The Wright's on Vacation: Ramsgate, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa

At Auckland Airport saying our last goodbyes

Well we made it to Ramsgate in one piece. Believe it or not, Justin was still working on one of our rental houses until about 30 minutes before we left for the airport! The first leg of this world trip required 8 hours to Perth, 5 hour stopover, 11 hours to Johannesburg, 3 hour stop over, 1 hour flight to Durban and then 2 hour drive to Ramsgate. Needless to say the flights were hideous with two over tired kids and I won’t bore you with all the gory details. What I will say is how completely soul destroying it is to hop on an old rickety SAA plane with no TV monitors and 4 toilets to cater to 250+ people and think “OK…it’s only another 8 hours we can do this” only to hear the pilot say “We look forward to having you on board during this 11 hour flight to Joburg”. I would have cried if I hadn’t just sat on one of Leo’s juice boxes and was busy trying to figure out how to make it look like I hadn’t just wet my pants.

Spencer catching some zzz's in transit

A highlight was the 1 hour flight to Durban where we got a window seat for Leo and he managed to see what flying in the clouds was all about. Although he did cause an uproar when he saw the wings prepare for landing; “Daddy, Daddy, the engine has fallen off we’re going to crash!” An alarmed murmur rippled through the people around us before Just could set him straight. Leo got to go in and see the pilot at the end in the cockpit to say thank you too, his little face was a real picture.

Ramsgate Beach in full swing

All in all, the kids were amazing and it was a real relief to arrive to see Kelvin and Pete (Justin’s brother and Dad) waiting for us. Justin and I collapsed on arrival with Spencer and Leo went to the beach with his newly met cousins Alex, Livvy and Kian and had a blast. The jet lag took about a week to get over but it was made all the easier with such great company. This international family comprises of the UK Wrights (Kelv, Cal, Alex, Livvy and Kian), The SA Wrights (Pete and Kandy) and the NZ Wrights (us). Ramsgate is a lovely little seaside village on the Indian Ocean that helps make up the Wild Coast area of Kwa Zulu Natal. The waves are HUGE, the sand golden and the weather to die for all year round. Not a bad place for a family reunion!

Leo handing over his first rands to the locals

It’s lovely to be back in Africa, monkeys and dussies (kind of a cross between a rabbit and a possum) everywhere, gheko’s running about and the colourful people you see everywhere. I’d forgotten how you have to pay people to look after your car in public carparks and constantly refuse the locals trying to sell you everything. Justin is in absolute heaven, beard is growing, shoulders lifting, laugh more apparent, simply loving being with family all day long with no end in sight.

Wright boets together over a braai

There is about 10 months between Kian and Leo so they made fast friends and Granny and Grandpa had matching bikes all ready to go. Spencer is the life of the party and is loving all the attention and mum and dad?....well we are gradually de-stressing and losing the bags under the eyes. A typical day is breakfast with the family, off to the beach for the morning, home for lunch, chilling in the afternoon and a few sundowners overlooking the gorgeous view that Pete and Kandy have from their cottage. You know your kids are in the right place when they are falling asleep in the bath and you find yourself scrubbing the dirt of the soles of their feet whilst trying to keep their chin above water. They are run ragged with so many things to see and do EVERY day.

Leo and the green jeep

We visited the coffee bean farm Beaver Creek which was wonderful, Leo didn’t see much – he had his head stuck under an old Jeep’s bonnet for most of the time (“fixing”) it and Kian managed to score himself a beauty of a black eye on the playground. As for us adults we gorged ourselves on coffee milkshakes, coffee’s and greasy breakfasts.

The whole Wright Clan 2011

We had our family photos taken at Stephward Estate where Kelv and Cal married in 2008. This was a huge success and the kids did really well. Kandy’s 60^th birthday lunch followed straight afterwards and it was lovely to see Granny sitting with her feet dangling in the estate pool with her two little boys beside her (this is the same pool that Andrew Webb threw himself into fully clothed at the wedding after a few too many….my haven’t times changed!).

Alex on his game

Justin, Kelv and Alex went for a game of golf at the Margate Country Golf Club where Justin promptly sliced his first drive straight into the huge bay windows of a nearby mansion. While Alex and Justin stood gobsmacked and waiting for the impact, Kelv was already backing towards the car….in true Kelvin fashion hahaha. This is very reminiscent of his hasty departure during the infamous Kruger Park gas incident of 2002. Luckily for Justin (and our holiday budget) the glass was shatterproof. Justin’s next slice was directly into the calf of some poor lady on the next tee. After that Justin put his driver away and managed to win the round. I actually think Alex and Kelv were too traumatized by the slicing events to perform and if Alex invites Justin to play at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club where he is a member I’d be very surprised.

Leo, Livvy and Kian enjoying choc eggs

Arriving over Easter meant that some good friends were in the area on holiday. We caught up with Jase and Justine Lee and their cute boy Jake. Jake is only a matter of days younger than Leo and the last time we saw each other both boys were about 5 weeks old so it was lovely to see them together again. The great Easter Egg hunt was a huge success with all kids hunting high and low. Just had to watch out for snakes!

Enjoying drinks at Cock & Tail with Lees

Africa Bike Week was on in Margate (another beach not far away) so there were approximately 20,000 bikes around and a huge festival atmosphere, bands playing and lots of leather and helmets! Jase, Justine, Cal, Kelv, Just and I managed to leave the 5 kids with Granny and Grandpa for an afternoon and sneaked away to Cock and Tail where…you guessed it, we dined on drinks called Screaming Orgasm and the like hahahah!

The UK Wrights have now gone back to Liverpool and are missed terribly – but the beach beckons every day and we will see them again in a few months as they are next on our itinerary.

Some adult time!

Sunset walk on beach

Justin kitted himself out with his surfcasting gear today and has spent all afternoon tying knots and getting things in order. Little does he know but we are counting on him to be bread winner again, this time by providing fish for little mouths to eat….oh the pressure!

We are expecting good friends Mel and Dave in the next couple of days, they have come all the way from Kangaroo Island, Australia and have spent the last week or so in the Seychelles and then the Kruger Park so we are looking forward to hearing all the stories.