Australia is spending $278,000 so that Instagrammers can pee near this boatshed
Apparently, influencers have bladders, too.
It's 2019 and brightly-colored structures are (still) all the rage on Instagram. That's why The Crawley Edge Boatshed is experiencing a major influx of iPhone-wielding, content hungry visitors. In fact, it's the "most photographed tourist attraction in Perth, Australia," according to CNN.
The blue shed is only accessible via a long wooden boardwalk. And before that, visitors must cross Perth's busiest street, Mounts Bay Road. This makes for a potentially dangerous trek, and the payoff is a photo in front of a shed. Given the general population's hearty appetite for #content, though, the risky commute is not the issue.
No, the problem here is that once you've snapped your pictures, there's nowhere to go. The nearest bathroom is a mile and a half away. Unsurprisingly, the owner of a nearby fine dining restaurant, Zafferano's, isn't happy with random people walking in and trying to use the bathroom. He claims the people that come in can be disruptive and even verbally abusive, according to Perth city council records.
You know what they say: no wrath like an influencer that needs to pee after taking pictures on a dock for an hour.
Perth's city council addressed the issue during their assembly on May 28. Their solution is a solar-powered bathroom facility near the shed. With an estimated cost of $278,000 (AUS $400,000), it'll be a lavish lavatory. Yearly maintenance is projected to be $14,000 (AUS $20,000). So basically, all this Instagram shit is going to cost Western Australia a pretty penny.
"The construction of the proposed facility, with appropriate signage at strategic locations, will allow visitors to the area the respite they need, without exhausting the current business facility's capacity," reads the council's agenda.
According to Insider, construction will begin in early June with the bathrooms expected to be finished by September 2019.
Instagrammers should take solace in the fact that once they get the perfect blue-hued shot, they can relieve themselves. Lest they lose their footing on the boardwalk and go plunging into the waters of Matilda Bay while trying to nail the perfect pose, that is.
Topics Instagram
Harry is a fellow on the Culture Team. He loves memes and Taylor Swift (no, like, actually.) He'd like to thank his parents for always believing in him. This will be his first broadway production. Oh, wait, he thought this was a Playbill bio...
