Fair Dinkum Mate

Fair Dinkum Mate.

Story number 7 tells of our camping during the 1970s at the lake over Xmas and a saga of the dunny behind the willow tree.

This is a true story, maybe I have exaggerated a little, well quite bit actually. 

Just a wee tidbit to wet your whistle.

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About the time Lake Benmore was formed in the Mackenzie Country of New Zealand, the Ministry of Works, as part of the Lake development, formed a camping area.  For many years, our family was in the habit of camping at the northern end of that Lake.

At that time, the only building in those wide open spaces was a typical country dunny, about four feet square, with a bit of a wing in front of a rustic door, for a little privacy. 

Volunteers are believed to have erected this ‘Heath Robinson’ contraption and positioning it over a hole in the ground, also dug by volunteers. 

Constructed with a few sticks of second hand timber and rusty second hand corrugated roofing iron, this little house served its purpose.  The seat was a real classic.  It reminded me of an old Aussie ballad, referring to the Redback spider hiding under the toilet seat.

It was one place everyone visited regularly, yet, none had a desire to linger.  That seat was a dandy.  Around the hacked out orifice, splinters protruded, like the teeth of a great white.