The first couple of days here in Auckland have been a mixture of hard work and lots of fun. After sleeping off the jetlag, we were out and about on our second day with a view to finding an apartment and sorting out all the official stuff we needed to get done. It is all too tempting to stay with Liz and Allard while we're here, especially as the food is soooooooooo good and we have use of the neighbours' swimming pool, but Glynn and I are both craving our own space again after a year on the road and 7 [View Full Entry]

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Jetlag. It's a funny business. Imagine having no sleep for 36 hours and then being told you need to stay awake for another 14 hours. That's a total of 50 hours without so much as 40 winks. I can't say I would want to do it too often but bless Liz and Allard for trying to keep us going so our body clocks could adjust to New Zealand time. We settled in at their lovely house in Takanini in the southern suburbs of Auckland and managed to avoid the lure of the very comfy looking bed in our room. Instead, we [View Full Entry]

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Packing up the last of of our belongings late yesterday evening, it felt just like being on our round the world trip again although you and I both know that this time it's a little bit different. With bulging backpacks and more weight than we are used to carrying, we bundled into Linda's car first thing this morning and said a very tearful goodbye to Glynn's family. The motorways were eerily quiet - like a scene out of an apocalyptic zombie movie where the hero and heroine are being lulled into a false sense of security - and we found ourselves [View Full Entry]

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So here it is then folks, the last blog entry from the UK before we jet off to start our new life in New Zealand. Obviously we'll be back to visit at some point in the future but for the time being, this really is it! Crikey!! It's been a busy few days as you can imagine with lots of last minute packing and organising to do but hopefully we've covered all the important stuff. Today, we took the last few boxes down to our storage unit ready for shipping as soon as we get settled over in New Zealand. Then [View Full Entry]

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Well stone me, I can hardly believe that this here is about to be my 300th blog entry! To everyone who has followed our adventures around the world, I'd like to say a huge big THANK YOU for all your support and many messages. With the impending move to NZ on the horizon, there will be plenty more to read about, I'm sure :-) Right, back to the business of my recent trip to Munich and Neuschwannstein Castle.... After our magical visit to the famous Neuschwannstein Castle yesterday, it was wonderful to have the morning greet us with clear blue skies [View Full Entry]

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There are some things in life that aren't quite all they're cracked up to be like Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland or the Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. But to make up for those disappointments, every so often a real gem of an attraction that comes along and makes it all seem worth the effort again. Neuschwannstein, the famous fairy-tale castle perched deep in the Bavanarian landscape was my destination today and I hadn't been expecting much given all the hype about it. My sister and I left a cold Munich for the 11.00 train to Fussen, the small town that is [View Full Entry]

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As if the forthcoming adventure to New Zealand isn't enough, I couldn't help but hop on another plane and head out for some last minute travelling. So I find myself in deepest, darkest Munich with only Jish for company as I've had to leave wee Glynn behind in frosty old England. Thejourney over here was grand and I would certainly fly with Swiss International again - good job too as I have to fly back with them! Actually in all honesty it was a lovely couple of flights to get here, changing in Zurich where I spent 3 hours in the [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone It feels like an age since I last updated you on our progress so high time I got to it. Since booking our flights to New Zealand, we have been travelling up and down the country trying to squeeze in as many visits as possible. En route we have been back to Swindon (hello Linda, Tony, Liam, Danny, Rachel, David and baby Logan), over to London (hello Jane & Dan) and up to Hull (hello to all my step-family), all in between working and packing. I'm exhausted just thinking about it! As if that weren't enough running about, tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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There was a time, not so many moons ago, that the mere idea of eating pizza again would conjoure up memories of a less healthy time in South America. But what's 6 months between friends? Living just a chip butty's throw from a massive fast food takeaway called Big John's (the Uk's first drive through fish and chip shop, you know) is a recipe for excess in itself. Then came their 20 inch pizzas! I didn't think Glynn would be up for it after the seriously poorly tummies we suffered in Bolivia but there was no way on this planet I [View Full Entry]

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Time to share with you some more of our adventures although i have to confess that they are less exciting now that we aren't on the road any more. Ah, the memories.... We have finally managed to get to a live gig again and on Monday 24th September, me, Glynn and his brother Lee went to the NEC to see Incubus. Incubus are Glynn's favourite band in the whole world and those of you who were at our wedding might remember that we had our first dance to 'Stellar' by the very same band. Alas they didn't play our song on [View Full Entry]

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