By Monica O'Neil. First appeared in The Advocate.
Once upon a time, it was a forlorn looking patch of scruffy marri trees, gravel and a couple of blackboys. Not the natural beauty of bush land, but remnants of a semi-cleared hills block, left to its own devices for a couple of decades. A small shed adorned the centre of the patch. Piles of rocks were clustered here and there. The family needed sturdy shoes to traverse the terrain. This backyard, our backyard, needed a makeover.
Where was the team from Backyard Blitz? I needed them. I wanted to hand my ugly duckling yard over to them and go away for a few days to a beach resort where I would be pampered. When they had finished, they could call me to announce it was time to come home. I would arrive to my fresh, new, all ex ...