Our first encounter with an Exceloo was in Picton. They are super deluxe portable toilets, that not only perform all the functions above, but also play music for you while you do your business.

There are oodles of public toilets in New Zealand, and nearly all we encountered were very clean, well stocked with toilet paper, and nice smelling. :^) And most of the toilets at the backcountry huts we stayed at were flush (vs. 'drop') toilets too. Wow! Weird though. :^/

From Picton we headed west, camping the next night at a DOC campsite in St. Arnaud where it rained quite a bit (oddly enough). Camped next to us was Rick Collier from Calgary. Rick and some members of his hiking club had just recently climbed Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, and no one had died. :^) Now Rick was cycling around New Zealand, but he wasn't enjoying it very much, because of the rain and very aggressive drivers. (I later found out from Rick that he had his pack stolen in Christchurch the day he left the country. Bummer.)

We didn't do any hiking at St. Arnaud, because we are wimps and don't like the rain. But we did take a nice hot shower there (one of the few DOC campsites with hot water - ahhh).

From St. Arnaud we drove west to Westport, booking a night in the last hut of the Heaphy Track. We were getting pretty tired of driving and I desperately wanted to get some exercise, so we prayed the rain would stop. That night we camped at another wonderful DOC campsite just north of Karamea at Kohaihai, right on the Tasman Sea, and right at the start (for us)/traditional end of the Heapy Track. We fell asleep in our trusty tent to the sound of the waves and didn't care that much that it was raining, yet again.