Road? Where we're going, we don't need ... road.

Well, a few days I posted an entry in the what is it challenge. I wasn't really expecting anyone to get the answer, after all, it's fairly obscure and possibly a Tasmanian thing. Or it could be Australian, I'm not sure what happens on the mainland.

And the answer? It's the tip. The dump. McRobies Gully Waste Management Centre. The Hobart Landfill. Neither a land slide zone, nor a construction zone. Just where our rubbish goes.

A few years ago, I remember having a discussion in my German class about the kinds of thing we did as a family in our childhood. I said "Well, Sunday afternoons were great! My Dad and I would either go to the Book City [a bookshop I still associate with safety and happiness] or the tip!' My (Austrian) teacher spluttered and asked me to clarify. "I went where???" she asked. "The tip!" Of course it wasn't a regular thing, but if we'd had a big clean up gardening session, we'd load up the car with rubbish, and head off to get rid of it. The rest of my class laughed at me, and then one by one everyone said they used to do the same thing. Our teacher was dumb struck. She couldn't understand why anyone would voluntarily go there, or remember it fondly.

But it doesn't smell, all the rubbish is buried (that's what's happening in the linked photo), and it's all pretty tidy really. You have to pay to drop off some stuff - electrical and garden waste, but the recycling bins are just next to the Tip Shop. Yes, you read correctly. The Tip Shop. It's pretty much just an op shop (charity shop), but at the tip, and full of things like bath tubs, toilets, and lots and lots of odds and ends. Most are brought straight to the shop, not salvaged off the rubbish, and you can find all kinds of oddities. It's run by a local charity, and really, it's amazing.

It's an interesting site to watch. Over time it's expanded a lot. I remember it before it went around that back corner. During the day cars and trucks zoot about, up and down the road, then at night occasional vandals get in and hoon about, or burn down the tip shop (twice now). When that happens, it's a little like having a live action movie for a view - we watch the flames, the fire trucks, the police, the chases through the bush behind.

And that's the answer. Kinda cool hey? How do tips work in other places? Is it just a Tasmanian thing?




I was completely torn about what to blip today, thought I should give this answer, but did want to blip this flower at the Cascade Female Factory - old gaol for female convicts. I'll go back there sometime soon though. Might be a chance to experiment with getting somber shots rather than my usual cheerful.

Oh, and I forgot to say this yesterday, there's another Hobartian (person from Hobart) blipping! Hurrah! I'll keep working at everyone I know with a camera, but in the meantime, check antmark's shots out.