Filling in the Blanks – with Miss Zag contestant, Natalie Rautenbach

With just one month left before we announce the finalists in this year’s Search for SA’s Ultimate Beach Babe, contestants are still signing up to Miss Zag in the hopes of clinching the title and walking away with a stack of epic prizes from sponsors Rip Curl and Reef Brazil – plus a trip for two to Mauritius made possible by All Aboard Surf Travel, and a quiver of boards from Natural Curve.

This week we caught up with Bronze Beach local and contestant, Natalie Rautenbach, and asked her to ‘Fills in the Blanks’ so we could get to know her a little better.

Hi my name is Natalie Rautenbach, but you can call me Nats!

To make a living I’m focussing on what inspires and motivates me, then I want to design my life doing what I love most, but I’d rather be sailing around an exotic archipelago with my family in search of the next big rush.

The funniest thing I ever saw was shared with a good friend of mine, Annie de Vries, whilst on holiday in Cape Town. We interrupted one of the strangest renditions of a Captain Morgan pose being practiced in a communal bathroom. Though, you’d have to ask her for the details!

My favourite item of clothing is my Woolies liquorice sweet pyjamas, but I would swap them any day for another RoxStar bikini.

The last time I visited Joburg, I toured Soweto and we partied in a Kwaito shebeen, before going to watch the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It was awesome!

Out of all my friends, Tia Jade Botha has the most infectious energy, I definitely want to go into business with her!

If I’m not at home at Bronze Beach, Umhlanga, you can catch me down in Leisure Bay, spending time with my uncle Ben Roberts, catching a massage at Sensasia and chasing secret surf spots with him.

I think surfers are patrons of the universal language of the ocean. The remind us in so many ways that we are connected in preserving the ocean, but are quite a zany bunch actually!

I’d love to one day own homes in Kauai – Hawaii, one in Bali (Indo), one in St Barts in the Caribbean, but you’d never catch me living away from the ocean.

If I had three wishes I’d wish for: A final resolution of the Taiiji dolphin slayings, in that there would be an outright ban on dolphin hunting. Secondly, I’d love to be part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space program next year. Thirdly I’d like to become an internationally recognized fashion designer.

I secretly have a crush on Sharkie: the Sharks Mascot, even though I adore my boyfriend.

I have a pet Ginger cat called Booginnz.

My most embarrassing moment was when I got caught trying to sabotage (won’t say exactly how) my Granny’s grumpy neighbour’s post box, aged 7.

My ultimate dream to is to be a leading international fashion designer, but if that doesn’t work out I’d love to be a hippie living in the Transkei.