BEST AND WORST BACKYARDS REVEALED
BY STIHL SHOP™
She was a tough one to judge but sowing seeds and pruning weeds, or in some cases, doing nothing at all paid off for the
owners of New Zealand’s ‘Best’ and ‘Worst’ backyards in STIHL SHOP™’s Backyard Beauty Contest.
The unique pageant, in which it was ok to be dirty or have worms, saw more than 130 people enter a picture of either
their own or someone else’s backyard in the hope of being crowned the best or worst garden owner. $30,000 worth of
prizes were up for grabs from STIHL SHOP™ stores nationwide with prize packs including Masport lawnmowers and barbeques,
STIHL chainsaws, water blasters, line trimmers and cold and hard cash.
The Best Backyards have been decided and Darryl Kay of Pakuranga took out ‘Upper North Island’, Nick Osbourne of Foxton
claimed ‘Lower North Island’ and Dianne Kane of Hampden, Otago won ‘South Island’ best backyard prizes. The Worst
Backyard owners are still proud with their titles with Johan van Ras of Morrinsville claiming ‘Upper North Island’,
Teresa van der Horst taking ‘Lower North Island’ and Jayne Moffat from Gore winning the ‘South Island’ worst backyard
title.
STIHL SHOP™ Marketing Manager Sophie Wardrop says, “From the heart-wrenching story of having a garden and family home
burnt down, to just not having the time or budget to make your backyard the garden of your dreams, even receiving the
title of ‘Worst Backyard’ is still an honour. STIHL SHOP™ recognises the Kiwi ‘backyard pride’ that flows through our
veins and would like to see us all do our part to keep up our appearances in the neighbourhood street appeal.”
Winners were be determined by a mixture of public votes (on the NewsTalk ZB website were the entries featured) and the
opinions of STIHL SHOP™ experts. The two categories were Best Backyard and Worst (or Most Improvement Needed) Backyard
in three regions: upper North Island (Taupo North), lower North Island and South Island. In addition, there are prizes
for the people who nominate the entries and for those that vote for the best and worst in their region.
ends