Australia
The number one question about the Land Down-Under is whether or not the toilets really do flush in the opposite direction as in the northern hemisphere. Unfortunately none of our field testers have reported back on that so far.
One important difference though, according to lizard25 is that evidently many toilets have two buttons on the top for flushing - 1 for when you go pee, and 2 for when you go poo. No word on how they are labelled, but we imagine this is a water-saving mechanism that could be a good idea if implemented properly.
Update! Alert reader MageMLE has been able to confirm the existence of the two-buttoned flushing system, as well as provide a picture of the mechanism! The labelling is vague, at best I would say… half a flush vs. a full flush? She also reports that it’s commonplace to have “occupied” indicators on the outsides of stalls - at least in the women’s bathrooms. That’s got to save some embarassing moments.
Update! Astute readers from FilePile have informed me that these two-buttoned systems are common not only in Australia, but also New Zealand (kind of figures), Germany and the Netherlands! Those crazy Germans and their toilets keep getting wackier all the time…
Update! A message from Wolfie reveals the following tidbits about Australian bathrooms and bathroom culture:
The dual flush system exists due to our water running low, it hasn’t
seriously rained for years.The half flush is always on the left, so it down’t need to be labled
though there are graphics indicating half or full on most cisterns.All new houses are required to have dual flush by law, and you cannot buy a single flush unit anymore, anywhere.
Water flushes the same way in Oz [that's how you say it, never pronounce
it with an Au... Saying "Awsie" is wrong] as it does everywhere else.Aussies never call it “the bathroom” ever… it’s the toilet, the loo or
you can use a slightly crass term “the dunny”.
Dunny. I like that. Another reader takes slight issue with this information however:
I don’t know what bathrooms Wolfie has been in, but here in Melbourne, I’ve actually noticed that it’s much more common for the half-flush to be on the right.
So it may be worth taking a careful look to see which flush button does what.
Update! Kitty writes the following about the recent upsurge in automatic bathrooms in Australia:
Automatic bathrooms are becoming increasingly popular in Australia. These bathrooms are housed inside small concrete buildings. There are lights on the outside that show whether it is occupied, vacant, or the automatic cleaning process is in session. Press the big silver button, and those magic metallic doors slide open, and you are greeted with lovely elevator-style music.
Finish your business, and another magic silver button dispenses toilet paper to you, although has the annoying habit of only giving you one square at a time, which results in you angrily bashing the button because you want more goddamn toilet paper.But wait– where’s the flush button? After your futile search, you leave the mess for the next person to endure. Move to the tapless sink, and simply hold your hands under the pretty red light– water! Move to the next one for soap, and when you move back to the water to rinse your hands, behold! The toilet flushes! Perhaps this is to encourage people to wash their hands. Press the other silver button and leave in peace =]
The toilet flushes when you open the door if you’ve forgotten to wash your hands.
Also, there’s this nifty little alarm to prevent a horny couple stopping for a quickie - after 9 minutes you get a warning, then after 10 minutes a very loud alarm sounds and the door opens– revealing the happy couple in all their pantsless glory.
A couple things…
- One square at a time?!?!?!?
- 10 Minutes seems like more than enough time for a horny couple…
Update! Handy reader Nick provides some detailed information on Australian dual-flush toilets:
• The two button flush system is in most households with a toliet newer than ten years old.
• If you remove the cistern (tank) lid, you can adjust how many litres are flushed on both a full flush and on a half flush. usually you can select between either 9L for a full fush and 4.5L for a half flush, or 6L for a full flush and 3L for a half flush.
• The rubber stopper idea (as seen on Japanese toilets) is also common on Australian toilets.
• Urinals in Australia are becoming increasingly converted to the desert system, that is a chemical block in each urinal which removes the need to flush http://www.desert.com.au/
• Trough urinals are the most common urinal in Australia, in fact it is rare to see ceramic urinals.
• Public toilet buildings in the outback are round
• Long drop toilets (a big hole dug in the ground with a toilet building built on top of it) are common, and are possibly the most unhygienic toilets ever to be encountered. In the areas i have encountered them, there is no running water and so cleanliness is not very high on the list for these toilets
Troughs and long drop toilets aplenty - yike!
