The collapse of a floor at a remote drop hole toilet in the Aussie outback was the subject of conversation amongst truckies, which Spy overheard at a roadhouse eatery.
These drivers all expressed deep sympathy for a Canberra woman who stopped for a toilet break at Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve, 145km south-west of Alice Springs.
The poor woman ended up waist-deep in human waste after falling into the outdoor loo.
The rusty floor gave way sending her into a sewage pit two metres deep and she spent three hours there before being rescued.
Because there was no phone signal in the area, her family was forced to leave her behind and drive an hour north to the nearest town to find help.
Every one of the truckies who discussed the event had used such a drop hole toilet somewhere around the country.
They are smelly, generally have heaps of mosquitoes or other disease carrying insects.
Spy has seen people beat a hasty retreat, one of them after being overcome by an awful odour or human waste being scattered inside.
This unusual event will have anybody using such a drop hole dunny being very careful to check the stability of the floor.
The incident had Spy asking drivers for the locations of such drop hole dunnies that they try and give a wide berth.
One which several drivers said was “on the nose” was at the Baxter Creek Rest Area along the Eyre Highway in WA.
The Thackaringa Hills rest area beside the Barrier Highway in NSW is another.
Still in NSW, the Dolo Hills rest area which is a remote camping spot located on the Barrier Highway in the heart of far west New South Wales, between Wilcannia and Broken Hill, is also on the list.
In Queensland, there is one near Gatton which is dodged unless the need is necessary.
Spy recently visited one at Fishery Falls just south of Cairns which can be insect infected.
One lad with a genuine sense of humour said it was far better to stop at a rest area with a drop hole toilet than one which has no dunny at all.
He was talking about a dunny building which is located west of near Cobar also on the Barrier Highway.
“It was wrecked when a vehicle hit it back in May of 2024 and still hasn’t been fixed,” the Queensland driver said.
A local man was charged with negligent driving over the collision.
“It is a shell of a toilet block and should have been demolished or replaced by now,” he said.