FRANKIE DeGROOT | News | CONTACT

The purchase of a new pool is always an exciting event, but especially so for soggy leaf collector Anand Dyer.

Anand, who owns Australia’s second-largest collection of soggy leaves, took delivery of a new 6x3m fibreglass inground pool this week and expects that it will be fully installed and ready for action by next Wednesday.

“This is so exciting,” said Anand from the private soggy leaf museum he has constructed in the spare bedroom of his Wollongong home.

“This is exactly what I need to take my collection to the next level.”

Anand has been collecting soggy leaves since 1993 and his collection boasts specimens from more than 650 trees sourced from 87 different countries.

Until now, most of these have either been collected from the wild, purchased over the internet, or exchanged at soggy leaf swap meets.

“I’ve done pretty well so far,” said Anand.

“But it is a bit of a hassle getting leaves off the internet. Some of them are not packed properly and dry out so you need to rehydrate them as soon as they arrive. And you can only collect them in the wild when it’s raining, so you get to a point where you have to step up and get a pool.”

“Until then, you’re just chasing leaves. Now I can sit back and wait for the leaves to come to me.”

Anand’s nephews are excited about the pool too, but they are out of luck.

“No, there won’t be any swimming,” he said.

“The pool is just for soggy leaves”.