” became a turning point for Julie. She began to reflect on what her life as a blind person would be if she kept saying “no” to new opportunities, and she decided to shift her perspective so that the next time she was asked to try something she would say “why not?”
And that mindset is what drove her to saying yes, when one of her friends Jo Stodart asked if Julie would join her on a walk on the weekend. Jo and Julie used a small rope to connect them while walking, so that Jo could act as a seeing guide for Julie. That first walk around the block led to a walk around the neighbourhood and then eventually to Julie’s first 10k walking event in 2000. Julie and Jo then took part in a number of walking events over the years including the Dunedin half marathon.
Unfortunately, in 2016 Julie was hit by a bus, and while she recovered, it was traumatic for her to hear buses pass by on the course during the 2017 Dunedin half marathon. That was her tenth and last half marathon.
Not to be deterred from walking, Julie decided she would focus on a new goal. In 2019, she decided to walk every street in Dunedin. Her first obstacle was finding what the boundary of Dunedin was. This proved tricky because there was no official boundary for the city except for the extensive Greater Dunedin boundary. After many fruitless calls to the council to track down the boundary, Julie decided she would set her own boundary. The boundary she chose encompassed 1034 streets and 44 suburbs.
On 8 March 2019, International Women’s Day, Julie, along with Jo and her husband Ron, set off on the first walk. The group walked every Saturday from then on and continued walking even through the Covid-19 lockdowns. Julie completed her goal on 15 October 2022, when she walked the aptly-named “Every Street” and was joined by the Deputy Mayor of Dunedin and Rose Every, a descendant of George Every who was the namesake of the street.
Now Julie has moved onto the bigger goal of walking every street in Greater Dunedin, which includes an additional 1008 streets. She now has 331 streets left.
Reflecting on the past 28 years since she went blind, Julie concluded her talk: “I thought my life had ended, but it had just begun when I said ‘why not?’ to the question ‘do you want to walk at the weekend?’”
Below are a few of the questions Summit attendees asked Julie and her answers:
Is there anything you'd like to recommend for town planners, to make walking easier for people with low vision or who are blind?
Consistency is key when it comes to access to the inner city. Making sure all the intersections all have consistently working audible signals at their traffic lights, and that all methods of crossing are consistent, not some barn dance and some not. Making sure all business owners stick to implementing bylaws so that a blind traveller knows that billboards will be on the outside of the footpath so they can travel on the inside of the footpath with the way clear.
In your time walking the streets of Dunedin, what is your biggest bugbear with the design of Dunedin streets, what did you like the best about the design?
The worst thing about Dunedin streets is badly laid tarseal. It can be so easy to fall off the side of a badly tarsealed path. Lack of consistency when it comes to the existence of footpaths is also a very odd thing. Some streets don’t even have footpaths. Yikes! This makes it unsafe when navigating the streets.
I have a volunteer who drives me around Dunedin every Tuesday afternoon. She is not from Dunedin, so being less familiar with the streets, is always bemoaning the lack of street signs.
The best thing about Dunedin streets is some of their names. For example all the streets in Waldronville are named after aircraft such as Friendship Drive. Ravensbourne streets are all named after NZ lakes such as Tekapo, and St Leonards all NZ birds such as Tūī. We love that.
What are your suggestions for Dunedin Council and other Councils to prioritise in the footpath and public open space?
Communicating changes to roading and design is critical. Dunedin has made many changes to its main street and to be honest I am afraid to go down to the middle of town as it’s all new and foreign. Collaborating with Blind Low Vision NZ to ensure all members are familiar with new layouts would make us feel like we can own the changes, rather than feeling like we are being left behind.
What a truly touching talk thank you Julie. We can all learn something from your “why not?” attitude- accept opportunities that present themselves to us.
Thank you. It’s an honour to move someone with a story so thank you for being moved. I have learned that saying “why not” has meant I have not let fear get in the way of trying new things and going to new places. I have learned to live life beyond “no”, something I am grateful for every day.