From the desk of the Nelligen Stock Exchange

 

 

Feeling and finance don't mix! And yet each affect the other: you're feeling well when you're financially well off, and you handle your finances well when you're feeling well.

I didn't feel well at all when, after saying my final good-bye to an old friend in hospital, I decided to divest myself of most of my BHP shares at an average price of $59.40, only to see them soar the next day to a new high of $62.72. There had been nothing more behind my decision to sell other than a feeling that I ought to live my life more deliberately without spending too much time deliberating over financial matters.

Isn't it strange how the human mind works? I had lost no real money — in fact, I had made a profit by selling at the low $59.40 — and yet there I was regretting having lost out on the extra three dollars a share I could have made had I sold out just one day later - IF I had sold out at all!

 

BHP chart

 

There is a perceived understanding that when the miners go up, the banks go down (and vice versa), as money managers rotate their funds from one sector to the other. And right on cue, CBA fell off the cliff:

 

CBA chart

 

All cashed up from my recent sale of BHP and with nowhere to put the money, I spent a portion of it on buying into CBA. As shown on the above chart, after a day of hesitation during which my purchases showed a loss, CBA took off again towards its former 52-week high of $192, and I regretted not having bought more. That strange human mind again!

 

BHP chart

 

Today it was BHP's turn to fall off a not-so-steep cliff, when its shares dropped from Friday's close of $60.46 to today's close at $58.77. In the meantime, CBA had risen further to $160.74. I won't bore you with the details, but had I, instead of selling too early, not sold out at all and thus also not had the money to buy into CBA either, I would now be a lot worse off. Speaking of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Why did we have to grow up?

 

 

I looked at this fifty-five-year-old photo for a long time. It made me ask myself if I had been unhappy about anything or if anything had bothered me or if any regrets had already sneaked into my life at that time. And the answer was a resounding no, no, and no again.

 

 

I was single then and young, and Bougainville Island was home to me. It came in the shape of a 9x9-ft donga tastefully decorated with PLAYBOY centrefolds of girls waxed to the point of martyrdom, and where all my wordly possessions easily fitted into a 2-ft-wide metal locker and my needs for comfort were satisfied by a red plastic chair on the porch.

 

 

Life was so simple then; we were so innocent! Life had not yet left its marks, worn us thin, and made us cynical. Why did we have to grow up?

 

 

Perhaps even more to the point, why did we have to grow old?

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

I wished I had this photo of my German schooldays

Courtesy facebook Braunschweig - im Wandel der Zeit

 

This photo, so typical of German schools of that time, was taken in 1957 at the Volksschule Leonhardstraße, whereas I attended the Volksschule Sophienstraße from 1952 and then, some years later, the Volksschule Heinrichstraße until 1960.

Inside or out and no matter where, "Volksschulen" all looked alike, and still do except they dropped the "Volks" and made them "Grundschulen".

 

Volksschule Sophienstraße today; no greenery in my days

Volksschule Heinrichstraße today; no greeneries and no tabletennis in my days

 

It would be nice to still have a photo of myself sitting in one of those benches long before eight years of "Volksschule" almost ruined my life.

 

"Mein erster Schulgang" - My first day at school / Wouldn't it be fascinating to
know what happened to those forty-one eager faces in the past seventy years?

 

The only photo I have of those days - and which now hangs, beautifully framed, on the wall in my library - shows me on my first day at school on 21 April 1952 which, from memory, was a Monday. Can you pick me? (hint: I'm the only boy in a whole row of girls, not one of whom wanted anything to do with me which clearly set me up for the next fifty years)

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

How long does it take for a postcard from Australia to Malta?

 

Very appropriately, "Riverbend" is somewhere near the koala's bum

 

I first heard about Joe Altenhein when I visited Tonga in 2006 and quite by chance met the Austrian Horst Berger who had at one time been caretaker on the resort VILLA MAMANA which Joe had built on tiny Teleki'vavau Island in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Joe had come to Tonga in 1994 following a royal visit to Germany by the late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. during which the king had invited German citizens to come and live and invest in his tiny kingdom. Joe, a pilot, had been looking for the right place to start his seaplane business in an island country with many islands and sandy beaches with shallow lagoons. He thought the Maldives were too Islamic, the Bahamas too screwed up, Fiji too Indian, but Tonga just right: very authentic, relatively untouched, with nice people and beautiful weather, and foreign investment officially welcomed.

However, with the Government delaying the issuing of an operating license for his seaplane, he and his by now Tongan wife Lola decided to wait and in the meantime build, as a support business to their original plans, VILLA MAMANA on the pristine 40-acre island of Telekivava'u. For more than six years he created, single-handedly with just the occasional help from some local fishermen, this most exquisite resort - for more photos, click here. It must've been a labour of love because the logistics and the costs to transport material and build on this tiny and remote island must have been quite daunting.

 

VILLA MAMANA on Telekivava'u

 

Eventually, with their two children needing schooling, Joe and Lola put VILLA MAMANA up for sale and moved to the main island Tongatapu, where there was little else to do but grow some vanilla and look after some cows and papaya plants while they waited for a buyer to turn up.

 

FOR SALEThe Villa Mamana is situated on deserted Telekivava'u Island in the South Seas last kingdom, the Kingdom of Tonga, 37 nauti-cal miles south of Pangai with its regional airport. This almost untouched part of Polynesia offers all the lonely island cliche could suggest: crystal clear waters, rich marine life, lush tropical vegetation, an authentic culture, and absolute peace of mind. The Villa (built in 1999) is right at the white beach and the shallow lagoon which surrounds the island. 3000 sq/ft of villa hold 2-1/2 bedrooms with ensuite marble bathrooms, the great room, two huge decks (which become part of the great room with the french doors opened), and a porch. All facing west to ensure beautiful sunsets over the warm South Pacific Ocean. High ceilings, wooden floors, teak furniture, and the light reflecting from the lagoon give the colonial style building its special charm. Amenities include: TV, VCD, stereo, satellite phone, fans, washer, Workshop, fishing gear, etc. Further down the beach you will find the kitchen house of 700 sq/ft (fully equipped) with a studio, and a smaller house (500sq/ft) which is ideal as caretaker quarter. Included in sale are also a 40ft motor yacht, a 27ft gamefishing power boat, a runabout, and utilities like two diesel gensets, two inverters, two battery banks, solar panels, desalination system, water-tank and much more.

 

They found a couple of Americans from Hawai'i, Kendall Struxness (who since passed away in April 2011) and Matt Muirhead, who bought VILLA MAMAMA. Their story also came to a sticky end but that's a story for another day - or maybe not, seeing how interested you are: click here.

 

Hotel Pension Senta

 

Last time I heard from Joe was in February 2012, when he and Lola ran the "Hotel Pension Senta" in Berlin, After that, it was deafening silence!

What I kept wondering was how somebody who's lived for over a decade in the South Seas could put up with the cold and crammed lifestyle in Germany? As he wrote, "We all had the best time of our lives on the island, and will always miss it - unless we find another island and build a 'Villa Mamana Lite' just for us." So, on the spur of the moment, I typed into GOOGLE, "Joe Altenhein", which led me to www.altenhein.eu.

 

Joe Altenhein in Malta

 

Joe Altenhein on Gozo, the mythical "Isle of Calypso"? Is that the same Joe Altenhein who had built beautiful VILLA MAMANA in Tonga? Not that I recognised him in his photo but, scrolling through his one-page website, I found several photos of VILLA MAMANA. I clicked on "Kontaktformulare" but there weren't any. Quite clearly, he didn't want to be contacted.

 

Entry in the Malta Government Gazette, February 2024, page 418

Entry in the Malta Government Gazette, August 2024, page 24,428

16 Triq Frangisk Portelli, Sqaq Nru. 1, Gharb

 

If there is one thing I have plenty of, it is time, and with my middle name being 'Persistence', I GOOGLEd some more and found two entries in the Malta Government Gazette from February and August 2024 which listed a Joe Altenhein who had applied to build a new dwelling over an existing garage and then wanted to make various alterations, including a pool at roof level. That sounded like Joe Altenhein, the eternal builder!

And it listed his address as Triq Frangisk Portelli, Sqaq Nru. 1, Gharb, which is just a few doors up from the LIGHT HOUSE Supermarket. Buying a box of KitKat cereal was never that convenient on Telekivava'u Island!

 

 

I dashed off one of my prepaid AUSTRALIA POST cards right away.

 

"Ohana" is a Hawaiian term for "family".
I am surprised he didn't call his new home "Villa Mamana Lite"

 

How long does it take for a postcard from Australia to Malta?

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

In memory of VILLA MAMANA

 

Jan and Dave of SY HARMONICA toasting the end of
another day in Paradise on the island's northern spit

 

On a cool and foggy morning by the river like this morning I travel back in my mind to tropical Tonga and VILLA MAMANA, another broken dream of the tropics by another islomaniac.

My involvement with VILLA MAMANA on Telekivava'u goes back to 2006 when I met the Austrian Horst Berger who had made Tonga his home in 1995 and briefly 'house-sat' VILLA MAMANA for the original owner Joe Altenhein.

I never made it to Telekivava'u but reading a blog I had written about Horst Berger, its original owner Joe contacted me in early 2012 - see here - and in 2013 an email arrived from its new owner Matt - see here.

 

GOOGLE Map

 

In the meantime, many yachties had already made landfall at VILLA MAMANA, including Jan and Dave Hutchinson from Calgary in Canada:

 

Dave and Jan on the northern spit of Telekivava'u with Fetokopunga in background

Caretaker Steve Gates on left; Dave on right

 

As they wrote in October 2005 in their logbook aboard SY HARMONICA: "The clearest water we found was probably off the 'resort island' of Telekivavau. The term 'resort island' could be misleading since the last guest checked out nearly six months earlier. A caretaker lives there on his own and takes care of the lovely building and keeps the grass lawn cut. He (Steve from Hawaii) seemed glad to have company for the two days we spent anchored inside his reef and twice he joined us for supper on board Harmonica, and we joined him for sunset drinks on the north beach where we could watch the large flying foxes (fruit bats) desperately flapping from one island to the next, and the frigate birds harassing boobies for food."

 

Dave and Steve outside VILLA MAMANA

The Villa Mamana is situated on deserted Telekivava'u Island in the South Seas last kingdom, the Kingdom of Tonga, 37 nautical miles south of Pangai with its regional airport. This almost untouched part of Polynesia offers all the lonely island cliché could suggest: crystal clear waters, rich marine life, lush tropical vegetation, an authentic culture, and absolute peace of mind. The Villa (built in 1999) is right at the white beach and the shallow lagoon which surrounds the island. 3000 sq/ft of villa hold 2-1/2 bedrooms with ensuite marble bathrooms, the great room, two huge decks (which become part of the great room with the french doors opened), and a porch. All facing west to ensure beautiful sunsets over the warm South Pacific Ocean. High ceilings, wooden floors, teak furniture, and the light reflecting from the lagoon give the colonial style building its special charm. Amenities include: TV, VCD, stereo, satellite phone, fans, washer, workshop, fishing gear, etc. Further down the beach you will find the kitchen house of 700 sq/ft (fully equipped) with a studio, and a smaller house (500sq/ft) which is ideal as caretaker quarter. Included in sale are also a 40ft motor yacht, a 27ft gamefishing power boat, a runabout, and utilities like two diesel gensets, two inverters, two battery banks, solar panels, desalination system, watertank and much more. For photos, click here.

VILLA MAMANA already looking a little worse for wear

Steve and Dave

Dave leaning in entrance to cookhouse

 

Steve was the longest-serving caretaker - where is he now? - with a few more doing shorter stints, including a couple from Germany who pre-tended to live on a desert island and wrote a book about it - see here.

Alas, by 2015 the dream had died - see here - and all that's left of VILLA MAMANA are memories which I'm trying to keep alive by collecting stories and pictures of what the Lonely Planet Travel Guide once described as "the most exclusive and beautiful accommodation in Tonga".

 

 

Dave and Jan were kind enough to send me the above photos. As Dave wrote, "Yes, we did anchor at Telekivavau in 2005 and it was one of our highlights. We don't have many photos of the house, and only went inside once. My memory is of some beautiful solid wood furniture which looked lovely, but had already been eaten through by burrowing bugs. Some of these photos were taken by Steve. He was missing western company when we arrived, and was excellent company. We had a glass of wine on the northern spit most evenings and watched as the flying foxes returned for the night. I am sorry to hear that the place has been 'looted' but am not entirely surprised."

I think I do what Steve, Jan and Dave did and have a sunset drink on Riverbend's jetty this evening and raise a toast to a wonderful dream.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Wrote Matt Muirhead, the owner: "Dear Peter, thank you for tying a ribbon around what Telekivava’u was. Seeing the pictures brought back a flood of wonderful memories. The white powdery sands that would move around the island with the full moon cycles. The feelings that isolation brought and surfing world-class waves right out the front door. When I retire from full-time work I will write a few words that might give a glimpse to those who long for a far-away paradise."

Wrote Joe Altenhein, the original owner and creator of VILLA MAMANA, a very long time ago: "We all had the best time of our lives on the island, and will always miss it - unless we find another island and build a 'Villa Mamana Lite' just for us."

And here's VILLA MAMANA after cyclone Ian had struck in late 2014: