What Matters To Me

Four well-known women chat to Stephanie van der Plank about what’s most important to them, from staying true to their roots and spending time with family to catching up with girlfriends over coffee

‘My mom’s 70th birthday turned into a week-long family celebration’

Actress Erica Wessels, 38, is dating Willem Boshoff, 40, who’s an actuary. She lives in Woodstock.

A week-long beach holiday shared with family – it doesn’t get better than that! My four siblings and I are all scattered between Joburg and Cape Town, so we don’t see my folks, who live in the Hemelen-Aarde Valley, as often as we’d like. But, this year, we all got together to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday. We rented a house in Bushman’s River Mouth and just hung out for an entire, blissful week. My 11 nieces and nephews, who range from ages five to 22, kept us busy – from building sandcastles on the beach to playing bat and ball for hours. It was so much fun! I can’t wait for the next milestone birthday.

I call my boyfriend ‘The Mountain Man’. He’s really into rock climbing and hiking and, though I don’t rock-climb, I’ve always loved exploring the mountain trails on a challenging hike. We plan a serious trek once or twice a year with a few of our nature-loving friends. We recently did the six-day Amatola Hiking Trail in the Eastern Cape, which was breathtaking. It’s a really tough climb, but the view from the top is something magical; rolling green hills as far as the eye can see. I relished picking wildflowers to take back home and cooling down in the ice-cold waterfall pool.