Ozzie Loos – The Australian Amenities Adventure Tour
By Marion Halliday (Red Nomad OZ)
Ozzie Loos – The Australian Amenities Adventure Tour written by Marion Halliday (Red Nomad OZ) an author, blogger and Aussie traveller who loves discovering nature-based attractions and activities – and scenic loos – all over Australia. Her Aussie travel expertise, photography
and the storytelling skills she developed in corporate life come together in her Aussie travel blog where the highlights (and lowlights) of her many years of downunder travel provide inspiration for other Aussie explorers.
By Marion Halliday (Red Nomad OZ).
Marion Halliday blogs as
“Australia by Red Nomad OZ”
The tide rolled in and the famous Quobba Blowhole shot another massive plume of spray high into the air. The travellers below me were getting a drenching.
Luckily the blowhole held their attention as a gust of wind blew the dunny door wide open, exposing me to the elements. If they’d looked towards me they’d have got way more than they bargained for!
It was 2012, and I was eight years into an All-Australian Top Toilet Adventure Tour.
At least that’s what it felt like sometimes.
Dunnies aren’t unique to Australia, but when they’re combined with Aussie wildlife-, landmark-, and sunset-watching, they’ll turn your Aussie experience (and photos!) from ordinary to extraordinary.
And after 25 years on the road and 14 years of dunny detecting, convenience chasing and amenities admiring in every Australian state and territory, I should know, right?
Turning a simple Aussie holiday into an adventure toilet tour is easy. Australia’s best landmarks, vantage points and attractions often have a loo close by. Luckily for us toilet tragics, it’ll often come with a stunning view. Or a superbly scenic setting. Or unusual architecture or decoration, which means the loo itself is the view.
Or, on a lucky day, all three!
Is this poo-patter or toilet-talk in bad taste? I don’t think so! Downunder dunnies become more important the older you get and the further you travel. They also contribute to increased hygiene, sanitation and preservation of iconic Aussie landmark sites!
But they also add a whole new dimension to my travels! Let me take you on a mini-tour and show you what I mean.
Back at the ancient wooden Aussie Loo with its defective door I had a king-sized view of heaving seas, cavorting whales and fountains of spray as killer waves pounded the wildest coastline in OZ.
And the raised platform underneath made it snake proof. Didn’t it?
Mount Kosciuszko, Thredbo, New South Wales
Thrilling though it was to conquer my first (and possibly only) Seven Summits peak, the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift and gently undulating purpose-built trail made the climb almost too easy, even for a non-hard-core hiker like me.
So the real thrill came at Rawson Pass with just 1.67 km and 100 metres of elevation to go – and a view of Australia’s highest mountain peak from its highest public toilet. From Mount Kosciuszko’s peak, the bunker-like highest-little-loo-in-OZ not far below is unmissable!
I bet the other Seven Summits peaks don’t have the same attraction!
Birdsville and Diamantina Development Road Junction, Outback Queensland
The challenge of dunny discovery is especially important when road-tripping the vast distances between Aussie Outback attractions, as a lapse in concentration can end in disaster. Even at designated ‘rest stops’ the loos are few and far between so crossing your legs becomes a way of life.
And that’s just what we expected to keep doing at a remote, windswept crossroad on the dusty plains of Outback Queensland 1,300 km from Brisbane, 1,700 km from Sydney and 1,400 km from Adelaide. Finding amenities at this junction between Bedourie, Windorah and Birdsville – otherwise known as ‘the middle of nowhere’ – was pretty unlikely.
But to our surprise, leg-crossing (or its nasty cousin ‘the squat’) wasn’t required here. Because at this lonely landmark I found the Little Loo at the End of the Universe!
Birdsville and Diamantina Development Road Junction, Outback Queensland
Yorke Peninsula and Innes National Park, South Australia
After the Outback’s dearth of dunnies, it’s virtually impossible to avoid finding a loo almost anywhere along the Yorke Peninsula’s 485 km of coastline.
It’s such a sure thing that you can easily discover the surfing and swimming beaches, fishing and crabbing hot spots, hiking trails, rocky cliffs and stunning coastal scenery of South Australia’s best kept secret holiday hot spot just by checking out the conveniences.
No time? No problem! Just head for the nearest mural and there’ll probably be a loo behind it!
There aren’t any murals in Innes National Park, centrepiece attraction of ‘the Yorke’, but the superb coastal scenery more than makes up for it. And if you don’t spot an emu or kangaroo while you’re there, don’t bother buying a lottery ticket because it’s clearly not your lucky day!
Unless, like me, you count any day you find a new killer scenic loo as lucky.
West Cape, Innes National Park, South Australia
UN-Water World Toilet Day
After a blog series about Scenic Aussie Public Toilets, a couple of loo calendars and a book – Aussie Loos with Views! – I thought I’d established my loo-lover credentials. But embarrassingly, I’d never heard of November 19 aka World Toilet Day, or given thought to the nearly 2.4 billion people without a proper toilet, or the nearly 1 billion with no toilet. I became an amenities advocate when I compared the horrifying worldwide statistics with 10 of Australia’s coolest conveniences (like this one on Lord Howe Island) – and I realised we’d won the loo-lottery with superb scenery, good sanitation and inventive architecture.
Lord Howe Island, Tasman Sea
Mount Wellington, Hobart and Bruny Island, Tasmania
Nowhere more so than atop Tasmania’s Mt Wellington where a glass wall is the only thing between you and the staggering scenery in the architect-designed amenities block.
Unless you’ve closed the cubicle door to protect your modesty!
If Hobart’s most popular attraction is too civilised, take the short ferry ride to Bruny Island – same size as Singapore but with 600 residents to Singapore’s 6,000,000 – where the natural attractions are wild, full of wildlife and way less crowded.
The stunning view along ‘the Neck’ with the ocean on one side and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel on the other is worth the climb, but add a strategically placed, eco-friendly loo in the car park below and the landscape becomes peculiarly Australian.
Bruny Island, Tasmania
Cameron Corner, Junction of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia
The only place in the world where three Australian states meet puts Cameron Corner on every serious Outback road-tripper’s bucket list. It’s a six-hour drive north from Adelaide to Broken Hill; then four hours north to Tibooburra – hottest place in New South Wales. Too many road hazard variables like dust, potholes, claypans, rocks, wildlife and other vehicles make it impossible to estimate travel time for the last 140 km leg northwest to the Corner.
Especially if it’s been raining!
Standing in three states at once, playing the Tri-State Golf Course, or stocking up in the famous roadhouse are all very well. But my favourite Corner attraction is the view of the iconic 3-state junction from the roadhouse loo!
Cameron Corner, Junction of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia
Lake Bellfield, Grampians, Victoria
In the remote areas of arid Australia, home and public toilets were often built outside with whatever materials were at hand. Water was way too precious to squander on indoor plumbing! So a lot of downunder dunnies haven’t survived the ravages of weather, wind and water.
However, the combination loo/picnic shelter/information centre/viewing deck constructed in 1966 when Fyans Creek was dammed to form Lake Bellfield, raised the standard for outdoor dunny design – it’s survived some cataclysmic weather events, too.
Over the years I’ve explored many remarkable peaks, hiking trails, historic sites and waterways in the Grampians National Park, so taking the easy 1 km (return) walk across Lake Bellfield’s dam wall to view the loo wasn’t a priority. But when I finally got there, the views to and from the loo made it the Grampians most scenic.
As an added bonus, the view of the loo and surrounds is even more spectacular from nearby Boronia Peak!
Victoria River, via Timber Creek, Northern Territory
Bad weather isn’t the only hazard an Aussie dunny sometimes has to withstand.
After a couple of hours into a 70 km river trip and a few drinks while admiring the sunset, I wondered whether I’d make it back to base without a comfort stop. But where do you go when nature calls and you’re on a crocodile cruise in the middle of Australia’s wildest river?
Luckily, the purpose-built pontoon had enough reinforced steel to survive an attack by Victoria River crocodiles up to six metres long – and that makes it a loo with one of the most unique views downunder!
Since my first ever Scenic Loo photo of the Kata Tjuta car park conveniences in 2004, I’ve had a love affair with the rugged scenery and iconic landmarks that make the Northern Territory public loos so memorable.
So when this amazing Aussie adventure turned into an amazing new dunny discovery in the tiny, Top End town of Timber Creek, I figured it was no ‘accident’.
Aussie Amenities Adventures – YOUR turn!
Still reading? Then you’re probably either a closet or full-blown toilet tragic like me! It’s been 14 years and thousands of road-trip kilometres since my first Aussie Loo photo, and I’m still discovering new loo views and adventures off the tourist trail in Australia’s intriguing destinations, landscapes and attractions.
All you need to plan your own Downunder Dunny Adventure Tour is a sense of adventure, a copy of Australia’s quirkiest travel guide – Aussie Loos With Views! – and a pair of dunny goggles!
Marion Halliday blogs as
“Australia by Red Nomad OZ” at www.redzaustralia.com
Follow Marion @rednomadoz on
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Buy her book: “Aussie Loos with Views!” at Amazon.com, eBay and at www.exploreaustralia.net.au
Buy now in your bookstore or online
This story appears in the July 2018 issue of Globerovers Magazine.
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