Unisex toilets provoke a stink

Regular visitors to Rangitoto Island have their knickers in a knot about the island's new-look, unisex toilets.

The toilets were revamped while the island was closed for a series of rat-poison drops in July and August - and since it re-opened, some visitors have been dismayed to find the men's and women's toilets replaced by a unisex version.

Rangitoto Island Historic Conservation Trust trustee Elizabeth Andrew said some overseas tourists would find it inappropriate, and there was no other option but to go in the bush.

Department of Conservation spokesman Brett Butland said DoC was trying the unisex system to help women, who often faced long queues at busy times around ferry sailings.

He said the toilet block could not be made bigger because it was sandwiched between two heritage buildings - a pair of 1930s changing sheds built by convicts to accompany the swimming pool they built on the island.

DoC was trying the unisex system to give women access to more cubicles. "If it doesn't work ... it is easily changed."

Ms Andrew was also concerned about the lack of privacy in the wash-basin area, which, unlike the toilet cubicles, is separated from the outside only by a Perspex screen.

She was particularly concerned about children, who she said often emerged from a cubicle "still sorting themselves out".

But Mr Butland said a frosted transfer with an image of a pohutukawa would soon be placed over the Perspex. There was "no way" the wall would be left completely transparent.

However, it would be left partly transparent to deter unsavoury types from "lurking" in the darkened washroom, something that had been a problem on the island before.