Holiday Goddess Editor and journalist Felicity Loughrey explores a city dump treasure trove called Tiny’s Green Shed. Pick up a secondhand coffee mug or discover the joys of vinyl handbags. Felicity calls it: “Not the Canberra You Were Thinking Of.’ We have to agree!
Should you find yourself in Canberra there are plenty of world-class attractions to explore: the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Australia. All of these institutions are stunning and definitely worth a visit.
But my favourite thing to do in Australia’s capital is borrow my in-laws’ station wagon and head to the tip. There are two city dumps – in Mitchell and Symonston – and both offer excellent shopping!
The most chaotic and fun is Tiny’s Green Shed at Symonston, tucked behind the establishment suburb of Red Hill. It’s a ten-minute drive through bush-land to get to the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre.
As you pull into the tip, on your right is Tiny’s Green Shed – a slight misnomer, as it’s a massive aluminum warehouse that creaks when the sun hits the roof and the metal expands.
Under the timorous roof is everything you could ever imagine: at the front are bins filled with free clothing – tracksuit pants, old curtains and vinyl handbags. Then there’s a kids’ toy section, books, homewares and furniture galore, plus lighting and hardware stacked high, boogie boards, toboggans and cross-country skis. Explore outside where you’ll find discarded lawnmowers, garden furniture, bicycles and limp exercise equipment.
Tiny’s staff can be spotted in orange safety vests and the guy at the front counter zips about the premises on a Razor scooter. At the checkout he’ll tell you how much for your loot. It’s wildly exciting as there are no prices and the end figure is always cheaper than you could imagine.
Tiny’s Green Shed offers Canberra’s most wonderful and unexpected shopping. I’ve scored earthen bowls, fabulous baskets, merino knitting wool and an unframed canvas oil painting of a Snowy Mountains scene. Except for a looming Eiffel Tower, I can’t imagine Paris flea markets could be any better than this. Can they?
