Jim Eagles: Tirau is top dog

The public loos in Tirau's giant corrugated-iron dog have won our inaugural Top Toilet Competition. The facilities in the iron dog - which also accommodates the town's information centre - emerged as the clear favourite from the loo reports sent in by Travel readers throughout the country.

Not only did Tirau get more stars for its toilets than other centres, it also earned the most glowing comments, with particular reference being made to there being flowers in each cubicle and a sign inviting customers to draw attention to any need for servicing.

Readers also ran into some pretty awful toilets on their holidays but their reports suggest that, while most roadside facilities are still decidedly average, the standard appears to be improving.

Four toilets earned the top 5-star rating: Taupo's Superloo, Tirau's iron dog, the Waitakaruru toilet block and the ladies loo at Smith & Caughey's.

At the other end of the scale, few got no stars. It looks like the only one to deliberately avoid is at the southern entrance to Wanganui.

Most were in the 2-star and 3-star categories: clean and functional but pretty gloomy and with plenty of room for improvement.

So here are the ratings sent in by travellers:

0 stars

* Wanganui (toilet adjacent to the information board on the road from Mt Taranaki): Filthy, hole in the door, clearly not maintained.
* McDonald's in Queen St, Auckland: They may give away Incredibles toys with their happy meals but their toilets are incredibly bad. On our visit all the women's toilets had their seats ripped off and were crammed with bog paper so the floor was flooded. There was one thoughtful touch, a sign warning of the slippery floors, alongside some extra-large sized footprints.
* Devonport Wharf: Closed, by the look of it for some time. Where are visitors supposed to go? Disgraceful.

1-star

* Bulls: Smelly and barely functional.
* Gisborne's Waikanae Beach: Gloomy, fetid atmosphere, damp concrete floor, good place for muggers to hang out.
* Wellsford, at the southern end of the shopping centre: Over New Year they were strewn with toilet paper, one toilet was blocked and there was a terrible smell.

2-stars

* Devonport (attached to library building): Clean and shiny but no ventilation and a previous customer with a problem.
* Waharoa in the Waikato: Your basic concrete-block toilet, clean but not exactly inviting.
* Coromandel town: Basic for such a charming place.
* Whiritoa, Coromandel: Single, roomy toilet with a door that locks (something you can't always take for granted) and good stocks of toilet paper, although it's the hard, scratchy sort. However, the concrete floor is always wet so you need to wear jandals.
* Rakino Island: I never actually checked these out although they looked fine from the outside. However, the fact that a woman asked me if I was responsible for keeping the long-drops stocked with toilet paper led me to assume that they must have run out ... not good - and I didn't appreciate her assumption, either.

3-stars

* Patea: Very clean and had obviously been serviced before 7am. But it did have a malicious, likely racist, message on the toilet door.
* Paeroa: Clean and practical but very stark and basic.
* Kaiaua, Seabird Coast: Well-maintained, clean and serviceable and, as a bonus, with an adjacent picnic area.
* Whitianga, by the wharf: Clean and tidy. No complaints, but pretty basic.
* Coyle Park, Pt Chevalier: Not exactly the sweetest-smelling public loos, but standing at the urinal just before Christmas was made all the more pleasant by a guy singing at the top of his voice in the showers. (But for that, they might have only two stars).
* Castlepoint Beach: Fairly decent for a remote Wairarapa beach. Plenty of toilet paper and roomy stalls. No soap to wash your hands, though.

4-stars

* Fitzgerald Glade, north of Rotorua: Freshly painted a light colour, nice since most public toilets are cavelike, and clean ... very clean.

5-stars

* Smith & Caughey's ladies in Auckland: Recently renovated with loads of loos, lots of space, plenty of mirrors and could well feature in an interiors mag it's so flash.
* Taupo Superloo: Okay, it costs 40c to go but there's even a bidet.
* Waitakaruru, on the road to Thames: From the outside this public toilet is a typical unpretentious, grey-painted concrete block loo standing in front of the local Plunket Rooms. What makes it special is that there is always a bowl of freshly cut flowers on the window ledge. Nowhere else in New Zealand or the world have I ever seen a bowl of fresh flowers in a men's toilet. Long may it continue.

Champion

* The only loo that received three 5-star nominations is the splendid one in Tirau's corrugated iron dog.
One happy customer was particularly impressed by the fact that the Tirau loos have a notice saying, "We take pride in the appearance of our restrooms. If they need servicing, please let us know."
Another highlighted the fact that the ladies' toilet was "very clean, smelled nice and had fresh roses in all cubicles. (Nice touch.)" And a third was particularly delighted to find "toilets housed in such a cute building instead of the usual concrete bunker".

So, well done Tirau. Maybe the folks from Wanganui should visit and learn something.