This new set of toilets were put in the spring of 2024, replacing what is described further down the page. They are of the permaloos brand which the city seems to have adopted in the last few years for their new builds. three doors face the street with the middle one been a service one and the other two are unisex and wheel chair accessible. The one on the right also has a nappy changing table. I don't know what the opening hours are but the previous ones were 24/7. Hopefully they are the same.
I had a quick look inside the one one the right. It was very clean and tidy and certainly didn't have the well used look of its predecessor. There was on the wall a yellow unit into which to dispose of used needles. Handy if your diabetic. The nappy changing table folds out from the wall and is stainless steel. Looks quite robust. I forgot to see what sort of container was provided for the disposal of any used material that you didn't want to take home. The stainless steel hand dryier was recessed into the wall. The loo paper was behind a stainless steel panel that was flush with the wall and a gap underneath for getting the paper. I assume that two of the large rolls of paper can be held in it. The only visible plastic was the white toilet seat and lid with the toilet bowl, hand basin, soap dispenser and hand drier all stainless steel. I've left the old description below because there is a hint hiddenon solving the puzzle in it.
These toilets replace underground toilets built in London Street outside the Albert Arms Hotel and, again, like other underground loos around the city was built for men only .(Women did get toilets at a later date in the Octagan). While these subterranean spaces were designed with modernity and privacy in mind, the challenges of being underground meant they had to be constructed to withstand the traffic load. The roof was designed to meet this and the walls and floors needed to be watertight to hold back the water table and rainwater. Water from the street had to be stopped from running down the stairs and when it did flood, the water had to be pumped out. Artificial light was also required and the spaces all had skylights and pavement lights18 . The London Street toilets were closed due to general deterioration and inadequacy and were shut in 1964. The space was then offered to the Electricity Department and has been used ever since as an underground substation.
The Frederick St toilets are on land owned by the University of Otago. The set that preceeds the current one were of a concrete block structure. I'm not sure when they were replaced but that structure was still standing in 1975. The current structure, viewed from outside is a cream rough cast structure with a pitch rood with a tile pattern. Generally the doorsof the two units stand open when not in use. They are of the EXELOO brand. Outside by the door there is a panel that shows that it is uisex and wheel chair accessible. They are self cleaning and after 10 minutes of the door closing they will open (with an alarm giving a minute warning). In the case of a power failing they can be opened manually. You might find a phone can be handy. (I needed one recently in Mosgiel when the manual door locked failed on a Saturday. Luckily there was someone in the DCC who answered and arranged for someone to come to my rescue). Inside you will find a button to close the door which will automatically slide to close. Button also needs to be pressed to open.The floor tiles are of a brick red colour and the wall tiles are white. The loo is stainless steel with a white plastic seat. You need to push the adjacent button to dispense the loo paper.Flushing is manual. You will see the button for this on the wall behind the loo. For those less agile there is a hand rail on the wall on both sides of the seat to provide assistance. The handbasin looks as if it is stainless steel painted white. Cold water only. It looks as though the soap dispenser use to be located on the hand basin but it is now higher up on the wall. There is an air hand drier on the wall between the loo and handbasin that has a sensor to start. There appears to be a sanitary disposal unit in the wall which is now non functional. instead there is the free standing unit on the floor. There is at least one coat hook surviving in each unit.
The cache is a 20 ml screw top container with aqua paper within. No room for a pen or pencil so please bring your own writing implement. It is a few minutes walk away and in the 3rd hiding place I tried. The first, which could have taken a decent size container was already occupied by a stashed can of lemon vodka soda. Swapping it out for a geocache would lead to a disgruntled person probably destroying the cache. I did clean it out though. The second spot had a proximity issue so hopefully this spot will not pose any problems with its survival from muggles etc.
Decode the following to find the cache.
82 42 7634 227 37472 6732 48377 6732 22824 452 385 7243 32448 7243 7847 7847 452 22824 6732 452 7847