Gav and I both knew that 2013 was going to be a hectic year
for us: our last full year in Malawi, my last full year of my PhD study and
there is a lot to get done. We have planned carefully to have a break every 3
months, and a trip to SA with Louise and Stephen for Joshi’s 2nd
birthday in April was always part of the plan. When Jason announced his wedding
to Margot was going to be in Cape Town, at the time we had booked our trip, we
felt it was really serendipitous. One of the hardest things about living here
is missing important milestones in our friends and families lives due to cost
and distance.
We had a completely wonderful 2 week trip. The first week
was spend in Joburg and Cape Town catching up with family and friends who all
arrived like us to have a holiday as well as come to the wedding, and on the
Friday we moved up to Spier wine farm for the wedding weekend. It was my first
time in CT and along with Joshi we adored hanging out at the aquarium with
Nicky and Dan and their two boys, visiting the waterfront, getting the cable
car up Table Mountain, eating lunch on Clifton Beach with all the wedding
posse, fabulous eating out in the evenings again with the wedding posse and
Aimee and Marco, going to Kirstenbosch gardens and visiting Dreyer and Klaff
old family holiday haunts including Muizenberg Beach, Boulder’s beach and Hout
bay. Joshi’s favourite was the cable car, even today he asked to go in it
again.
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| Cable car Mummy!!!!! |
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| Stephen & Louise at the top of Table Mountain |
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| on Clifton beach |
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| Emma and Gav run out of the freezing Atlantic ocean on Clifton beach |
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| Generations of Dreyer/Klaff family holidays revisited on Muzienberg beach |
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| Yummy supper and story time with Nicky and Saul |
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| Kirstenbosch |
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| View from the roof of the Fawlty Ambassador hotel |
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| The best place for a baby group - ever in Kirstenbosch with Nicky |
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| Baby bell-hops with Noa-Belle and Dash |
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| Aimee's amazing shoes - just a shame my feet are too big..... |
For once we had travelled probably the shortest distance to
the wedding with the exception of the resident South Africans – family and
friends had come in from the US, Israel and the UK to celebrate the very
successful eternal bachelor party boy Jason’s wedding to the glamorous Margo.
The setting was beautiful and warm, the chuppa at sunset was stunning and the
ceremony was sweet and moving, with both the bride and groom relaxed and
glowing. I missed most of the ceremony chasing Joshi all over the wine farm. Seb Shah (aged 4) said 'don't worry Emma, I will watch Joshi for you' and they both ran off towards the lake! Gav and Wayne gave a hilarious best man speech which I wish I could
post a link to here, but 1GB is too big – if anyone wants a copy email me and I
can try to get one to you. Jason followed it up with a wonderful speech of his own,
and then we all partied and partied. We were all sad to say goodbye the next
day as everyone went back to their lives around the globe.
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| Fabulous afternoon sunshine at Webersberg |
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| Cheeky monkey who made mummy miss the ceremony.... |
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2 best men have forgotten something....
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| beautiful ladies wait in the sunshine |
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| for the boys to finish their drinks |
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| Jack practises walking down the aisle |
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| Noa-Bellissima |
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| Sunset over the Weberberg Lake during the vows |
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| First view |
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| of the bride |
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| bad pic of great people on the renegade best men's table |
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| after the speeches and several glasses of fizz |
We weren’t quite
ready to head back to Malawi and went to Pringle Bay to a cottage just outside
CT for a few nights to unwind and hang out with Stephen and Louise for Joshi’s
birthday. Cape Town gives way as you drive east to a winding and stunning coast
line famous for whales in season, with empty beaches of white sand. We stayed
near the Kiegel biosphere designated to preserve the fynbos vegetation which is
found only in this region. We ate seafood on the dock in Hermanus, hung out with the penguins at Betty’s bay and went twice to the Harold Porter garden in the biosphere as it was so incredibly beautiful. We had tea in a wine farm in a valley called ‘heaven on earth’ in Afrikaans where the Huguenots had planted the first cape vineyards. Louise in inimitable style managed to find friends even in Pringle bay, who she hadn’t seen in many years, and sourced via them some amazing fresh fish for our nightly braai.
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| Penguins! |
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| More penguins Grandpa |
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| Betty's bay from the penguin colony |
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| seafood blowout in Hermanus |
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| King protea's in the biosphere |
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| mountain hiking in Harold Porter garden |
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| Blue eyes |
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| Wine farm in heaven-on-earth valley |
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| beach fun |
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| pringle bay sunset |
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| Sunset walk on the beach |
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| more beach mummy pleeeeeease |
Joshi adored hanging out with his grandparents every minute of every day, and was delighted with his birthday presents of trucks and books, along with his truck cake (made out of a bag of scone mix and some violent food colours from the local shop full of E numbers the EU has probably banned).
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| peekaboo can you see Joshi |
We went home via Joburg to spend time with the Sarkins and granny Min who is 103 next year and still looking amazing. It was fabulous to spend Friday night with as many family members in one place including Joshi’s cousins Liam and Dylan.
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| Four generations of Dreyer |
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| Sarkins, Dreyers and assorted spouses and offspring :) |
I bounced through Malawi for 3 nights before heading off to London for a few nights to surprise Georgie at her wedding. I had some unexpected cash from the tax-man, which combined with Ethiopian Airways buying air Malawi (in liquidation) and opening up cheaper routes to London via Addis, so for once decided not to be sensible and save the cash, but splurge on a solo trip. It was a beautiful wedding in Dorset on a cliff above the sea, and both Georgie and Roger were glowing with happiness. I loved catching up with so many friends and enjoying the local produce and managed to properly surprise Georgie which was wonderful. I spent the other few nights with my family supporting Mum and Dad, and Ros and I managed to get Mum out for a night to the movies which was lovely. When your family aren’t well it makes being apart even harder, and it was good to get back, even for a short while.
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| stretching our legs before the wedding - Rosh, Helena and Nick |
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| Catching up with old friends on the cliff edge before the wedding |
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| They're married! |
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| Confetti |
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| Helena & Nick |
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| Suprise guest |
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| Group photo prep |
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| Mr & Mrs Russell-Seale with baby Miri |
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| Taunton posse reconvened |
Now we are back in Malawi and back with our noses to the grindstone again. Joshi is at nursery 3 days per week now, and really loving it and making friends. His language continues to improve and he is so flexible and loves to travel. While I was in London we managed to skype most days, one day he said ‘mummy please come out of the computer now’. Our next trip planned is to Mozambique in June with Ros, we are already looking forward to it and we are planning on squeezing in as much of Africa as we can before we get back next year. Politically things are stable for now, although who knows how long that will last – the treason trial is due to start soon………….I will keep you posted.
Much love to all
Emma Gav and Joshi
