World Toilet Day was November 19, and I forgot.

Bummer!

Forgetting the biggest event on the loo lover’s calendar is a dunny detective’s disaster! A toilet tragic’s tragedy!! A convenience chaser’s catastrophe!!!

BUT …

… then I think about the 4.2 billion people without safely managed sanitation facilities and the 673 million people worldwide who practice open defecation. The 2 billion people whose drinking water is contaminated with faeces, the 432,000 diarrhoeal deaths per year, and the children in conflict zones 20 times more likely to die from sanitation-related illness than violence.

That makes my dunny disaster look like a s**t-storm in a teacup.

World Toilet Day

Check out the World Toilet Day official fact sheet HERE for some even more scary facts that’ll make you realise how lucky we are in Australia.

So while you’re admiring 10 All-Australian amenities, with the 10 amazing All-Australian adventure hot spots that go with them, spare a thought for those for whom doing their ‘business’ is SO not a pleasure. Then keep reading for ideas about how YOU can help!

1 Timber Creek, Northern Territory

Afloat on a small (and relatively unstable) structure surrounded by crocodiles on Australia’s wildest river is enough to make you want to – well, YOU know! Luckily, this croc-proof (we hope!) purpose-built pontoon has ALL the amenities to survive a Victoria River Crocodile Cruise – drinks and snacks while enjoying a Northern Territory sunset AND crazy-cool crocodile cruise conveniences if nature’s call gets a little bit too much.

That’s a relief in more ways than one!  Read more about cruising with crocodiles HERE!

2 Bruny Island, Tasmania

Bruny Island isn’t just the last stop off the Tassie coast before Antarctica! Dress up in some (REALLY unfashionable) heavy weather gear for a wet and wild ride over heaving seas, through keyhole rocks, past rugged islands adorned with seals and right under the second highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere before reaching the Great Southern Ocean!

En route to the cruise departure point, don’t miss this loo on the Neck (are you wondering why it’s called that?) far below Truganini’s Lookout!  Discover Beauty and the Beasts on Bruny Island Cruises HERE to see why it’s one of my favourite Australian adventure hot spots!

3 Mt Kosciuszko, New South Wales

Climbing Australia’s highest mountain is embarrassingly easy – you heard it here first!  It’s only 2228 metres (7310 feet) above sea-level, making it lower than the height above which lots of people live! BUT … ‘mountaineers’ like me who climb it can bag their first (and in my case only) ‘Seven Summits’ peak.

Although I don’t know from personal experience, I bet it’s the ONLY Seven Summits peak with a view over the highest Public Toilet in the land!!  But I’ll let the REAL mountaineers prove me wrong!  Go HERE for more about how I climbed Mount Kosciuszko!

4 Head of Bight, South Australia

Head of Bight – highest point of the distinctive bite-shaped coastal curve along the southern Australian coastline – isn’t easy to get to. But you’ll drive right past it on the 4100+ km (2500+ mile) road trip across the Nullarbor Plain between Sydney and Perth! At the 2300 km mark, just over half-way from Sydney, take a pit stop to watch whales cavorting with their calves under the longest line of sea cliffs in the world!

And visit the Head of Bight loo that overlooks it all!  Check out my story about seeing the Whales at Head of Bight HERE!

5 Point Quobba, Western Australia

Killer king waves, shipwreck stories, blowholes and extreme water sports make Point Quobba one of the wildest stretches of rugged, rocky coastline in Oz (above and top) – and one of the most picturesque!

If action adventure with a massive dose of danger isn’t quite your thing, just find a vantage point (away from the edge!) and you’ll probably see a whale.  When you’re not being distracted by the thrill-seekers getting a drenching at the blowholes, that is!

Alternatively, just take in all the action from the vantage point of this classic Aussie dunny overlooking the famous blow hole.  I promise that you won’t miss anything while you’re doing your business – because the door doesn’t close!

The famous Quobba Blowhole at Quobba Point is just one of the many superb Australian Coastal and Beach Holiday Destinations you can read about HERE!

6 Mt Hotham, Victoria

Whether it’s summer or winter, the view over this part of the Australian Alps is white.  Visible in summer, the white-bleached tree trunks killed by bushfires outline the many-layered mountain ranges surrounding Mount Hotham. In winter, they’re covered in snow.

It’s likely to be significantly cooler than the plains below at any time of year, so when you get there, admire the white view from the ski lift transit lounge loo AND appreciate the civilised conveniences plumber who installed just one tap – HOT!

Read all about the Mount Hotham loo (and surrounds!) HERE!

7 Richmond, Queensland

If you’re a keen prehistoric fossil-fossicker, the chances of striking it lucky on the Outback Queensland Dinosaur trail are better than average.  Especially at Richmond, where the soft Toolebuc formation on what was once an inland sea under 30-40 metres of water has given up world famous fossil relics like the Richmond Pliosaur, Minmi and Kronosaurus.

Even the dunny gets in on the act – but while you can make your ‘deposit’ at the future coprolite drop zone (aka the loo), chances are good you won’t be around when it’s unearthed as a fossil!

Discover more about Queensland’s famous Richmond fossil fields HERE!

8 Warraweena, South Australia

For a taste of what’s on offer in one of the top Australian adventure hot spots, the ancient wonderland us South Aussies call the Flinders Ranges, head out to the privately owned Warraweena Conservation Park.  In the less well known northern Flinders Ranges you’ll find rugged 4WD tracks, mountain climbing, wildlife, stunning scenery, historic sites and eco-tourism all in one handy location.

You’ll also find the only combination scenic public toilet/visitor information centre I’ve ever seen at the historic Sliding Rock Mine site!

But that’s not all!  Go HERE for a LOT more things to do throughout the amazing Flinders Ranges.

9 Lord Howe Island, New South Wales

This tiny sub-tropical paradise 600 km (370 miles) off the east coast of Australia has so many world exclusives it’s hard to know where to start. First up, there’s Balls Pyramid – highest volcanic rock stack in the world. Then there’s only golf course on earth on World Heritage turf and world’s southernmost tropical reef. Even the wildlife gets in on the act with the endemic Lord Howe Island Woodhen and Phasmid, a large stick-insect.

And then there’s this awesome view – clearly visible from what has to be one of the most scenic loos downunder! Australian adventure hot spots don’t get much better than this!  A Lord Howe Island Holiday can be awesome – read about mine HERE!

10 Tunnel Creek, Western Australia

Although the Gibb River Road has claimed countless tyres, axles, windscreens and suspensions over its 660 km (410 miles) length full of tyre-shredding rocks, perilous creek crossings, red dust and bone-jarring corrugations.  But it’s still a popular Aussie road trip, most likely because of the stunning Kimberley natural attractions scattered along its length!  Take a short detour to Tunnel Creek and go underground for a different perspective of the Kimberley Region.

And while you’re there, detour into the even more welcome attraction you’ll find under the rocky cliffs.  There’s more about the amazing Kimberley region HERE!

We’re very lucky down here to have so many Australian adventure hot spots with amazing attractions and awesome amenities in some of our most remote and adventure-filled locations.

So while it’s easier for us (read: me!) to forget World Toilet Day even though it’s been an official UN day since 2013, we can contribute to the impact it’s having around the world on any day!

How to get involved:

World Toilet Day is about working together to eliminate the life-threatening hazards caused by poor sanitation in places where the ‘adventures’ many people face in doing their business are a lot less welcome.

If you’re not sure how you can help, here’s a few ideas:

• Who Gives a Crap:  Buy your toilet paper (and/or tissues and kitchen paper) from this innovative company, and 50% of profits are donated to building toilets for those in need (the other 50% mostly goes to growing the company).  Get in quick and you could order the wicked Gift Edition Loo Paper to make Xmas REALLY fun!
• Toilet Twinning:  Your £60 donation (about $AUD114 on 20/11/19) funds a community loo project, and you’ll get a pic and the coordinates of your toilet ‘twin’ to hang in your own amenities! Can’t afford that?  Check out the website for other fundraising products and ideas.
• Sanitation First:  Send a Shitty Gift (their words, not mine) for any occasion – check out the graphic range of gift cards – and you’ll be helping this organisation tackle poverty one toilet at a time (again, their words, not mine)!!
• TEAR Australia:  Sanitation is just one of several initiatives this organisation has to reduce poverty.  Check out their collection of Really Useful Gifts!
• World Toilet Day official website: more information and ideas, don’t forget to mark the date on your calendar for next year.

Got more ideas?  Put them in the comments below!

The post TOP 10 All-Australian Adventure Hot Spots for World Toilet Day! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

A six hour drive north of Adelaide takes you deep into South Australia’s Outback zone AND into the Flinders Ranges National Park.

It’s considered remote. By most people’s standards, anyway.

Factor in its staggering scenery, wonderful wildlife, numerous hiking trails and awesome natural beauty, and you’ve got one of the best eco-tourism adventure destinations in the country! That makes it the perfect place to get away from it all.

And when we based ourselves in central location Wilpena to sample the Flinders Ranges, it WAS the perfect place to get away from it all. So perfect,we got away from it all at the same time that a lot of other travellers were getting away from it all.

So where do you go when you want to get away from getting away from it all?

You head for the hills, of course!

The Bunkers, actually.

Take the Wirrealpa road roughly following the park boundary for about 45 km north-east of Wilpena when it passes through The Bunkers, a

range of low hills.

Further along is the extraordinary Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary*.

And on the other side of the road outside the park is the privately owned Bunkers reserve, home of Willow Springs Sky Trek, known for its spectacular scenery.

Saving that trip for another day, we headed for the Little Bunkers trailhead, start – or end – of the fabulously amazing Wilkawillina Gorge hike which would show us a very different side to the Flinders Ranges National Park. A hike on which we would see NO OTHER PEOPLE!

Ironically, the hike actually works better with more people as it’s an 11.4 km tramp one way through the Gorge from the Little Bunkers Trailhead to the Mt Billy Creek Trailhead (or vice versa). And the track notes suggest setting aside 6 hours. One way. So the smart walkers will travel in a group with two cars, leaving one at each end of the track.

Or just do what no-friend-losers like Pilchard and I did – and hike the trail to the halfway point, taking in some of its highlights before retracing your steps.

It doesn’t take very long to start seeing those highlights.

Although that depends on your tolerance for red rock, blue skies, broad and empty river beds and dramatic profiles. In other words – classic outback scenery!

While there’s some evidence of the Barite exploration (there are two mines outside the park boundary) the walk is an opportunity to view Wonoka Formation rocks and minerals, Wilkawillina Limestone, Bonney Sandstone and Rawnsley Quartzite in its natural and largely unadulterated habitat.

If you can’t distinguish Cambrian from Pre-Cambrian, forget the geology lesson, and just admire the staggeringly scenic landscape! The unusual layers, colours and patterns don’t seem real in this empty and lost world landscape. What we’d normally expect from familiar objects like hills and valleys doesn’t apply in this parallel universe where swirling patterns cover the low hills; rocks soar from the dry river bed, full of eucalypts saplings; and striking colours interspersed with dramatic lines frame the sky.

‘Ten Mile Creek’ doesn’t accurately describe the broad river bed, with Archaeocyatha fossils embedded in its rocky banks and massive River Red Gums growing in the gravel, that traverses the gorge. Today it’s dry, except for a few pools, but the flash floods it’s built to carry have helped create this unique landscape, weathered by the harsh outback conditions.

With such amazing scenery on offer, it was tempting to keep going – just to see what was round the next corner. But although it’s fairly easy going, without any friends with a welcoming car at trail’s end, there’s just not enough time in the day. We’re not known as the world’s slowest hikers for nothing! So after lunch (no bakeries out here!)(and sadly, no scenic public toilets either!!) overlooking the river we reluctantly turned back, wandering along the river bed until we reached the river crossing.

Maybe next time we’d walk to this point from the other end. Or find some friends.

But for now, as we happily discovered, the landscape was just as spectacularly dramatic in reverse.

Finally we left the wonders of the gorge behind. Ahead, I could see the car in the distance, perched high above the river bed – the first sign of civilisation we’d seen in several hours.

But I wasn’t entirely sure it was a welcome sight.

Want MORE?

• Wilkawillina Gorge Track Notes
• Flinders Ranges National Park
• More Redz Australia adventures in Flinders Ranges National Park
• *My adventures in Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary
• MORE photos on Flickr HERE

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The post Walk Wild Wilkawillina! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.