Inspirado - Jude & Glynn Harris

Hello! Welcome to Jude and Glynn's travel blog. We're a pair of newlyweds freshly back from a wonderful year spent traversing the globe and about to embark on our newest adventure - emigrating to New Zealand!

About us: Glynn's 34, a Batman fanatic and graphic novel afficionado, a Warehouse Supervisor when he has to be and a general all-round nice guy. Jude is 33, a hardened gig and festival goer, a Lecturer dabbling in IT, Literacy and German and a general all-round nice girl.

We met in 2004 over the internet and were married in Feb 2006. We've so far been to Japan, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Easter Island, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina not to mention a couple of locations in the UK and Germany but I guess it's just not enough! We loved New Zealand so much, we're leaving the grim old UK to try and settle there permanently - provided they let us back in!!

So, throwing caution to the wind we have sold everything (yes, EVERYTHING!) in readiness. We've sold our cars, house and virtually all our possessions and quit our jobs. With nothing more than a few boxes tucked away at a storage depot and just the contents of our packs to our names, phase 2 of our new lives is about to begin...

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Joined on: April 17th 2006
Last Login: July 9th 2009

Blog Entries: 335
Photos: 2485
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Inspirado, order by Date newest first.

By Inspirado
June 22nd 2009

Kangas, Koalas and Kookaburras Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney

The Queen
My excellent nan, Betty.

Last night, after our lovely meal at the house exchangers, we headed over to seemy cousin Danny who lives here in Sydney. It's easily been 20 years since we last saw one another and it felt good to re-establish contact after all this time. We also met his girlfriend, Sharmilla, who was just lovely and invited us to stay at her apartment on Bondi Beach tonight. Awesome! The weather forecast today promised showers today but sun for the rest of the week so we decided to save the majority of sightseeing for when it would be dry and today paid a [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
June 22nd 2009

Where the Bloody Hell Am I? Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney

Surf
Manly men on Manly Beach.

Where the bloody hell am I? Oh yeah, Sydney. Australia. On my own with no Glynn and a Jish in my pocket and a whole week off work! In case you're thinking I'm the world's worst wife for abandoning my husband, allow me explain. My nan, Betty, who is 82 has flown over to Sydney from the UK to for a holiday. She's staying with my aunt and uncle who are seasoned house-exchangers and have landed themselves a pad in the beachy suburb of Manly. I haven't seen my nan since we left England 1.5 years ago so I jumped at [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
March 22nd 2009

It's Tiritiri-tastic! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Tititiri Matangi Island

CBD Skyline
No boat trip is complete without a view of the Auckland CBD skyline. Lovely, isn't it?

For Christmas this year, Glynn and I received a wonderful present from our friends Liz and Allard - two tickets for a trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island complete with guided walk. We've been itching to go and this weekend we had no firm plans beyond dinner with our new French friend, Cecile, on friday night. We left it too late to book for Saturday morning so had a lazy day at home and instead booked for Sunday. It was an early start for a Sunday - up at 6.30am, on the road at 7.30am and down at Auckland Harbour in plenty [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
March 7th 2009

Under the Gorge Walk Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Karangahake Gorge

Kiwi Motorway
Yes, this really is a motorway - State Highway 2 in fact!

It's been a good few weeks since we set out for a long walk so I was determined to get out of the city this weekend and see some more of NZ's fine countryside. I've been hankering to visit the Karangahake Gorge ever since hearing about it from Liz last year. So with DOC (Department of Conservation) leaflet in hand and Mayuko, our Japanese friend, along for the ride, we headed eastwards, loosely in the direction of Tauranga. We travelled along State Highway 2 which is technically a motorway but by UK standards would barely qualify as an 'A' road. In [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
February 9th 2009

Return to Uretiti Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Whangarei » Uretiti

Uretiti North
Looking left along the beach. Heaven!

With all the recent stresses of getting our resiency application ready for immigration, a long weekend at the beach was calling. Waitangi Day, a public holiday, fell on a Friday this year and like many Kiwis, we decided to take advantage of the time off and head to the beach for a few days. We set off early and found the roads to be relatively deserted. Bliss. Just before we reached our destination, we stopped off at a so-called German Cafe and Motel just outside Wairewa. I was excited to see if there was any kind of bakery inside but was [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
January 4th 2009

Bush Babies Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Firth of Thames » Tapapakanga Regional Park

Kawakawa Kiwi
Glynn would like to welcome you all to pretty little Kawakawa Bay.

Ah, another hot sunny summer day, another good reason to get out and go adventuring. This time, the Firth of Thames was calling and the opportunity to visit one of the few regional parks south of the harbour bridge that we've yet to explore. We started out later than planned after looking quite literally for a needle in a haystack of shops. Glynn needed some bits to stitch up a seam in his work trousers but could I find the damn travel sewing kit given to us by ay auntie Margaret and uncle Kevin before we left for the big trip [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
January 2nd 2009

Happy 1st Year in New Zealand! Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Northland

Hug Time!
Glynn and Jude celebrate thier one year NZ anniversary with a giant hug.

Can you believe that today, we have been in New Zealand for one whole year? I honestly don't know where the time has gone but it's been quite a journey so far, I can tell you. In these last 12 months we've lived in 3 properties and each had 2 jobs. the culmination of all this though is that we are very happy with our lot - a nice home in the suburbs and decent jobs to boot. As if that wasn't enough, summer's officially here and we've been treated with yet more glorious sunshine. We had a quiet start to [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
December 26th 2008

Our First Kiwi Christmas Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Takanini

IT Training Team Christmas Lunch
Here's Jude and her colleagues from work. l-r: back Leanne, Robbie & Jude; front: Ruth, Shipra, Deborah (the boss) and Shirley.

Well hello and Merry Christmas to you all!! Here we are, celebrating our first proper Christmas in New Zealand. The sun is shining and it's warm enough to be sat here in shorts and t-shirt as I write. I have to say, in many ways it just doesn't feel like Christmas at all. I mean, surely it's supposed to be cold and dreary outside? Not that I'm complaining! To get us in the festive spirit, we headed out in search of a Christmas tree. we've both always wanted a black one and were extremely happy to find just such a tree [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
November 30th 2008

Auckland Santa Parade Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland

Clowning Around
I think I spotted Ronald McDonald in there somewhere!

No Christmas in New zealand is complete without attending one of the many, many Santa Parades held up and down the country. Auckland has by the far the biggest and without doubt most colourful Santa Parade there is and this year we got to witness the spectacle under a blazing hot sun. The streets of the CBD were packed choc full of cheering adults and kids alike and for about one and a half hours, we were dazzled and entertained by all manner of colourful costumes, cheerleading squads and dancers, acrobats, clowns and sporting heroes. Rather than describe the event to [View Full Entry]

By Inspirado
October 27th 2008

Spring-ing Into Action Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland

Karioitahi Beach
Picture perfect :-)

Well, I'm not sure if anyone out there is still reading these blogs except for Glynn's folks (hello Mary, hello Keith!) but for those of you who are, here's the latest news from Kiwiland! It's been busy in the Harris household of late with some new friends and new adventures to enjoy. About 2 weeks ago, we had our second ever visitor to stay, a girl called Ali from Germany. Ali is a friend of my most excellent German friend Andrea and stayed with us for a few days before heading off to explore the rest of New Zealand for a [View Full Entry]

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