I was 3 years of age when we first moved from New Zealand to our new residence on the corner of Binowee and Arcola Streets, Aspley.

Nestled on a quaint 24 perches, my backyard consisted of all 4 sides of my house. In my mind this was so. There was no real front yard, therefore, no real backyard for that matter. I, at the tender age of 6, presumed that in this case, it was all classed as a backyard. My sister Kim who was 4 years my senior tried to convince me that there was in fact a front yard and a backyard to the house. I took that with a grain of salt, just like when she insisted that I was not really part of the family but was adopted!

The yard on the north side of the house was a small, slated terrace forted by a rock wall. Stairs from the terrace lead up to an in-ground swimming pool, which had a tropical theme, with large rocks, palm trees and a small waterfall. A paved edging between the house and the pool lead to a thin slate path along the west side, which joined the north and south yards together. The south yard consisted of a clothesline, a cubby-house, a basketball hoop and a large Umbrella tree. From the laundry door on the second level,

This was fun for a while but the urge for something more exciting and dangerous got hold of me. The first thing that jumped into our heads was just that, a jump. We scrounged around under the house for something that might resemble a jump and finally found a piece of board and a few bricks. We placed the flimsy piece of plywood on top of 2 bricks stacked together. Using part of the racecourse we positioned the jump in the east side yard on the grass area.

I think why I remember this day so clearly or most of my days between the ages of 4 and 9 for that matter, is because it was a time of innocence, a time where we lived in an insulated world - without the worries - without the frenzy and without the evil.

Some topics in this essay:
Aspley Nestled, Encouraged Matt, WRITING TOPIC, south yard, house south yard, front yard, house south, basketball hoop, north terrace, rock wall, 2 metres, east yard, top incline,