19/08/2026
Standing at the top of Kowhai Downs, the station owned by the Scott family of Tangoio, northern Hawke’s Bay, the view goes on forever – down to Cape Kidnappers and Napier Port and city, over to Te Pohue and Tarawera on the Napier Taupo Road.
The climb up to the station from the smashed Esk Valley or in from the Tutira side, where the bridge and Devil’s Elbow are still being rebuilt, reveals the scarring and damage from the force of Cyclone Gabrielle three years ago.
David and Jill Scott have lived on Kowhai Downs for 16 years, when they took up a two-by-three year lease opportunity. After the first three years, the lessor said he wanted to sell. “He didn’t want to be the richest man in the cemetery,” David says, and they as leasees had some history with the bank so were able to buy two-thirds of the 722 hectare station.
Four years later, they were able to buy the other third with the help of ANZ, and David…
Read more in the 2026 Angus magazine 👉 bit.ly/4imUJkK
