Travis Desfontaines RIP

The article don himself

As a Tongan, I grew up with death and funerals playing a big part of my life. That being due to being part of a big family and, being a Tongan in Australia, you knew pretty much every Tongan family in your community. And the Tongans, in general, are quite close knit.
It wasn’t ‘til a close friend of mine, Scott Bain, died that I experienced a loss of a different kind. Uncles and aunties pass away and that obviously hurts, but when someone your age dies, it truly hits you in a unique way. Is it because they died way before their time? Does their death force you to question your own mortality? I don’t know. What I do know, I’ve never felt like that before.
Another close friend died recently. Travis Desfontaines. I’m completely heartbroken. I truly don’t know where to start in order to describe his character, his persona, his light and his presence. So I just want to share a few (of maaaaany) stories that, I hope, will give you some insight on the man and the myth.

Travis was a party monster. When it was time to get down, he was the one you needed to get down with. But Trav was also the party entertainment. The bloke you hoped would be there at the gathering because you knew sometime throughout the night; the big fella would steal the spotlight and have the whole house cracking up. That, too, was part of his act… he’d have you crazily anticipating the show’s commencement.
One night at a party, we’d be doing what we do; having a dance, a few drinks and so on. We noticed Travis hadn’t been seen for a few, but we didn’t think much of it. We kept drinking and talking crap.
Suddenly, Travis rocks in with a lawn mower. A lawn mower? Yes, a lawn mower. And what’s more, the lawn mower had a hat on it. Obviously everyone was looking at Trav like, “what the hell?”, but we knew that that crafty raggamuffin was up to something. Obviously feeling he had the whole places attention, with the straightest of faces, Trav looks at everyone and says, “Hey everyone, meet me mate, Victor!”

Travis spent a lot of years in Melbourne. Hanging out with him down in that culturally rich city was almost like walking around with the mayor. He was the type of person people wanted to know and be seen with. But to me, he was always the same Kambah kid and I just loved hanging out with him for him.
Walking down a busy street one night in Melbourne, we walk pass a bar that was blaring some trance music. We both looked at each other with cringed faces in agreement of how crap it sounded. Travis then said, “Awww shit. It must be ‘80s night tonight”. I looked at him puzzled knowing that full well it wasn’t ‘80s music playing; it was trance. What is this guy hearing? So I turned to him and said, “’80s music?” to which he replied, “Yeah, cos you’ll need 8 E’s to enjoy it!”

OK… one more – short and sharp. Trav’s wit game was unmatched. I forget which hotel it was… and even why were staying at the same one. Anyway…
We all jump in the elevator, pushed the buttons and chatted away as the elevator started to move up to our designated floors.
We reach Trav’s floor and the doors open up. We exchanged good-byes with handshakes and he walks off the elevator. As the doors begin to close, Trav turns around to us and says, “Thanks for the lift”. Incredible.

I’m not sure if these story fall into the ol’ ‘you just had to be there’ catergory, but really… who cares. These are some the moments I’ve thought about many a time. If you knew him, you would understand the man’s comedic genius I was trying to capture with these stories. If you didn’t know him, I’m sure it will still make you crack a smile.
I guess that’s the bitter sweetness of Trav’s death; he has sadly passed away, but the big fella has left us with so many fond memories and funny moments. Travis, ya bastard, I miss you. We all miss you. Wherever you are, I hope you have reunited with our brother, Scott, and those Chicago Bulls socks you wore into the ground. Love you, brother.