Kawakawa and its Hundertwasser Toilets (Part 2 of the Holiday series)

First, a word of explanation about the term 'toilets.'  To Americans, toilet means the porcelain or ceramic 'throne' in a restroom or bathroom. Here, the term toilet means restroom. 

The story behind the famous toilets of Kawakawa is this. In the 1970's, Freidensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian artist, visited New Zealand for an exhibition of his work. He liked the country so much that he decided to make it his second home and bought property near Kawakawa. He chose to leave his mark on his adopted home by designing these toilets. 

Here we are in Kawakawa.

Now, I ask you. How many towns advertise a toilet on a sign outside town?

And how many toilets have their own parking lot?

And where else has 24 hour 'backup' toilets in the parking lot for the celebrity toilets?

Wow. They take pitstops seriously here. 

As we got out of our car, I could tell that Kawakawa was going to be a special town.  If these are the benches on the corner of a block of businesses, how impressive must everything else be here? 

We are walking along main street, just about to pass a 'sofa bench.' 

Ah, here we are.

The Hundertwasser Toilets  

It even has a tree growing up out of the middle of it.  (I wonder if Frederick meant this as an interspecies toilet and dogs are welcome as well?)

 A central pillar being shown by our enthusiastic tour guide. 

Access to the parking lot behind the toilets. How many toilets have their own parking lot?

Come on in. Lets take a look inside. 
 Ladies, I've checked and it's not currently in use. 

Close up of a portion of wall.

Waiting to cross the street and return to our car.  BTW, the architect specified that all plant life disturbed on the ground when the toilets were built, should be replanted on the roof.  

One last look back before we leave. 

(Just a thought. I don't think Frederick forgot about cats when he designed this. I think he meant for you to give them a boost up to the roof. Lots of room up there, although a kitty ladder might have been a nice additional touch.)  

A store in town.

(And maybe this is the feline version of the 'backup' toilets in the parking lot.)

The front of the sofa bench. I like the upholstery but the sofa itself is a bit firm. 

 This is the entrance to some sort of indoor/outdoor art gallery/maze.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  

Almost back at our car now. Someday maybe I'll return to explore this amazing town more fully.  I'll wander around around, take about a million pictures and drink all the coffee I want. I'll know relief is always nearby.    -djf


Freidensreich Hundertwasser

An overview of our holiday. We begin in Puhoi and Waipu.

Allie made a wonderful suggestion not long ago. She proposed that we take a three night, four day holiday and make our ultimate destination Cape Reinga, the northern-most point on the North Island of New Zealand. Road trip!  Woohoo!

She outlined a very exciting itinerary. We would leave early Sunday and drive to Puhoi for Mass . From there, we would drive up to Waipu where she wanted to hit the once-a-month market that town hosts. We'd have lunch there as well. Then it would be north on highway 1 to Paihia, and to the Copthorne Hotel. We would see Kawakawa along the way; where the famous Hunderwasser Toilets are to be found. (Don't laugh, these really are famous.) And we'd also visit Whangarei Falls. 

While in Paihia, we would tour the Waitangi Treaty grounds. We'd also cross the bay to little Russel, a picturesque town with an amazing past. It was once called the 'Hell Hole of the Pacific', where 'pirates, rascals and scoundrels' ran wild and there were no laws of any kind.  Later, it became the first capital of N.Z. Today, it caters to tourists and is very well behaved indeed. 

The highlight of the trip would be when we'd take a bus tour to a grove of 1,000 year old Kauri trees, see the beach in Taipa where the Maori first landed on NZ., have a chance to sand surf down giant dunes, see Cape Reinga, and finally, to drive through the surf (in the bus) along Ninety Mile Beach.

What a plan. And we did it all, and more besides! 

I have a number of posts and lots of photos to share with you. I hope that you'll enjoy seeing more of N.Z. 

Today, we start out by going to Puhoi.

So far on the trip, we have been travelling through well known territory. Once beyond the tunnel however, it'll feel different and our road trip will really begin.   

 Built in 1880, this the Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Puhoi was originally settled by Bohemian immigrants. Each man and woman was given 40 acres and kids got 20 each.

Not long before I took this picture Allie and the boys were having a snack at the table with Jeanne. 

Those are fresh almond croissants, warm from the oven. I bought a bottle of fig syrup to take home. 

I'm sure the town library is open at 10 am on Sunday morning because of the tourists. The lady working in it sounded much more like a historian than a librarian.  

Allie and the boys across the river walking in the park.  

Amiri is trying out the swing that reaches out over the river. 

We get on the road again for Waipu. 

We have stopped at a scenic turnout and climbed a hill from the car park. That is Great Barrier Island out there. 

Arriving in the town of Waipu. I didn't take any other pictures here. We enjoyed the market. I bought a jar of jalapeno pepper jelly. I wish now I had bought several of them. They are very good and remind me of the jars of similar (though not so spicy) jelly that I'd get each year from a sales rep of Robinson's.   -djf

The years go by

The other day, as I walked along an Auckland street, I noticed this sight across the street from me. That little buidling with the two interesting chimneys has almost disappeared as newer structures keep rising up around it. I wonder how much long it will last before it's gone?  

In my last post, I talked about how the crowds of people never stop and never stop changing. Well, the same is true about the brick and mortar and steel and glass. The structure of the city is in a constant state of change, just like the people are, but at a rate that's maybe a million times slower. 

For today's post, I'd like to show you some interesing old buildings. I wonder how long they'll last before some new project replaces them. Take a look. 

A few years ago, demolition was in store for this building, but then Historic Value arguments halted it. It appears it's still being discussed. As you can see, the use it's being put to now has fallen somewhat from it's glory days. A tattoo parlour, Balinese massage, money change and a souvenir shop might be keeping it from the wrecking ball though. 

Auckland right now is in the midst of a building boom. It's the greatest fit of building that I've seen during the going-on six years of my life here. Not only are buildings going up all over the place above ground, but the huge, new, deep addition to the train line is burrowing below kilometers of the city and will eventually connect above ground with our Western Line system. I've also read about a network of people-sized tunnels that were built beneath parts of the city during World War II to act as a shelter for the populace in case Japan attcked Auckland. There is a plan in the works to clear out the clay that was used to fill in the old tunnels. The clay was used to pack and preserve the tunnels should they ever be needed again, and it looks as though they will again see the light of day. That Really excites me. If you remember my posts about Northhead, you know what a fan I am of tunnels and caves. One of them I know passes through/under the hill that Albert Park is on.  I hope that I am able to someday do a post about my first trip through those tunnels. Another reason to keep watching this blog. In fact, here's some news about it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmrcC4gTmhc&feature=youtu.be

And check this out. I found that I had a picture of the side door that is shown in the video. This passageway comes off the main tunnel.

You're looking at history here. 

I'm not the only one who laments the passing of old buildings while acknowledging the need for the new. Sculptor John Radford has done pieces to remember some of the buildings that once stood on Auckland's streets. His works are in a park in Ponsonby. I'll do a post on Ponsonby soon and a separate post on the Western Park as well and show you more. To close this post though, I have two pictures of the sculptures in the park for you.   

This is in the Western Park. 

I was just walking along Ponsonby Road when I came across this...
 I flashed back to scenes from Planet of the Apes.  

A closer look at the bricks

You know, I think that those two old chimneys shown in the first picture should be taken down intact and added to the sculptures resting in Western Park when it's finally time for the building that they serve to go. I don't suppose it will happen, but Western Park has lots more room ...     -djf