NZ’s toilets among world’s most beautiful

NZ’s toilets among world’s most beautiful
By Anne Majumdar


It may be New Zealand’s majestic mountains and pristine lakes that tourists come for, but apparently its loos are worth a gander as well.

At least that’s according to Lonely Planet’s new look at the world of toilets.

The travel guide company has listed eight New Zealand dunnies in Toilets: A Spotters Guide, a compendium of some of the globe’s most interesting lavatories.

Among the New Zealand entrants are Kawakawa’s iconic Hundertwasser toilets, Wellington’s lobster loo’s and Golden Bay’s penguin privy, along with entrants from Mt Cook, the Redwoods and two from the Milford Track.

Matakana’s contentious, $NZ400,000 ($A361,255) public facilities, with their face-to-face design, particularly impressed the guide’s authors, who called the site a highly symbolic nod to the local boat-building industry.

“Toilets so often transcend their primary function of being a convenience to become a work of art in their own right, or to make a cultural statement about the priorities, traditions and values of the venues, locations and communities they serve,” the guide’s authors says.

But despite their popularity with tourists, Hastings’ Clifton Road Reserve toilets – voted the country’s best last year – don’t seem to have been given a place in the guide, which includes rest stops from across Asia, Europe, the Americans and Oceania.

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