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.

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 a Maltese Government Gazette from February 2024 - click here and scroll down to page 418 - which listened a Joe Altenhein who had applied to build a new dwelling over an existing garage. That sounded like Joe the eternal builder! And it listed his address! I dashed off a postcard 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:

 

"What took you so long?"

 

 

Many years ago, I had built this bench and the boards on its seat had slowly rotted away. Today, while I was raking up the fallen leaves, I replaced them with a few bits of Merbau I had lying around. Proud of my handywork, I showed it to Padma. "What took you so long", was her instant reply.

Which is exactly what my Arab boss said to me more than forty years ago when I telexed him in Jeddah from my office in Greece to proudly tell him that I had just discovered a long-forgotten transaction in which another commodity trader had short-changed him by a million dollars - well, nine-hundred-and-eighty-thousand-and-a-bit dollars which by the time we got it back plus interest had grown to over a million dollars.

His reply, "What took you so long?", wasn't what I had expected, seeing that this was a trade which had not been done on my watch but well before I had even joined him in April 1982. A "Treuhandgesellschaft" in Switzerland had been in charge of his trades at that time, and they had allowed it to fall between the cracks. Very annoyed, I told him over the phone that I was resigning, and hung up. Hours later, he phoned back to ask if I had calmed down. I told him I had but that I was still leaving.

And so I did, on the 1st of April 1985. The significance of that date became apparent to me only after I had returned to Australia and realised that I had cut off my nose to spite my face. I had let my pride and ego get the better of me and gave up the best job I had ever had. Not only had I earned the most money I had ever been paid for my work but it had also given me the greatest job satisfaction I had ever enjoyed — until that moment when he had asked me, "What took you so long?"

(Two years later, his brothers offered me my own office in the Banque Des Echanges Internationaux's building on Avenue Kléber in Paris but by then I'd grown tired of the fickleness of Arabs and declined the offer.)

All this came back to me as I sat there on my newly-fixed bench.

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

Only the Wayback Machine shows the way back

 

Click here

 

I discovered Banjar Hills Retreat in the foothills of northern Bali in 2006, and I've visited it ever since. Often I was the only guest staying in one of its four beautiful bungalows. Just me and a few good books and fine food and drinks in total peace and privacy!

 

Click here for a look at Banjar Hills Retreat on GOOGLE Map

 

The retreat had changed hands a couple of times and was bought by a bunch of Australians from Canberra at about the time I discovered it. They were absentee owners who found it difficult to make the place pay its way, so when in early 2014 a German couple offered to lease it from them for two years, with an option to buy, they quickly accepted.

 

 

The German couple, all starry-eyed, explained on their since-gone-off-the-air website how they had always wanted to turn their back on Germany and how they had immediately fallen in love with Bali and Banjar Hills Retreat and how they wanted to stay forever (I saved the German text here).

 

 

Nothing is forever because less than two years later, in early 2016, they handed back the keys and returned to Germany. Their farewell message, written in German, read:

"DANKE BALI......

So, nun heisst es Abschied nehmen von Banjar Hills in Bali. Zwei Jahre hier zu sein, war eine tolle Erfahrung. Schönes Wetter, tolle Landschaft, ständig lächelnde, freundliche Menschen, leckeren Fisch u.a., sprich das, was uns in Deutschland oft fehlt. Dennoch möchte ich hier auch nicht verschweigen, dass das 'Urlaubsfeeling', dass man zu Beginn hat, sich überraschend schnell verflüchtigt und es auch hier einen 'Alltag' gibt. Und plötzlich gibt es auch hier Stromrechnungen, Verkehrspolizisten und Behördengänge.... Ich möchte diese Erfahrung nicht missen, doch man merkt schon in sehr vielen Dingen, dass man mit Deutschland und auch seiner (Heimat)Kultur enger verbunden ist, als man es sich eingestehen möchte. Und ich möchte betonen, dass entgegen allen Gemeckers in Deutschland unser Land SO viele Vorzüge gegenüber so vielen anderen Ländern besitzt z.B. Gesundheitssystem, Bildung, soziale und rechtliche Sicherheit, Sicherheit im Allgemeinen (ja, immer noch), Entfaltungsmöglichkeiten, Chancengleichheit, um nur einige zu nennen. Wenn man dann, wie hier, in andere Kulturen eintauchen kann und an der Basis die Sorgen und Nöte der Menschen mitbekommt, muss ich feststellen, dass sich diese im Prinzip kaum von denen der unseren unterscheiden. Auch hier wollen die Menschen nur ein glückliches Leben mit ihren Familien führen, ihre Kinder gesund und mit Bildungschancen aufwachsen sehen, ihren Platz und ein Zuhause finden ..... Was wir aber lernen können, ist, dass auch ein 'einfaches' Leben glücklich machen kann, sprich, dass es nicht viel bedarf, um Glück zu empfinden. Die Hilfsbereitschaft untereinander und gegenüber Fremden(!) hier, der Zusammenhalt von 'Familie', Leichtigkeit zu leben und - vor allem - jedem Menschen erst einmal mit einem FREUNDLICHEN LÄCHELN zu begegnen ...... all das sind Dinge, die ich hier lernen konnte und hoffe, sie nicht zu vergessen.

Am Ende ist halt nichts für ewig, so auch nicht Bali. Doch nichts wird mir das nehmen können, was wir hier gelebt und erfahren haben .... ausser vielleicht irgendwann die Demenz (lol). Und ich bin dankbar dafür ....... Danke Bali !!"

For those few of you who were not invaded and therefore don't speak German, let me translate the gist of it into what used to the Queen's English but is now again the King's English but without his boring voice:

"The time has come to say goodbye to Banjar Hills Retreat. It's been two years and a beautiful experience. Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, beautiful fresh seafood, friendly, smiling people - in short, everything Germany is not. And yet, we were surprised how fast our initial holiday mood was replaced by the monotony of everyday life as we had to deal with utility bills, traffic police, and government bureaucracy ..."

 

Click here for more photos

 

And they continued, "... We wouldn't have missed this experience for the world but have to admit that there are many things that still tie us to Germany: its culture, excellent health care, stable social and legal system, boundless opportunities - to mention just a few. What we have learned from our Bali experience is that people the world over want the same: happiness for themselves and their children, a fair chance to get ahead, and a safe place they can call home. We also learnt that even a simple life can bring happiness, and that a sense of family and helping each other and meeting even strangers with a friendly smile are more important than material possessions. We've learned all this in Bali and we hope we won't forget it. Nothing is forever, not even Bali, but no one can take away our wonderful memories. Thank you, Bali, and goodbye!"

 

 

The Australian owners have since decided to close it down which comes as a bit of a personal loss to me. After having serendipitously found it all those years ago, I had come to regard it as my own piece of Bali.

 

Just reading books, looking at the sky, listening to the song of birds ...

... taking a swim at any hour of the day or night in the pool
(or in the ocean which is a short, death-defying bejak-ride away)...

... or enjoying an hour-long massage by my favourite masseuse, Ketut Anggreni (for the equivalent of a minibar Coca-Cola). Leisure with a capital L - a slob's holiday!

 

Nothing is forever! What's left of this beautiful dream is three captures - just three! - of an old website full of hope on the Wayback Machine!

 

Googlemap Riverbend

 

I seem to have come full circle!

 

 

The four Yorkshiremen did it tougher but not by much. As a kid in post-war Germany I didn't even have my own bed. Mine was one of those folding beds which I unfolded in the living room after the last one had gone to bed, and which I had to fold up as soon as the first one was up again.

I had my own room of sorts after I left those crammed quarters in my mid-teens. They were cheap rented rooms, often the least desirable in other people's houses, as I followed my work, first around Germany and then around the world. There was the six-berth cabin on my six-week voyage to Australia; the migrant hostel at Bonegilla; then a boarding-house in Canberra where I occupied a share-room because a share-room was cheaper; then company housing of various standards in New Guinea, including construction dongas on the huge Bougainville Copper Project; then the AIR NIUGINI mess hall in Moresby and a company house in Lae.

I thought I had reached the top in Honiara where I lived a gracious life in a big house on Lengakiki Ridge overlooking Honiara and the ocean beyond, all the way to Savo Island and Tulagi, but things got even better in Rangoon in Burma where I was the sole occupant of a rambling old colonial house with five domestic servants anticipating my every wish.

Then another company house in Moresby and another one on Thursday Island, followed by living in the TUSITALA Hotel in Apia before moving into the historical Eastern & Oriental Hotel on Penang's waterfront.

In Saudi Arabia it was back to just one room but a very big one in a five-star hotel with its own ensuite, followed by the same in the SAVOY Hotel in Piraeus in Greece, before I grew tired of hotel food and room service and demanded my own apartment overlooking the blue Aegean Sea.

Finally, back in Australia I moved into my own four-bedroom-with-ensuite house in Canberra, and then, in retirement, into this rambling big two-storey mansion at "Riverbend" which is far too big for just the two of us, and far too difficult to heat during the recent cold snaps.

The solution? Move into the smallest bedroom, kept as warm as toast by an electric oil heater, with a light to read my books by, a radio to listen to ABC Radio National, and the internet to keep in touch with the world.

I seem to have come full circle!

 

Googlemap Riverbend