Our Story
The story begins far away from Tonga. The year is 1945, the place is Northern Germany.
The Third Reich has fallen apart, Hitler’s dream has become a nightmare for his people as the Russian army advances from the east and the British forces close in from the west. Caught between are the German civilians – the women with young families, the children, the elderly – innocent victims of Nazi delusions of European domination.
Among these families are the Dycks: the mother, whose husband has been lost to the Russian Front, her sons and a daughter. One of the sons is Dieter, a boy bewildered by the loss of his beloved father and unprepared for the hardships which lie ahead.
Frau Dyck knows that the family’s only hope lies in fleeing westward, so she gathers up the children and a few possessions and they cram themselves, along with hundreds of other refugees, into a train’s cattle wagon.
After weeks of being shunted through the ruins of Germany and living in semi-starvation, the Dycks arrive in the south of the country, now occupied by Allied military forces. The two boys take any work they can find to support the family.
Gradually life returns to a kind of normality, but for Dieter, the main legacy of the war is an incurable restlessness, and in his first move, he crosses the border to Switzerland. There he learns the trade of house-painting, and while he works he develops a dream to travel as far from war-ravaged Europe as it is possible to go… the islands of the South Seas.
Eventually the dream becomes reality and Dieter takes a ship across the world to New Zealand.
He lives in the capital city of Wellington, which in the late 1950’s is staid and dull. There are virtually no restaurants or cafes, no proper theatres, no variety of cuisine or nightlife. There are pubs, but they all close at six o’clock in the evening!
But there is work aplenty, and Dieter pursues his painting trade, then in the 1960’s the young German immigrant moves to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest and most cosmopolitan city. Auckland has many more opportunities and Dieter starts his own business, Dyck Decorators Ltd, which does well.
One night Dieter goes to a dance at the popular Orange Ballroom. It is a dance that will change his life forever. The band at the Orange Ballroom, Bill Wolfgramm and his Islanders is one of the best and most popular in Auckland. The Wolfgramms are one of the Pacific’s legendary families, a blend of Germans and Tongans, descendants of a family of brothers who migrated to the Islands in the late nineteenth century, intermarried with the local people and put down their roots through the South Pacific.
At the dance Dieter meets a very attractive young Pacific Island girl, whose name is Senikau Wolfgramm – the niece of Bill Wolfgramm. By the end of that first evening the dashing young German immigrant and the beautiful Tongan-German maiden have fallen in love.
The marriage of Dieter and Senikau is a traditional Tongan ceremony. The Tongans are deeply religious and deeply traditional people and Dieter begins to realise that his wife brings to their union a whole new cultural world, which he had not previously been aware of - a uniquely South Pacific world which he relishes.
During the 1970’s Dieter and Senikau have three children - a son and two daughters, Dietmar (b 1970), Dagmar (b1972) and Luana (b 1974). But Dieter’s thriving business falters in the 1980’s as the building boom ends and New Zealand falls into recession.
These drastically altered circumstances force Dieter to reassess his life and priorities. He begins to appreciate that material possessions matter little compared with family love and spiritual values. He sells most of his possessions, becomes a devout church-goer and youth worker, spending a great deal of his spare time with young people in outdoor activities,
This youth work takes him on trips to Senikau’s homeland of Tonga. He accompanies the Boys’ Brigade to the islands, where they work on community projects in local villages.
Senikau’s family comes from the beautiful northern island of Vava’u, which is shaped like a giant piece of jigsaw puzzle. Its largest indentation forms a superbly secluded anchorage, named Port-of-Refuge in the sixteenth century by Portuguese explorers. To the Tongans who have lived beside the harbour for thousands of years, Port-of-Refuge is known as Lolo’o Halaevalu, or ‘Oil of the Princess Halaevalu’ because of the harbour’s natural sheen on still days.
The deep, sheltered waters of Vava’u, surrounding atolls, coral reefs, tropical rainforests and myriad of marine life make it a natural paradise. There are white sand beaches, crystalline waters and towering coconut palms. There are reef fish, game fish and gigantic migrating whales. Swimming, fishing, sailing, snorkeling, kayaking and diving are all on Vava’u’s front doorstep.
Dieter and Senikau then make a momentous decision - they will move to Vava’u and begin a tourist resort on the shores of the Port-of-Refuge, on an island called ‘Utungake’. But the establishment of the resort is a long, costly and often-frustrating process. There were land lease laws to be negotiated – throughout Tonga, all land is owned by the Crown or Nobles – building supplies to be brought in by sea, timber to be milled, buildings to be erected, electricity connected and plumbing to be installed. It is a project demanding vast amounts of capital, diplomacy, energy and patience, but the resort finally opens its doors in 1984.
In his autobiography, ‘A South Sea Dream Come True’, Dieter recounts the building of The Tongan Beach Resort with fine humour, and more is to follow with Dieter’s account of the day-to-day running of the completed Resort. Government bureaucracy, transport difficulties, plumbing and power problems, out-of-control motor boats, the ravages of wild pigs, tropical cyclones, the offensive behaviour of certain guests - all these obstacles and many more are confronted and eventually overcome by Dieter’s energy, working in combination with Senikau’s patience and the support of their three talented children.
Dieter Dyck’s autobiography is a unique story. It recounts with drama, perception and humour the way in which a German transplanted himself from his European homeland, discovered a love deep in the beautiful South Pacific Ocean and overcame the challenges of creating a haven for European visitors amid the natural wonders of a tropical island. It is the story of a Pacific dream which did come true.
Today, 25 years later the dream lives on with the business now being cared for by Dieter and Senikau’s daughter Luana and son Dietmar and their close ties with Senikau’s birthplace still remain.
The family are convinced the secret to their guests’ happiness and rejuvenation comes down to their team – of which they are extremely proud. “Our philosophy is that we are one family and that is a key experience every guest will go away with’’.
