Sympatico / MSN News : Unusual News : Government to build Australia's highest toilet, on country's highest mountain

Sympatico / MSN News : Unusual News : Government to build Australia's highest toilet, on country's highest mountain

Unless someone can drive up there, why in the world would you need wheelchair access?

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Those attempting to scale Australia's highest mountain will soon be able to stop at the country's highest toilet.

Dubbed the 'Loo with a View,' the all-weather toilet block is to be built into the wind-swept side of Mount Kosciuszko. It's about 120 metres below the mountain's snowcapped peak in a New South Wales state national park. The toilet is described as 'a bunker,' built to withstand 150-kilometre-an-hour winds. It's carved six metres into the mountain and will have three urinals and three unisex stalls - one with wheelchair access.

The septic tank will have enough capacity to ensure that the toilet can last more than six months without service.

'The engineering challenges are in trying to build something in such a remote location and at that elevation,' National Parks and Wildlife Service alpine area manager Andrew Harrigan said.

The toilet is part of a recently released human waste strategy for the park, entitled 'Taking Care of Business,' which aims to prevent walkers and campers from digging latrines in the earth or snow.

'What we'd like to do is get rid of people doing number twos in the area and we're llooking at introducing a carryout policy and providing biodegradable bags," Harrigan said.

Standing a relatively modest 2,228 metres above sea level, Kosciuszko's peak attracts about 60,000 climbers a year, mostly during summer when little snow remains.

The toilet is to be built in the 2006-07 southern summer, he said.