Our three day trekking expedition, with Dom, Yvi and Jamie Oberholzer, into The Lakes (Shepperd, Taylor and Sumner) started inauspiciously when the two long-drop toilets at the hut were found on their sides.  Blown over, probably.  The "foof" sound was my hope of a flush toilet fading into the picturesque sunset. 
John's uncle Ted, and his wife Sandie, had kindly allowed us to use their hut (The Shiver Inn) which sleeps 7. Little Jamie, almost 2, had a cot.  We were at the hut within two hours, after a leisurely stop at Loch Katrine. Very generously, Sandie's son Jim Greenslade and family had loaned us their horse float. 
Most cunningly, the hut had an outside bench with running water and a permanent campfire with grate and billies.  Yvi, no stranger to the Great Outdoors, soon had a stew bubbling. 
The Bookers didn't do so terribly well with packing.  I forgot the bread, while John did not step up to the role of Toilet Paper Officer.  The girls all failed to pick the sunscreen up off the table.  Thankfully Yvi had the bases covered. 
Fern, who joins me in Not Camping, also could not come to grips with instructions about digging holes in the forest when nature called. We let Nature know there was a time and place, namely Friday evening back at home.
On day two the trekkers headed over the hill to see Lake Mason, while I watched Dom pull up a lovely trout.  He smoked it for lunch and it will go down as a Memorable Meal in our lifetimes.
While I don't rough things very well, and I was plagued with headaches, getting into the magnificent high country is just one of those things we Kiwis can do any time, for just the cost of the petrol.  There were lots of people camping with family at Loch Katrine, kids splashing about in clear water, kayaking, fishing....
Here's an ode to anglers everywhere.
Birds singing on my shoulder
In harmony, it seems,
How they sing,
How they sing,
How they sing.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,...
There's something in the water,
Something in the water..."

By Brooke Fraser