Vanilla Sky

A fruit-bearing orchid has transformed the lives of villagers on a remote Tongan island, thanks to the four loves in the life of New Zealander John Ross.

Words & Photographs: Jason Burgess

IF EVER THERE WERE living proof of the energizing effects that exposure to negative ions has on someone, then John Ross is it. At a time of life when many might be considering lawn bowls or 18 holes, the 69-year-old free-diver has plunged headfirst into his latest venture: growing vanilla on exotic and remote Uta Vava’u in Tonga’s northernmost island group.

John is a sinewy whip of a man, slightly stooped but inexhaustible. He doesn’t waste a breath, barely makes small talk, rarely speaks about himself and when in his country drawl he utters anything at all, he’s economical beyond laconic. His actions are his eloquence and in the tiny village of Utungake he is shouting from the rooftops. Not that he would tell you that. Daughter and business partner Jennifer Boggiss says: “Dad has always shown us, by doing it himself, that you shouldn’t accept the status quo. You should investigate different things and you can do anything if you work at it.”

John’s fusion of quiet determination and old-school No 8-wire practicality, hewn from years of dairy farming and boat building, is the perfect prerequisite for operating a business an ocean away from the quick-fix conveniences of modern life. Through his passions for both vanilla and Vava’u, he is forging an inextricable link between his own family, Utungake and the Latus, a local family who share in the responsibilities of growing one of the world’s most sought-after, labour-intensive and beguiling crops at the Heilala Vanilla Plantation. He may not be your typical romantic, but according to his wife Lynette “John has two loves in life: Tonga and diving”. She’s not sure in what order. “But compared to those two I know I’m a distant third.”

Now apparently there is a fourth – Vanilla planifolia, the only edible-fruit-bearing orchid in more than 20,000 species, whose aromatic and flavoursome gnarled pods have captivated and intrigued the West since Montezuma introduced Cortez to its benefits in 1519.

John acquired his first taste of Vava’u in 1999. “We visited our son Mark who was managing the Tongan Beach Resort. I decided that’s where I wanted to celebrate my 60th birthday. I had just built Contraband – based on an ocean-going fishing trawler – with the express purpose of motoring to the islands.” Six mates joined him aboard the 52ft wooden-hull launch and set out from Auckland on the three-week “boys’ trip”. “It was a busy crossing with huge electrical storms and 45 knots on the beam for much of the way.” They took shelter at Minerva Reef where the clouds revealed a silver lining. “The spearfishing was fantastic. We lived on fresh fish for a week.” When they finally made it to Vava’u they “literally backed the boat up to a coconut tree and stayed for a month”.

During John’s visit, Mark urged him to organize repairs and playground equipment for Utungake School. Within the year he was back with his Papakura Rotary Club mates, coordinating the project as well as distributing books and clothes to neighbouring villages. It was to be the first of an ongoing series of annual visits by the District 9920 Rotarians. In the opening hours of 2002, cyclone Waka ripped through the Vava’u group with winds howling up to 318km per hour, destroying anything in its path. By June of that year the Rotarians had again rallied and a team of six landed in Utungake to help with rebuilding houses and the school and delivering medical supplies. John helped with the reconstruction and on subsequent trips was instrumental in developing an irrigation system for Talihau village, building water tanks and renewing bores. “Working on farms all your life you get a bit of experience with water pipes.”<

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