Transforming the Cape (Part 2 of 2)
- Keith Newman
- Sep 3
- 6 min read
Luxury lodge, world glass golf
The grandsons of Colonel William Neilson who had purchased much of Cape Kidnappers from the Gordon family in 1924, were struggling to make the large property pay its way and looking for a business partner in the late 1990s to keep things buoyant.
It seemed a good fit with the interests of Wellington-based Robert Fisher, founder of Harcourts Real Estate, plus there was family connection to the property, his wife Charlotte when she was a young woman had stayed with her second cousin Billie Neilson at Summerlee for holidays and on weekends.
The Fishers, enamoured with the extraordinary historical and ecologically significant landscape initially agreed to acquire half the farm and stock (51%) from Andrew (Andy Neilson).
In fact, says Charlotte Fisher, the arrangement came just in time to avoid a mortgagee sale, with the Fishers ending up taking a 73% ownership before final settlement.
The 5500 acres (2226 ha), not including the gullies and ravines had 2800 stock units, many in poor condition. The Fishers bought in farm manager Alec Tuanui to “represent and protect our interest.”
The Nielson’s were unhappy with this arrangement, so in 1995 the Fishers acquired the rest of the shares in the property from Michael. “We ended up spending the same amount on the property as we did to purchase it and when we cleaned everything up we took it to 9500 stock units,” says Charlotte.
The massive upgrade included fertilising and renewal of pasture, 9kms of new fencing, plant and machinery upgrades, 9km of metal roading out to the Cape, several kilometres of farm bike tracks, repairing existing dams and creating new ones, bringing the total of dams to 14.
Pest eradication
A pest eradication programme saw 3500 possums trapped or shot and it was the end of the line for 900 feral goats. They fenced off about 180 hectares of bush, known as the Rough Block as part of the Cape Sanctuary conservation area.
The old homestead on Karaka Hill was similarly run down and in need of serious repair from the foundations to the plumbing, the scrim walls and the roof. It was sitting on 37 acres (15ha) which were overgrown with box hawthorn and wild blackberry. “It was a real scorched earth policy for us,” says Charlotte.
A landscaping and planting programme began to transform the property, creating a tennis court, swimming pool, a 10 acre (4 ha) garden area of natives and exotics and an oak tree lined driveway surrounding the homestead.
The Fishers built themselves a smaller house further down the hill and to justify the huge cost in transforming Summerlee began operating the homestead as a luxury retreat.
The Neilson brothers wanted to keep running Gannet Safaris Overland and leased it back for a time but it ran into difficulties around 1996 so the Fishers reclaimed it.
With the Fishers at the helm, the tourist business, which attracted the bulk of its clientele from cruise ships arriving at Napier, quickly grew to a fleet of six buses, two mini vans and two Range Rovers. In peak season they were offering guided tours to around 8000 people annually, including a growing number of New Zealanders.
Golf and grandeur
In 2002 the Robert and Charlotte Fisher were sitting on the front deck of their Summerlee retreat taking in the expansive view of Hawke Bay when they received a phone call from a well-known lawyer representing American billionaire investor Julian Robertson.
He wanted to look at the farm. Charlotte said the property wasn’t on the market and they were about to head back to Wellington that afternoon, imagining an appointment at another time. The lawyer explained Robertson was only in the country for a short time and could be there in 20 minutes. “Where could he land his helicopter?”
The Fisher’s lives were about to change. “He landed on our front paddock, walked across the lawn and said ‘I want to look at your land...and I’m not interested in your pretty little house. How long would it take you to drive me around the property?”
On learning that might take a full day, they bundled into Robertson’s helicopter for an overview and landed on the flats above Cape Kidnappers “where we were growing brassicas to finish off the lambing season.” His only comment was “Oh, my Lord, this is just one big fairway.”
Charlotte says Robertson wanted wealthy Americans, mad on golf, to come to New Zealand as part of a package; playing at his Kauri Cliffs course at Matauri Bay in Northland, stopping at Huka Lodge for some trout fishing, more golf at the proposed Kidnappers course, and then down to his Matakauri Lodge at Queenstown for a full experience.
“It was an extraordinary opportunity we knew might never come again. None of our children were into farming so we began negotiating. The fact he didn’t want the homestead and we could keep 37 acres bordering the Maraetotara River helped seal the deal,” says Charlotte.
The vision of philanthropist and retired hedge-fund manager Julian and (the late) Josie Robertson from North Carolina was to have an international golf course on the plateau above the cliffs and an adjoining world class restaurant with accommodation.
Under the name Kidnapper’s Station, first used by original European owners the Rhodes brothers, the uncompromising Summerlee plateau land on Cape Kidnappers, 167km above sea level began to be radically transformed.
Engineering challenges
The biggest challenge wasn’t creating the world class gold course, it was the engineering involved in the 7 km road with 13 bridges over old dirt tracks and riverbeds that had been impassable in winter.
And then there was the challenge around the location of the five-star luxury lodge, known simply as The Farm which opened in November 2007.
The Hastings District Council had designated Cape Kidnappers a category 5 ‘outstanding natural feature’ which precluded any development that would compromise visual integrity.
However, the council went ahead and granted resource consent close to the Black Reef headland, perched on the cliffs looking out to sea with plans for a room tunneled into the western cliff face.
In October 2004 three locals, Rod Heaps, then owner of Gannet Beach Adventures, Peter Nee Harland from a local Maori hapu (extended family) and Charles Gordon, a relative of the Gordons who owned the land from the early 1850s, with support from future Hawke’s Bay Regional Councilor Liz Remmerswaal, successfully appealed to the Environment Court.
The lodge location was moved to a less controversial location closer to the golf course. The station itself remains a working sheep and cattle farm, running about 5500 stock units. There’s also 400 hectares of forest and from 2009 it hosted Kiwi Discovery Walks as part of the Cape Kidnappers Sanctuary.
Mediterranean mansion
Robert and Charlotte Fisher’s eight-bedroom, two-storey Mediterranean-style Summerlee villa at 404 Clifton Rd was opened to guests in 1996 as one of the first properties managed as part of the Black Barn stable (it was $1800 a night minimum).
Nearly two decades later, in April 2015, Summerlee sold in excess of the current valuation of $2.65m to Vicki and Scott St. John from Auckland who further renovated, extended and landscaped the property taking it to another level as a luxury lodge.
Scott is a former capital markets executive and company director and Vicki, a director of Arc Angels, which facilitates investment in entrepreneurial businesses started by women.
The St. John’s interest in the property dates back to the time when the Fishers had just refurbished it. “My guess is that Vicki, I, and our friends, were among the early guests. We would stay for a few nights and enjoy the fabulous evening meals,” says Scott St. John.
They kept renting the property over Christmas and New Year periods when their children were young, played on the front lawn, rode horses through the river and swam in the pool.
“The Fishers approached us when they were considering selling, knowing that we would provide the kind of custodianship needed to manage such a property. “To cut a long story short, I arrived back from Asia one morning to a text from Vicki that she had purchased Summerlee.”
Fully refurbished
The St. John’s made their own commitment to take things to the next level, employing builder Bill Livingston to refurbish everything, including adding ensuites to all the bedrooms, moving the kitchen from the east to the west wing for better outdoor living, enlarging the lounge and creating a large outdoor room.
During renovation work they discovered one of Colonel Neilson’s calling cards in one of the walls.
Vicki, a qualified landscaper, took on the gardens, enhancing them for shelter and form, adding an orchard and vegetable gardens and planting more native trees while retaining the charm of the oak lined driveway.
The Fishers still own a cottage on Karaka Hill, the river flats and the Gannet Safari’s Overland business.
“Both Robert and I are humbled that we have had a part to play in transforming Cape Kidnappers. It’s been a win-win for everyone including quality tourism in Hawke’s Bay”, says Charlotte Fisher, “and a most wonderful life experience including watching all the trees we planted grow to full height.”
Sources:
Historic homestead on market, Havelock North Village Press, 3 March 2015
Cape Country, Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow with Angus Gordon, Random House, Auckland, 2016, pp.231-235
Interview with Charlotte Fisher 24-08-2020 and material provided by Scott St. John
