Sela’s, where Tongan

welcome matches Tongan cuisine

New Zealand freelance journalist David Robie delivers him self of an unabashed ‘rave’ account of Sela’s, a pocket-size guest house in Nukualofa, Tonga. Says he: ‘lf Tonga is billed as the “friendly islands’’, then Sela’s has to be the “friendly haven’’.’

Fed up with all those look alike international class hotels around the South Pacific?

Keen to take a break at a place with an ethnic and personal touch?

Then here’s something refreshingly different and simple to sample. And so cheap, too. Drop in on Tonga but ignore the big hotels (there is really only one in this category in the capital Nukualofa).

Instead, book into one of the many pocket-sized guest houses that abound and you couldn’t do better than at Sela’s. If Tonga is billed as the ‘friendly islands’ then Sela’s has to be the ‘friendly haven’.

A place for relaxing and dining on delicious Polynesian meals with a convivial atmosphere.

People come and go, many living on more remote Tongan islands, others diehard travel lers who have been on the move in the Pacific for a year or so. All have a new dimen sion to add to the lively dinner conversations. ‘lnteresting people come here from many countries and I love to cook for them,’ says 41-year-old Sela, whose beam ing maternal smiles and superb Tonga-style cuisine have won many hearts, even among Ton gans.

Her partner is husband Atolo Tu’inukuafe, 40, chief accounting officer in the Tonga Development Bank, who says that without Sela the guest house just wouldn’t be the same.

Sela has a charming culinary staff of several relatives and friends and sometimes some of her six sons (she has one daughter - the youngest child) lend a hand.

A typical meal consists of a wide choice of dishes arranged on large self-help tables - deli cacies such as form (grilled turtle), feke (octopus or squid) in coconut sauce, devilled clams, ’ota (raw fish marinated in lemon juice), lobster, avo cado salad and heaps of breadfruit, yams, taro and kumara.

That’s for openers and there is always plenty if you have a

hefty appetite.

Tropical fruit salads or des erts, such as Sela’s special pine apple pie, are followed up with spiced banana or pineapple cake and coffee.

All this for the unbelievable price of four pa’anga (near enough to dollars) if you are a casual guest, or three pa’anga as a resident.

One day while I stayed there, a meal was prepared in a tra ditional ’umu (earth oven) in the back garden corned beef wrapped in taro leaves, breadfruit, yams and cassava and a suckling pig was cooked on a spit.

On sunny Sunday after noons, Atolo throws in a trip to Tongatapu island’s scenic spots. The guests pile into his light truck and off they go to the flying foxes’ nesting trees, blowholes, beaches, or the

Ha’amonga Tonga’s answer

to Stonehenge.

And if you think this article is rave - well, it is. I have trav elled widely in more than 30 countries and Sela’s fine hospi

tality takes some beating.

Take some of the random comments from the visitors’ book to bear me out: ‘Warm and wonderful a

great place to spend a day or a lifetime.’

Til always remember Sela and Atolo as my Tongan mother and father, I have never received so much love, concern

and generosity.’

Thank you for making your home our home. We’ll never

forget your generosity and

hospitality.’

The atmosphere is so relaxed that it’s hard to imagine that the guest house actually had a tough start. Atolo, who has three brothers in Auckland, went to New Zealand on two working holidays in 1963 and 1967 to take jobs at restaurants and save the finance for Sela’s.

They began in 1970 with only

two guest rooms and a paraffin stove. Atolo rushed home every night from his post office job to do the cooking. But Sela took over the cuisine with her tremendous flair, and Atolo rarely cooks now.

Today they have two family

rooms (with bunks), eight double and two single plus din ing and recreation rooms.

For full board, the price sets you back only $9 a day for a single room and $lB double.

Ideal for a budget holiday or

long-term travelling.

But there are also many other guest houses in Tonga to stay in. Most, such as look after-yourself Leo’s, K’s and the Beach House, offer accom modation in the $3 or so a night bracket.

Out at Kolovai beach there is the Good Samaritan fhn only slightly more expensive and with French cuisine and an idyllic seaside setting to com pensate.

Full details may be had from the Tonga Visitors Bureau, PO Box 37, Nukualofa.

The Sela of Sela’s with husband Atolo Tu’inukuafe. They run one of the pocket-sized guest houses in Nukualofa. There are others mentioned in this report. A story on The Good Samaritan appeared in PIM April, p22.