Tiger’s Tale
The man who became the archetype of the wily risk-taking hedge fund manager had already established himself as a senior financial industry executive by the mid-1970s. Robertson ran Webster Management, the investment advisory subsidiary of Kidder Peabody, an investment bank. However, the many satisfactions of his financial career were not enough; he nursed the ambition to be an author, and needed to find the right environment to give it a try.

“I remembered what a friend had told me about New Zealand, how beautiful and far away it was, and what a different world it was,” Robertson recalls. “I had decided to write a novel, and New Zealand seemed like it might be a good place to do that.” In 1978, he took his wife and their two sons with him to write his novel.

Like many, he soon realized his skills as an author fell short of his ambitions, and by 1980, he had returned to New York and launched his storied hedge fund—Tiger. Robertson opened it with $8 million raised from friends and former clients; its assets eventually swelled to over $23 billion. But Robertson, like several other hedge fund luminaries of that era, failed to stake his fortune on the technology boon, and as that market rose, his fund plummeted in value. In 2000, with its value now about $6.5 billion, Robertson decided to close it down.

JULIAN ROBERTSON has built two world-class golf courses in New Zealand, including Kauri Cliffs, opposite page.

After so long amid the financial fray, the charms of a property he had bought in 1995 in New Zealand came into full focus. “A friend told me about some property that had become available, a farm called Tepene Tablelands, so I went to take a look,” Robertson recalls. “What I saw was close to 5,000 acres of such beauty that it takes your breath away, and I bought it for about the price of a modest apartment in New York. It almost screamed for a golf course. Both Josie and I love golf, so we began making plans to build one.”

He renamed it Kauri Cliffs, in reference to the nearby New Zealand trees that can grow to 150 feet tall and achieve girths of over 20 feet. Renowned golf-course designer Dave Harman laid out the course, which was ranked by Golf Magazine last year as among the top 100 courses in the world.

A colleague of Harman’s, Wade Setliff, designed the lodge, which houses the dining rooms, entertaining facilities and golf shop. A New Zealand designer, Kerry Avery, took over from Setliff, and plans soon developed for an infinity pool, tennis courts and a spa. The country’s top interior designer, Virginia Fisher, worked with Josie on the decor of the lodge and cottages.

Kauri Cliffs, on the northeast coast of North Island, has 11 cottages and 22 rooms. Each cottage provides two guest suites, and each suite features its own private porch, fireplace, walk-in wardrobe and bathroom. The lodge—which boasts canvasses by Peter Beadle, one of New Zealand’s finest painters—and the cottages lay at the edge of a forest, overlooking the ocean and golf course. The 22 rooms feature private verandas, each staggered from the next so as not to impede the view. Guests can swim on three secluded stretches of beach.

KAURI CLIFFS offers 11 cottages, 22 rooms and a lodge for dining and entertaining.

Pelicans and Birdies
Cape Kidnappers, Robertson’s second development, is in the Hawke’s Bay area near the middle of North Island. It offers golf on what was a 5,000-acre sheep ranch, but the immediate area boasts a host of other diversions, attracting visitors with interests beyond the links.

The Cape Kidnappers golf course sits on a promontory overlooking a 480-foot drop to the ocean. Every hole affords a view of the water; golfers occasionally spot migrating sperm whales. The course shares the promontory with the world’s largest mainland colony of gannets, a colorful cross between a seagull and an albatross.

The region resembles parts of California, with low, brush-covered mountains, sandy beaches, warm summers, mild winters, and a burgeoning wine industry. To the north of Cape Kidnappers is the town of Napier, famed for its Art Deco buildings. (An earthquake in 1931 leveled the town, which was rebuilt in Art Deco fashion, the leading style of the time.) The Art Deco masterpieces have undergone renovations in recent years and draw aficionados from around the world.

Wine has become one of the chief attractions to Hawke’s Bay. Robertson has a 75 percent stake in two of the wineries—Te Awa Farm and Dry River. Te Awa Farm takes its name from Te Awa o Te Atua, which means “River of God” in Maori, and is a reference to the subterranean streams that run beneath the vineyard. For lunch at Te Awa Farm, chef Paul Condron and winemaker Jenny Dobson pair cuisine, such as hot manuka smoked salmon finished with caviar, with wine, such as chardonnay or syrah. Cheeseboards are available after the luncheon hours, and private dinners for 10 to 80 guests can be arranged.

THE SUMMERLEE  estate is at Hawke’s Bay.

Although the Cape Kidnappers golf course is open for play, plans for a 24-unit lodge are on hold while Robertson meets with representatives of the Cape Kidnappers Protection Society, who fear the development would damage the natural landscape and harm the gannet colony. However, other luxury accommodations are available in the Hawke’s Bay area, including an eight-bedroom villa, Summerlee, Black Barn Winery and The Greenhill Lodge, where England’s Queen Mother Elizabeth stayed during a 1958 visit to New Zealand.

Summerlee, the main homestead of Summerlee Station at Cape Kidnappers, is an eight-bedroom estate with self-contained quarters for staff. Visitors rent the entire home and can either have maid services provided or opt for complete privacy. The property provides access to a secluded spot for river swimming and a beach, for those who tire of the pool and tennis facilities on site.

Greenhill, built in 1900 on 30 garden-covered acres, contains only five suites, limiting the number of guests at any one time to 10. Visitors dine on a four-course dinner with specially selected wines from the area or opt for an informal kiwi-style barbecue at poolside. Mountain bikes are available for rides to the nearby wineries. Those whose interests lay indoors can take advantage of the billiard room and a small library with Internet access. Greenhill also has a fully equipped gymnasium looking out at Te Mata Peak, and a spa room.

Hawke’s Bay is nearly 200 miles from Wellington and 300 miles from Auckland. Those who do not want to drive can take commercial flights to Napier. Helicopters and chartered fixed-wing aircraft can be hired at the city airports to fly directly to the Bridge Pa landing strip in Hawke’s Bay.

Time Travel
“One of the many interesting things about New Zealand today is that it is so similar to the California of 75 years ago,” Robertson says. “It’s pretty much the same size and has everything—mountains, beaches and miles of coast lines, the ocean, and now is developing a major film industry, just as California did,” he adds. “All you used to hear about New Zealand was that it was at the end of the world, too far away, and took too long to get to. In these days and times, the remoteness that once was a liability has become an asset.”

For those seeking a well-appointed get-away designed by someone who really knows the value of such a respite, Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers may fit the bill. “When I bring friends down here and show them this beautiful country, and they like it and appreciate it,” Robertson says, “it makes me realize that perhaps I am not crazy.”  

Resources
www.kauricliffs.com
www.teawafarm.co.nz
www.hawkesbaynz.com
www.blackbarn.com
www.greenhill.co.nz

Photos by JoAnn Dust