Random Photo!

Keith has once again, and I don't know how he constantly manages it, cut the link between this blog and Aperture so I can't do the post I was going to do - about our visit to Downtown Auckland - because I can't tell you that story without photographs.

However, since I can link to i-photo and only his photos of our trip are in there, let's do a random photo thing with his shots.

OK, eyes shut and click:

Keith took this one!

Cool!  It's the toilet block at Matakana! Isn't it just sublime!

Kiwis appear to recently be developing this real thing for creating sublime public toilets and I think I know the reason.  It's because of that famous Swedish or Swizz or something architect they once treated so badly!

Do you know that story?  I love it because it's so quintessentially Kiwi in all its aspects!  What happened, apparently, was that some famous genius Swedish or Swizz or something architect/artist was in NZ and so fell in love with the scenic beauty of the country, as you do, that he asked if he could donate his talents for free to build something for the nation ... and NZ, who didn't know who he was and with that passive-aggressive unpleasantness that seems to mark everything they do, said "Why don't you build us a public toilet in the middle of nowhere!" 

But the Swedish or Swizz or something appear to have thick skins and no understanding of sarcasm, so this noble fellow went all out and threw all his skill, talent and downright genius into creating the most beautiful toilet block anyone has ever seen.  All mad-cap and Gaudi and crazy-beautiful!  And in the middle of nowhere too!

And didn't the local Kiwis complain about it!  It was all too mad-cap and Gaudi and crazy-beautiful for their tastes, but so out of the way no one bothered to tear it down.

However, in the decade that followed, Swedish or Swizz or something fans of this artist/architect traveled across the world in pilgrimage to see this magnificent structure, and then other architects of the world followed suit, and then the Kiwi architects began to make pilgrimages too, and slowly, slowly, slowly the New Zealand nation began to see it as beautiful too, and these days people travel from all over the country to the middle of nowhere to see this amazing structure.

I have long wanted, as a long-time fan of mad-cap and Gaudi and crazy-beautiful, to see it for myself and am forever suggesting each visit we travel up north to hunt it down, but everyone always says that this Middle of Nowhere is actually Miles from Anywhere, and since there's nothing else to see up there, it isn't worth the journey.

However,  I was taken, this trip, to see the new toilet block at Matakana and was very impressed indeed.  It's just amazing, isn't it! And it appears to not be the only one around these days!  It seems that, in the Middle of Nowheres all over the country, Kiwi architects are creating the most amazing toilet blocks that are all mad-cap and Gaudi and crazy-beautiful, undoubtedly in homage and hopefully by way of apology to the Swedish or Swizz or something architect that they once exercised their quintessential Kiwi charm on, with such amazing results.

And let me now see if I can find some reference to all this, hopefully with image so you can see the original toilet block for yourself.

Ah, isn't the internet grand.  20 seconds and I now know the fellow's name is Hundertwasser and the famous Middle of Nowhere is called Kawakawa, so how easy is it to now track it all down for yourself.

And if you can't:  HERE!