Public Toilets: A Convenient Truth

If the civilised nature of a community is to be judged by the quantity and quality of its public conveniences (UK) or restrooms (USA) or toilets (NZ), then New Zealand must be up there with the world leaders. Here in New Zealand, one can hardly walk fifty yards in an urban environment without seeing at least one public toilet or a sign that points in the direction of the nearest public toilets. Of course, the three designations mentioned above are all euphemisms: but 'restrooms' are the stupidest, providing no indication whatever of their purpose, and 'conveniences' tell you nothing at all about their purpose, and they are often quite inconveniently situated. The 'toilet' was originally a euphemism, but overthe years it has acquired a non-euphemistic meaning. But I digress...I could also digress about what the availability of toilets says about national views of the role of government in providing for people's needs. But I won't.
It seems that New Zealand also leads the world in the construction of somewhat hi-tech conveniences. One must praise the makers of the EXELoo pictured below, whose products are available everywhere. They are--to quote the blurb--designed for your comfort and safety, although safety hazards would not seem to be great in a public toilet. But who knows?

As I have noted, signs to public toilets are ubiquitous. Nevertheless, as shown below there is often a map outside a public toilet showing you the location of other public toilets in the same area--as if, having sampled that one, or finding its stalls occupied by what seems a long term user, you may wish to judge whether you have time to get to another one.

Public toilets are sometimes strangely located. In Picton there is a building with a sign outside saying Museum (see below), and it is flanked on either side by a toilet for each sex. I did not have time to check the nature of the museum--they are another ubiquitous feature of New Zealand: The Cricket Museum, The Police Museum, The Settler Museum, The Museum of Monetary History at the Bank of New Zealand (a real thriller, that one), The Cable Car Museum--I could on. Is it possible that the museum in the photo was The Museum of Public Toilets?

The need for toilets at remote spots is another expression of the concern of the authorities to provide for this very human need. The Department of the Environment provides excellent facilities in the national parks. And in Picton, with some time to spare before we needed to check in for the boat, we hiked a couple of miles along a trail above the sea to a place called Bob's Bay, which consisted of an smallish patch of grass and a minute rocky beach. But here was a neat little toilet.

It was also a good example of New Zealand vernacular architecture. Concrete blocks painted a dark green, corrugated iron roof, with one slope longer than the other (not, I think, 'hipped,' which is common here). What was also interesting was the small bunch of flowers by the entrance. They are just visible. But the big surprise was when I went inside....

A very attractive arrangement of dried plants that I am sure was not supplied by the Picton authorities. How very New Zealand--this country of gardeners and flowers arrangers (they are not all bungy jumpers)--that someone would feel moved to decorate this humble little public toilet.

Here is another example of a public toilet. This is, I believe, an Exceloo. It is hi-tech to the extent that for each individual toilet (indicated, as you will see, as men, women, children, and handicapped) have two lights outside--a red for occupied and a green for vacant. When you enter, you need to press a red button to lock the door. When you are ready to leave, you press the green button and the door unlocks--unless, of course, there has been a power failure in the meantime. You are then, presumably, locked in.

Internal equipment is usually pretty good. Toilet paper is sometimes dispensed single sheet by single sheet, but generally there are huge rolls of paper of what seems fairly good quality. As you can see, wash basins are a common fixture, as are changing tables for babies and waste cans for diapers (nappies) or whatever. In one toilet I visited, there were two forms of changing table (why, I could not figure) and there was a small metal step beside the toilet bowl, presumably for a small boys to stand on if they were too small for the usual male position.

I intend this to be an ongoing project while we are here in New Zealand. Today I visited one that was very cruddy-but just as the snow in Washington and Europe does not diminish my belief in global warming, so one crappy toilet on the sea front in Petone does not diminish my view that New Zealand is a world leader in public toilets.

Photos and text by David--posted 24 December