Queenstown's sustainable-businesses align to 'wrap it up' in the showers

Personal hygiene is taken to a new level at Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park “Creeksyde” where guests can enjoy the view from one of Ziptrek Ecotours picturesque ziplines and other iconic Queenstown attractions as they attend to their ablutions.

The Oast House is set to become Queenstown’s newest tourist attraction as Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park “Creeksyde” owners Erna and Tonnie Spijkerbosch open the ablution block which they believe has the potential to become the Hundertwasser toilets of the south.

“The Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa Northland attract tourists from all over the world. They have put Kawakawa on the map because they’re quirky, fun and really interesting,” said Ms Spijkerbosch. “Our new ablution block grew from a design that was inspired by the traditional Oast House – a building used to store hops – but it’s since turned into an expression of Queenstown culture and art. We think people will love them and will come specifically to visit.”

When heading for a wash, guests are guaranteed a sight wherever they look. Queenstown’s best known views, eye-popping artwork and a couple of well known properties are represented along with the necessary plumbing elements.

“We invited Ziptrek Ecotours and other operators to take part, then commissioned trompe l’oeil artist Mark Spijkerbosch (Erna’s nephew) and the result is something really very special and lots of fun.”

Female visitors step into the Oast House through an image of a larger-than-life sized ballet dancer into a day spa environment with trompe l’oeil rock pools painted on the floor. Males pass a larger than life doorman to enter a Speight’s Ale House complete with bar stools and local barflies.

In one of the men’s showers the star of the scenic shot is a towel-bearing female guide zipping across the spectacular view. It’s ‘naturally’ vice-versa for the ladies’. Both zippers, of course, are wearing safety helmets.

Tonni and Erna were thrilled with the floor-to-ceiling length wall-wrapping that Ziptrek Ecotours contributed and said they valued working with Ziptrek Ecotours as a fellow sustainable practice-conscious business.

“Ziptrek Ecotours has one of the greatest views overlooking Queenstown and as one of the biggest eco-operators in the region it gives us a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and form a beneficial relationship, she said.

The pair are so far delighted with the response from guests.

“We wanted guests to feel relaxed and at ease with their surroundings at Creeksyde and people who stay here always comment on how they enjoy our little eccentricities around the site. But this has turned into something much bigger and the initial reactions are just amazing.”

The ablution block artwork joins dozens of unusual findings around the Creeksyde holiday park, such as recycled mosaics, sculptures and three-dimensional trompe l’oeil illusions painted on the floor of the male and female ablutions block.

“It’s become a real tourist attraction, so popular in fact we’ve had to allocate a public ‘viewing’ time to ensure people don’t disturb our guests at the park.”

People can enquire about the public viewing times with the reception team at Creeksyde.

Creeksyde - Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park is world renowned for its commitment to sustainable practice and in 2003 was the world’s first holiday park to be environmentally Green Globe benchmarked. In 2004 it was the first to be Green Globe certified.

Ziptrek Ecotours were recognised for its outstanding effort towards sustainability
at the 2010 Westpac Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Business Awards - just one year after opening its flying fox eco-adventure high in the tree tops above Queenstown.