We are Steven, Jenna, Henry (sometimes referred to as King Henry or Hungry Henry) and Archie (our Little Super Hero who swapped his cape for Angel Wings) du Preez.

Photography by Kristy Lee

To allow you to get to know us, we decided to share a bit about ourselves below 🙂

Steven: The Well Travelled Man 

Husband, father and travel enthusiast (aren’t we all).

Originally from South Africa, my family relocated to Australia and I can honestly say, that is when life began. This is where I met Jenna and started my life as an accountant…

Accounting has its benefits, it is a universal language and has allowed me to work in Brisbane (Australia), Sydney (Australia), London (UK), Budapest (Hungary) as well as Atlanta (USA). Living and working abroad can benefit your career, but more importantly benefits you personally. The people, the culture and things you see every day expands your thoughts and somehow creates a common connection with almost anyone and everyone you meet.

Becoming a parent, we all know, provides perspective, losing our son, Archie, provides a whole other level of perspective and personal development and a reminder to look after the well-being of ourselves and our loved ones.

Things I love

Family. Travel. Dogs. Red Wine. Hiking. The smell of the ocean. Tennis. Grapes. New ideas. Snow. Whiskey. Laughter. Summer. People watching.

Jenna: The Well Travelled Woman

I (Jenna) haven’t had the same luxury of working in many countries, like Steven.  I was born and raised in Brisbane (Australia), and after school, started a traineeship in Business Administration, which then turned into a career as an Executive Assistant.  After being there for 9 (yes 9!!) years, I followed Steven down to Sydney as part of his secondment and our next adventure.  Little did I know, this was the first step in turning me into someone who dreams of travelling the entire world.

It wasn’t long before we realised that we wanted to see more than a few cities in Australia… so off to London we went!  We spent 2 years in London, travelling most of Europe as well as a stop in Morocco, the United States and the Middle East.  I sometimes have to pinch myself to remind me that I am living reality, not a dream.

Things I love

Family. Friends. Travelling the world. Outdoors. Skiing. Dogs. The Beach. Squash. Sunshine. Fresh Air. Netball.

Henry: King Henry or Hungry Henry

Henry joined The Well Travelled Family, as Twin 1, on 4 August 2018.

Henry and Archie (Twin 2) had their first travel experience when they were just the size of an avocado in their mummy’s tummy (Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong).

Things Henry loves

Eating, Sleeping and clean nappies.

Henry also enjoys being poolside with his favourite drink within close proximity.

Archie: Our little Super Hero

Henry’s little brother Archie was born with a combination of incurable Neonatal Chronic Lung Disease and a rare Interstitial Lung Disease with Alveolar Growth Abnormalities and unfortunately swapped his cape for Angel Wings on 18 January 2019.

Archie spent 165 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mater Mother’s, as well as the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and then Ward 9B of the Queensland Children’s Hospital (in Australia). In the last week of Archie’s time with us, we were asked if there was one thing we had wished for- what it would be- we had to say that it was to bring our little boy home with us or at least to the park.

With an immense amount of planning from the Palliative Care team, Doctors, Nurses as well as the Queensland Ambulance Service, our dream came true.

This was Archie’s (first and only) Great Adventure.

We will continue to share more about Archie’s journey, being a premature baby born at 30 weeks + 4 days, and our experiences within NICU, PICU and Ward 9B. There are many families who struggle with the unknown and we felt it was important to share Archie’s journey.

Things Archie loved

Cuddles, his Dummy, Links and Mr Cow