Small Glory #1 - A Scenic Toilet

Absurdity lives in the most glorious places. What a spot for a wee.

Above: The Panitahi/Fanthams Peak toilet.

1950m up Mount Taranaki sits this dunny, this outhouse, this toilet, this long drop. So many names. I reckon it might be one of the highest and most scenic places to do your business in the country. A concrete bunker by design, a throne by placement. This view is fit for royalty. Sitting atop Panitahi/Fanthams Peak is Syme Hut, and about 50m away from it, this toilet. When I lipped up over the edge of the peak with sweat in my eyes and a pack on my back I giggled. What a spot for a dunny.

Above: Syme Hut with the dunny in the background.

My friend and I put our packs in the hut and went far a wander. I took my camera and snapped some photos of the view, and of this toilet. Later that night we realised we’d have to sleep 21 people in a 10-person hut, oh the absurdity. We packed in like sardines, topping and tailing on the already small hut mattresses. It was hot. The middle of January, the middle of summer. Snores chorused; farts almost made me pass out. Then at about 1am I needed a wee. I slithered out from my spot, got my shoes on and shuffled out across the peak towards the toilet wearing my head torch. Stars blanketed the sky, and I could see down to the coast where small-town streetlights glittered gently in the early hours.

I got to the bunker-toilet-throne situation and relieved myself. I giggled again. Oh the absurdity of peeing 1950m above sea level on a mountain at 1am freshly emerged from that sardine tin of a hut. Glorious.