Loo fame down the toilet in internet guide

How the mighty have fallen.
Once the Kawakawa public loos designed by Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser were deemed the best in the world.

Now Northland's claim to public-convenience fame has been rated lower than the lavatorial luminaries in the Christchurch Bus Exchange.

In the latest internet guide to the world's public restrooms, that once called the Hundertwasser loos the best in the world gives them a rating of "Good", although also noting they are "aesthetically special" as well as clean, safe, free, and open 24 hours a day.

In comparison, the Christchurch bus exchange loos and the ones in the basement at Ballantynes have both been rated as "Excellent" by the website, which was started by an American woman seven years ago as a reaction to the horrors of the French toilette system.

Even a unisex longdrop at Waipapakauri Ramp on Ninety Mile Beach polled higher than the Hundertwasser effort, gathering an "Excellent" rating.

The public loos at Kerikeri and at O'Connell's shopping centre in Queenstown were the equal worst in New Zealand of those on the website, both being rated as "Horrible".

News that Christchurch Bus Exchange's loos were in the rock-star class of public conveniences met with mixed reaction yesterday.

Jamie Jibling emerged from the men's loo, where the mirror is besmirched with etched graffiti and into a corridor where the walls have been recoated with mismatched daubs of paint.

Did he think these were excellent?

"No, it was pretty s..." he said.

"The toilets in the square are the worst ones."

His friend, Monique Watson, said the women's loo was not any better.

- © Fairfax NZ News