Treasure.

November 28, 2011 Kate

Oh my goodness, I love op shopping!! I LOVE it!

Op shops, thrift shops, second hand shops, garage sales, market stalls...I love them all.

I love the anticipating and the hunting and the sorting and the looking and the wondering and the planning and the admiring and the riffling. Love it!!

To be completely honest with you, I think that a big part of the excitement of this trip for me was the hope that there would be lots of little second hand shops in tiny towns all along the way. Lots of granny treasures to sort through. Lots of floral sheets and table clothes and china. And there have been quite a few. And we have hunted them down and driven out of our way and found some lovely things.

And then there are some that we drive past and stumble upon by accident. You should hear the chorus of OP SHOP!!!! that comes from our car at such times.

The photos on this post were taken in a second hand shop in Albany that was so much more exciting than the Good Samaritan shop we had been directed to half a block down the street.

I adore that we have chosen op shop treasures to fill our caravan. I feel proud that we eat off odds bits of English and Australian fine china and not metal camping plates. And when accidents happen and bowls get broken, I love that it is a legitimate family outing to pop into an op shop and find replacements.

The down side of living in a caravan is the fact that space is limited. I know the more we buy, the less space we have for living. So we have learnt to be selective and that's probably a good thing anyway.

One of our road trip friends recently remarked on how patient farmer Bren must be. On how she marvels at the fact that she sees our car on the road outside junk shops all over the place. I was surprised for a second when she said that. I forget that not everyone lives like we live. That not everyone googles the op shops in every town they arrive in and includes visiting all the shops on our list as legitimate tourist outings right up there with the museums and geographical sights.

I do love that my kids love op shopping too. That they know to turn a plate upside down to check where it was made and if it is a Johnson. That they understand and embrace our recycling ideology. That they know that Mum loves florals, little jugs, pale blue and is not so interested in the little saucers or in the made in China.

I have little stashes of newspaper wrapped plates and jugs and bowls stashed all over the caravan that I look forward to unwrapping when we get home. Others buy tea-towels, snow globes, Indigenous art pieces or jewellery to remember their trips. My souvenirs are my op shopped treasures. I can't wait to put them to use and display them when we get home.

So do you op shop? Do you love the thrill of entering the world of an unknown op shop and the unknown treasure that awaits? And what section do you make a bee line for - the manchester, the clothing, the brick-a-brack, the books? And most importantly, have you found any wonderful treasures lately?

Happy treasure hunting. xx