District's last long drop soon to be consigned to history

The Whangarei district's last public long drop has done its dash, with $110,000 due to be spent on a flash new flusher.

The dunny at coastal Woolleys Bay, 40km northeast of Whangarei, is the last public long drop in the district and the council has voted to spend $110,000 replacing it with a new loo that will bring the seaside settlement into the 21st century.

The long drops are built from two concrete water tanks and are well past their use-by date. The council said the last public long drops were given priority for replacement over other scheduled facilities in its public toilet upgrade programme.

At its infrastructure and services committee meeting on Wednesday, the council also voted to relocate the public toilet block at Waikaraka, on Whangarei Heads Rd, to Reotahi, which is further out towards the Heads.

The Waikaraka toilet block has been vandalised several times and was not very well used, the council said. Relocating it to Reotahi would cost about $25,000.

Emotions surfaced during the meeting as councillors saluted the passing of the last long drop.

"It's going, the very last long drop - and thank goodness for that," said committee chairman Crichton Christie.

Sheryl Mai's comment that she had "mixed emotions" about the loss of a toilet at Waikaraka set councillors chortling about whether she had said "motions".

Ms Mai said she was very pleased that submissions to the Long Term Council Community Plan for a toilet to be put in at Reotahi had been heeded.

But she was disappointed that Waikaraka would lose its toilet, although she realised it had been a continual target for vandals.

"I'm still disappointed we haven't got the money to put in a new toilet at Reotahi and leave the existing one at Waikaraka."

A sign about the relocation will go in the toilet and, when it is gone, another sign will be put up with information on the location of the toilets in the harbour area (Onerahi, Tamaterau and Reotahi).

Brian McLauchlan said with many children attending marine reserve programmes at Reotahi, the toilets would be "a really good step forward".

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE