What a gorgeous day! lets go to the dump!

Today was simply gorgeous weather. i mean so nice that R. (the teacher i work with) headed out early to pick up his son and take him kayaking. There was no wind so the oceans were glassy flat, not a cloud in the sky, 25C which made the water warm...couldn't ask for a nicer day.

note: folks back home pls don't send me hate mail :P

so what would make more sense to do on this gorgeous day but go to the dump.
i know this is making many of you shake your heads but it all started when R. and I decided to bring all that classroom garbage to the dump (or tip as they call it). so we packed into his car and head down to Happy Valley Road; seriously that is the name of the road.

Now we had found a big old glass display case which hadn't been used, no one wanted it so R. suggested we take it to the Tip shop. in Wellington there are 2 dumps, one for the public and one for the businesses to use. the public one is amazingly well thought out. They have a tip shop where you open your car and drop off anything they figure will sell, in our case that display case. there are huge blue bins of various recycling and a methane electricity station. it burns the methane gas produced by decomposing garbage and fires it back to the grids. then whatever the tip shop doesn't want you drive over a weigh bridge which weighs your car, drop it into a giant concrete bunker which is then sorted again by guys working down there into plant matter, glass etc. the 'garbage' is then pushed down a hole in the back of this bunker which is moved by conveyor belt (using the energy created by methane) to the proper landfill. then you drive your car over another weigh bridge, they check the difference in weight and charge you accordingly.

now R. was explaining all this to me as we drove and i have to admit it sounded like a good system. but nothing prepared me for the shock of the tip shop. It was massive, and the stuff they have. nothing less than 20 tvs, 15 stereo setups, multiple bed frames, chairs, desks, table, housewares stuff, 2 bins of sporting gear, electronics, outside is sinks, toilets, doors, bikes and garden stuff. There was 5 giant olive trees in beautiful wood planters next to 2 giant amphoras (a greek restaurant must have shut down). The top floor had books and clothes and bedding.
and the prices...$20 for a double bed frame with slats, and its a nice looking one too.

and i found cushions...at a $1 a pop, and they're huge ones, and oddly enough they're clean and smell fresh. so i'm going to head back tomorrow to pick up 10 cushions and i'm dragging Blaise and Wes along. we need to find Wes a bedframe and some house stuff.

Tip shop! start there if trying to fill a home from scratch.