Toilet Talk

Some people call it the toilet, loo, and even the porcelain throne

 Dont worry this post will have nothing gross to see or be squirmish about. Just thought I would take some time to share some of the things that are different round these parts of the world that are every day things. Lo and behold the Aussie toilet. And random bit, when you need to go the bathroom or restroom as we most commonly call it in America, it is always called the toilet here (I have every once in a great while seen a sign say "restroom") It's always toilet. It was a bit odd to me at first not quite seeming proper enough but quickly learned that Aussies have a completely different style of communicating (they shoot from the hip and no one takes offence, it just is what it is) and so it makes sense. Now looking at the above picture you might not notice anything different from any other toilet........let me point out a few things.....

 This is the way you flush the toilet. Its almost always on top of the toilet or in some public toilets on the wall directly behind where its pictured above. Some have the flush styled a bit differently but there is one thing that remains the same. A half flush and a whole flush (ours happens to be the small moon or big moon, ah how fitting). I absolutely love this concept and think it is something that would be great to integrate back in America. It is environmentally  "greener" and just is practical. Cause really when you make a 'wee' as the littles call it here you don't need a big flush and other times a big flush will do just the trick.

The one thing I dont like about the flush is in public bathrooms the buttons are still up at waist height and you cant flush with your foot like you usually can in America, yuck!!!!! And yes many times their public facilities are just as nasty as ours as far as parks and big places. The shopping centers are not as bad and usually have a family bathroom which makes it a bit easier but that is one thing I hate about this flush system. I dont know if it has to be that way or not, but me no likey.

This is the toilet bowl, who notices the difference...................barely any water. Yep initially I thought smart cookies you aussie's and well I guess it is smart. The country had been in drought for so many years that all these changes including the flush had been made to help with water use. Showers were limited to 4 minutes a day and you could be fined or get in trouble somehow if you were using too much, and you could only water your garden or yard if you collected the rain water and used that. So yes, this was a great change to their system to help. Unfortunately Queensland had major flooding last year but since then the drought is over.

Back to the toilet, that little amount of water means lots of phantom skid marks and washing to toilet way more often than any homemaker would ever love to do. I mean I dont know about you but cleaning the toilet is not my favorite chore of the house, but that may just be me. Toilet brushes are usually kept in every bathroom er toilet, and must be thrown out more often. So all in all there are things I absolutely love about these here aussie toilets and things I very much dislike. Every time some one comes over I have to run into the toilet and make sure there are no marks that need scrubbing because that little amount of water even my 3 year leaves phantom marks.