Long Drop Toilets - Dunnies

Over the long Easter weekend I was camping in the Blue Mountains.  Which is why the topic of this post is the humble long drop toilet, otherwise known as a dunny.  I really enjoyed my encounter with the dunny at Perry’s Look Down camp ground, near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. 

In the homeland, New Zealand, a popular weekend destination was the Craigieburn camp ground where my experiences were not so delightful.  Without fail there was always an awful stench even from some distance away and it only got worse the closer you got.  Upon arriving at the door I would consider bailing, but in the interest of the environment and keeping the camp ground clean I would always have to follow through and bare the toxic fumes of the dunny.  The exceptionally bad smell of this particular toilet might be due to it not being emptied regularly enough.  However, I believe there are factors regarding the architecture of the shelter in which the dunny is located that could improve its fragrance and atmosphere. 

Standard NZ dunny

The long drop that I had the pleasure of using this past weekend was a Windyloo.  The company who makes this style of long drop is called Pureablue.  You can look them up at www.pureablue.com.au.  

Windyloo exterior

Disable friendly Windyloo with hand rail .

They also do other styles of public toilets, but in my opinion the Windyloo is their best work because of its simplicity and functionality.  The exterior cladding is iron, the framing is steel, the roof is fibre glass and the floor is concrete.  They leave a 50mm gap between the floor and the walls for ventilation, light and drainage (apparently you can just hose them out).  The door is a sliding mesh steel grate positioned so when closed the person on the loo isn’t visible to someone standing outside.  I imagine this is to help get even more air flow through.  It was spacious inside, unlike the tiny toilets in NZ.  There were absolutely no flies buzzing around, there was no disgusting poo smell and for the most part it was clean, save some empty toilet rolls on the ground.  And it remained this way over the entire weekend with a fully packed camp ground.  Go the Windyloo, I love you!