Okay so this is a weird way to start a post, but anyway, my first memory of this place was when it was a magical land of alllllll kinds of stuff that I could take and collect. Also known as: the dump.
Yep, one day when I was very small, my dad made the mistake of bringing me with him on a run to the local dump. I ran loose over the garbage and found some “treasures” which he tried to discourage me from bringing home, but I insisted, and he let me.
When I arrived home and showed my mom the “treasures” I’d found, she was adamant that these items go straight into the garbage.
I did not return to the dump until I was a teenager, finally cleaning my room for the first time in many years. It felt great! I had a lot of stuff to get rid of, so I piled it all in my car and drove to the dump. It felt weird to venture onto a site that I hadn’t visited since I was a small child. I was feeling pretty chatty and actually told the staff person at the dump all about my great success in cleaning my room, as evidenced by my car full of trash.
The Kleefeld Waste Disposal Site was decommissioned in 2002. A decade later, the site reopened as the Tourond Creek Discovery Centre!
So, this place has been hosting school groups, helping kids learn about nature, for ten years. And never once have I visited it… until last month!
There’s a lot there: a picnic shelter, a tower you can climb (weirdly, I did not take a picture of the tower but you can see a pic on the website), a weather station, murals, many paths, and lots of NATURE!
