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| Blowering Dam Scenic Public Toilet - the RED circle marks the spot! Via Tumut, New South Wales |
The chances of the overly excitable,
the imaginative and the paranoid of finding their Blowering Dam Wall
public amenities experience more than a little stressful are better
than average.
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| View from the Blowering Dam loo, via Tumut, New South Wales |
While answering nature's call in this
relief station's unusually picturesque setting amidst the heavily
wooded Tumut River Valley is a positive pleasure, its placement is a
potential death trap.
And while considering the possible
perils would probably only occur to the
excitable and/or imaginative and/or paranoid, that doesn't make them any less real.
Because behind the 114 m (374 ft) high
dam wall towering above the amenities and stretching for 747 metres
(2450ft) is holding back 1.6 MILLION megalitres (sorry, Imperial measurement countries, you're on your own with this one) of water! When
it's full, that is.
And this little loo in the picnic area
below the dam wall is right in the firing line!!
Blowering Dam on the Tumut River 13 km
upstream from the small town of Tumut in the foothills of the Snowy
Mountains in the New South Wales Riverina Highlands isn't Australia's
biggest lake, nor is it a natural one. Completed in 1968, it's not
even the biggest lake in the Snowy Mountains Scheme for irrigation
and hydro-electricity of which it is a part.
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| Blowering Dam from Dam Wall, via Tumut, New South Wales |
But the staggering view
from atop the dam wall is a fitting place for the successful World
Water Speed Record attempt on 8 October 1978.
Although it's doubtful that still
current world record-holder Ken Warby was taking in the view while
travelling at 511 kph (317.6 mph) in his boat 'Spirit of Australia' … there's an 85% chance of a fatality amongst those who have attempted this feat!
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| See that white speck? Yep, that's a camper ... Blowering Dam, New South Wales |
Nowadays, there's plenty of room for
camping, fishing and water sports around the edge of the dam's 44.6
km2 surface area. As we saw on our March 2012 weekend visit. But
the picnic area below the dam remained strangely devoid of visitors …
did the locals know something WE didn't know??
While the odds of a dam wall failure
delivering a 1.6 million megalitre Royal Flush instead of the 12
litres usually required for loos of this vintage are pretty long, low
risk isn't quite the same as NO risk, is it?!
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| This local was sitting tight in the Blowering Dam loo ... |
Not to the neurotic, anyway!!
Or is that just me?
Read MORE:
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A loo with a view!
ReplyDeleteLove the froggie.
ReplyDeleteOh all the potty jokes swirling around in my head but then to use them would just get me flushed from your blog.
ReplyDeleteStill, in spite of the looming mega-litres of water, that sure is a pretty place. Envy and love your posts about your travels. Please keep them coming :-)
ReplyDeleteCan't remember how I found you but so glad I did. You get to places I didn't reach on my journey around Australia and it's lovely to travel by proxy.
DeleteG'day Red, great photos and info! The little frog fellow has changed his colour beautifully in the wall!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking camping and tides, but no. Crocs? No. Flash flooding filling the dam? No. Still, for some reason I would not feel comfortable camping so close to the shore of the dam.
ReplyDeleteUh, OK. Nah I'll wait -- I don't really have to go THAT bad.
ReplyDeleteBut what a beautiful view. So if you were there a few years ago, I guess it's still standing?
Love the froggy.
@Along these Lines - It's amazing how many there are in OZ! Ynot check out the other 34 I've discovered so far?!!
ReplyDelete@Rosemary - I almost missed it with the colour & all ...
@SFlaGuy - Two minds with but a single thought (or smutty schoolboy series of thoughts) ... I really had to censor myself for this one!!!
@Tez - Keeping them coming as ordered!!! Don't CARE how you found my site - glad of your company!! And if I can inspire another visit, my work is done!
@Rose - Ha! I never thought of the frog as being chameleon-like! But of COURSE that's the best explanation for the colour!! Now all I have to do is find out what sort of frog it is ...
@Andrew - I am SO with you on camping there! Spectacular and all, but for no reason I can put my finger on, it makes ME feel uneasy too ... maybe it's all those unpredictable megalitres of water all around????
@Sallie - No, we were there in March 2013!! And I think I've self-diagnosed as paranoid - or egotistical! Why would the dam choose to burst after all those years just when I got there?!?!?!
I thought it was only me who'd come up with something like that; we must both be Pisces or something? Definately not pessimistic, just an imaginative mind, yes, that's it Red! Never been to Tumut, enjoyed your photos and commentary as always
ReplyDeleteThat's the sort of loo my mum would visit on purpose, just to be able to say she'd been and gone and didn't get washed away. I'm a little that way myself, if I had to "go" and that was the available loo, I'd go, but I'd be pretty quick about it, just in case.
ReplyDeleteAnother great loo and view! The scenery is gorgeous and I love the cute frog. Have a happy day!
ReplyDeletewhat an absolutely stunning view from your "scenic loos" - Did you meet the camper - hard to believe a wonderful area such as this devoid of campers or beach mongrels. Like the little froggy all nestled in there :)
ReplyDeleteIf I would show you our public toilets... you would run away screaming. You have seen so many scenic loos in your travels
ReplyDeleteA funny (but essential) place to have a loo. Get your point from the safety point of view.
ReplyDeleteWell done Red - another interesting and entertaining post and without resorting to scatological humour. I could not have done it.
ReplyDeleteAwww, that´s beautiful! Yet, the thought of using that loo... with all the more than 12 l water behind... ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow - that really is scenic! Such lovely blues in sky and water.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful scenaries. You certainly have a heart for nature.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
There are some who would have had a conniption if they saw that frog/toad! Another epic visit to the loo for you, Red. Your explorations are always so wonderfully presented, I feel as though I am right there next to the dam.
ReplyDeleteI'd be a little bit faster than normal if I had to use that loo - especially now that you've laid all the facts bare, so to speak. Incredible pics Red, and as always I love your humorous take in making the ordinary extraordinary!
ReplyDeleteThats a nice watering spot so to speak.
ReplyDeletecheers
Stewart M - Melbourne
Interesting place. Doesn't look like hydroelectric or irrigation projects are up and running yet. Didn't know about speed record, but don't think I'll challenge it given the odds of death. Love the little frog. It was probably hiding out to avoid the sun. Thank for your photos and story. Damns seldom fail, so no need to panic.
ReplyDeletewhat an amazing scenery! what a gorgeous view!
ReplyDeletegreat loo. ha a loo with a view!
wonderful landscape/seascape photos!
happy weekend~
xx
Yes I think that you need to relax when you visit these spectacular loos Red! Me, I am more scared of scorpions that of zillions of gallons of water :-).
ReplyDeleteCiao
Alessandra
Belas fotografias...Espectacular....
ReplyDeleteCumprimentos
@Carole - Haha! I'm an earth sign ... but happy to accept the charge of 'over-imaginative'!! That way EVERYTHING is an adventure!
ReplyDelete@River - I guess that means your Mum & I have something in common!!! The things I do for this blog ...!!!
@eileeninmd - I thought at first the frog was an oversized hunk of used chewing gum until I looked more closely!
@Saucy Kod - A camper out in the middle of nowhere is most likely seeking solitude ... it was the weekend, so also surprised how few people there were!
@MJWC - Haha! But I've only shown you the GOOD ones!!!
@Haddock - If I'd been the planner, I'd have put it up near the dam wall that everyone walks across! But weirdly, they didn't ask my opinion ...
ReplyDelete@FruitCake - Ah yes ... so many 'witticisms' gone unsaid ... we'll have to compare notes should we ever meet!
@Iris - I'm sure there's no REAL danger ... but the thought of ALL THAT WATER ... nearly makes me want to go again!
@ladyfi - The blues were SO stunning - where I live further south is MUCH drier!
@Filip - Nature is my religion!
@TMWH - Haha! Then you can also feel what it's like to have that crushing amount of water looming above, right?!?!?!
ReplyDelete@Jo - Thank you! That'd be my overactive imagination leaping to the fore!!
@Stewart - Hahaha! And that's probably one of the more mild witticisms that sprang to mind!!
@TFG - All the hydro stuff is well & truly there behind the scenes - this is just a 'holding' pond (don't know the technical terminology). And 'seldom' doesn't mean NEVER!!!
@Betty - You'll just have to try one of my Aussie loos one day, my friend!!
@Alessandra - If there was a scorpion in THIS loo I would have moved even faster!!!
@Fernando - Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed your visit here!!
"...but the thought of ALL THAT WATER ... nearly makes me want to go again!"
ReplyDeleteLOL, Red, gotta go! ;-)