All my grandparents lived in the country about four hours away, so the elderly couple across the road became grandparents to my sisters and myself. We called them Nanna and Uncle John. Because I was not yet at school, when my dad was at work and my mum was resting for another night shift at the hospital, I spent most of the day across the road.

I remember one day when my mum was busy cleaning, I snuck out the front door and crossed the road to visit my Nanna and Uncle John. My Uncle John was an electrician so he was always busy in his shed fixing something, so instead I found my Nanna sitting out the back on the porch. The house was built on a hill, so when you wa

I used to spend a lot of my time exploring that garden. At that age, it seemed so big to me, with all those tall gum trees and beautiful flowers. That day, my Nanna wasn't in the mood for a tea party on the porch, so instead I climbed down the steps and headed straight for the garden. It was always dark in amongst the trees, because no sunlight could break through the foliage. I never made it down to the back fence, it was too scary, the garden was like a miniature forest to me. I didn't know what could be lurking down there in the shadows. There were animals everywhere. Possums were probably hiding up in the trees, but I never saw one because they only ever came out at night. I spent most of the day on the ground, crawling along, looking for bugs. I would try and spot a gecko, and then run after it and try and catch it in my hands. As I caught the gecko though, I immediately dropped it as it felt strange crawling around my palms.

After chasing geckos for

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Approximate Word count = 649
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)