I’ve been waiting a long time for our backyard to be fixed – over 3 years in fact.
It’s been a real hardship and we haven’t even wanted to look out the window for years.
But let me start from the beginning …
The Saga Begins
When we shifted in at the end of 2009, the backyard was terraced with an easement at the back. At that stage Miss 20 was only 13, and loved her trampoline – but there wasn’t even enough level ground to set it up.
However, at least it was neat and tidy.
By the end of 2013, two houses had been built upstream from us – and although both had the same easement, they filled until they had a level backyard.
So we decided to fill too. Exciting times!
But before we even had a chance to turf, somebody made a complaint about *our* yard (not the neighbours though, strangely enough), and we were forced to remove all the fill as we were told there was no way it would ever be allowed, even if, by some miracle, the neighbours managed to get theirs approved.
Then began the long wait to see how things would pan out …
Eventually the neighbours got done for their illegal filling – and managed to get it approved. I know!
We were then able to at least begin the long and laborious process to get an approval of our own.
However now our neighbourhood had become so built up, access was now an issue. The only way we could get fill into our backyard was either by wheelbarrowing it up the side of the house (which would take years!); or through our rear neighbours’.
But as luck would have it, they were having their own legal battles with the local authority, so although they wanted to help, couldn’t allow us access until that was resolved.
Finally the happy day came a couple of weeks ago – though I had strong feelings of deja vu! Our good friends at All Hours Earthmoving helped make our dreams a reality.
We laid turf on the weekend – next step will be a fence, and at last I will be able to have a vegie patch again.
But at long last our backyard saga has finally ended, and Seth and I both look pretty happy about that!
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