The Rubbish Tip

Our neighbourhood has turned into a rubbish tip. For one weekend each year, residents of the North Shore can dump their rubbish on the footpath and have it collected the following week. Rubbish can include fridges, washing machines, sofas, old carpets, broken toys, etc. Each area gets a turn and the entire North Shore is done in 6 months. This weekend was our turn so we spent the weekend putting our junk on the footpath.

Moving house is a great opportunity to clear out stuff that’s broken or that you don’t use or need. This usually happens prior to the move but because I abandoned Christchurch all our stuff was packed by the movers and brought up here for sorting. They even packed a couple of broken tiles from the fireplace in our old house that had fallen off during the earthquake and would no doubt be wanted by the new owners. I posted them back.

The previous owners of our new house also left stuff hidden beneath it which we took the opportunity get rid of including plastic pipes, a broken table, an old fireplace and lots of hoses. While people dump their rubbish on the pavement, other people drive round picking through it and looking for things to take. At one stage I noticed our own pile getting smaller as I continued to add stuff. In great demand was metal of all kinds. Hopefully all the rubbish will be gone in the next few days and the neighbourhood will return to its boring neighbourhood status once again.

We decided to escape all the rubbish for a picnic lunch today at Onepoto Domain. This is yet another volcano, an explosive one, which left an enormous crater some 30,000 years ago. It is now has a sporting field, a lake, two playgrounds and a terrific cycling circuit for small children. Some photos:


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4 responses to “The Rubbish Tip”

  1. Anonymous Avatar

    I wish we had rubbish days like that in Canberra. Your aunt Susie has a very nice sisal rug and old wind chime that she found during one of those clean-ups in Sydney. I'm counting the days until I'm in Auckland. I'm amazed at how many nice spots there are in Auckland. Just that jungle near your house is terrific. What a find!That's a nice photo of the kids having lunch.See you soon! B

  2. Rachel Avatar

    There are lots of interesting things to see and do in Auckland. Not long till your visit now!

  3. MikeM Avatar

    Around our part of Sydney there is a cleanup every Wednesday for that sort of stuff, but responsible people put it out at the weekend, and most of it is picked up for reuse by the time Wednesday arrives.This is not true for CRT TV sets, which almost nobody wants, although these people made one into a nice coffee table on their front porch:http://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/5715864654/Sometimes broken furniture isn't especially fondly welcomed, such as this chair that I saw today:http://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/6368252543/in/photostreamBut it's possible that some local sculptor will see opportunities and seize it.

  4. Rachel Avatar

    We still have a CRT tv and I thought about ditching it on the street but it still works perfectly well and we'd just have to go and spend hundreds of dollars on an lcd tv. We'll wait until it packs and then we can turn it into a coffee table too.

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