Tourists punished for 'outside toilet'

Lake Te Anau, with the township of Te Anau in the foreground. Photo / Simon Baker

Three Spanish tourists had a smelly introduction to tourist life in New Zealand yesterday but it kept them out of court.

The man and two women spent three hours picking up human waste around Te Anau south of Queenstown in the South Island after police found they had defecated on the side of the road after stopping their campervan in a residential street.

The three "volunteered" for community work rather than a court appearance, Sergeant Tod Hollebon, of Te Anau, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

Police were called by a member of the public and found the three near a rental van which did not have a toilet.

They were drying washing on a fence and had made themselves at home, Mr Hollebon said.

After initially denying their activities, they admitted they had been using an "outside toilet", saying they had arrived after dark.

As an alternative to a court appearance they volunteered for community service and for three hours picked up "exactly what they and others had deposited" around Te Anau.

- NZPA