'I never have to mow it' Tasmanian lawn judged as world's ugliest

It is not so much a lawn as a moonscape: pitted craters dug by bandicoots, exhausted tufts of withered yellow grass and pitiful plants shrivelled under the Australian sun.

- Patrick Barkham

But Kathleen Murray is the proud winner of the World's Ugliest Lawn competition, the Swedish contest to encourage water-saving, environmentally friendly gardening. Murray's lawn in Sandford, Tasmania, beat competition from Germany, France, Canada, the US and the UK.

"It's pretty shock-and-awe," said Murray. "The bandicoots love digging - that's how they find their favourite food. Now my back yard looks like a real-life Hungry Hungry Hippos game. I also have an echidna [spiny anteater] that helps, and some chooks [chickens]."

Murray lives in an area without mains water, and rainwater collected in tanks is too precious to waste. If she runs out of water in summer, it can be a two-week wait before more is delivered via tanker.