Our biggest stars (and Santa Claus) are coming to town
Many of Australia’s most famous exports have returned home to spend Christmas in the sun.
Summer in Australia signals more than pavements like hot coals and jacaranda blooms turning to brown slush; it brings home the nation’s most celebrated exports, returning for their Christmastime sojourn.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban touched down in Sydney on Saturday from America’s country music heartland of Nashville. They arrived with their teenage daughters, Sunday Rose, 16, and Faith Margaret, 13.
For Kidman, this year carries a particular gravity: it marks her first Christmas without her mother, Janelle, whose death in September cast a shadow over an otherwise extraordinary 12 months for the star.
In April, she received Hollywood’s top honour with the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. Her upcoming film Babygirl, out Boxing Day, earned her a 17th Golden Globe nomination.
Over the past decade, the Oscar-winner and her country star husband have splurged millions on real estate, including six apartments in a harbourside complex in Milsons Point at a total cost of $27.5m. Should the city feel too near, the family can escape to their 45-hectare Southern Highlands estate.
Hugh Jackman, fresh off one of this year’s biggest blockbusters,Deadpool & Wolverine, which brought in $US1.338bn ($2.14bn), is back in Sydney. The 56-year-old actor has been clocked several times at Bondi Beach, where he (almost) blends in with the locals. Between dips in the ocean and visits to Speedos cafe with his kids, Oscar, 24, and Ava, 19 – whom he shares with his ex-wife Deborra-Lee Furness – he retreats to his North Bondi penthouse, a $5.925m slice of beachside luxury he’s held onto for nearly a decade. His longtime best mate, personal trainer Michael Ryan, is never far away.
Sam Worthington and his wife Lara (nee Bingle) have traded New York’s bitter winter for Sydney’s sunshine. The couple, along with their three young sons – Rocket, Racer and River – recently took a detour to Darwin, where Lara swam with crocodiles. Sam, this year’s GQ Man of the Year, is having a moment of his own. The couple turned heads at the magazine’s black-tie gala at Sydney’s White Bay Power Station earlier in December.
Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have retreated to their sprawling $30m Byron Bay mansion, joined by their three children – twin sons Sasha and Tristan, 10 and daughter India Rose, 12 – and a new German Shepherd puppy.
Meanwhile, Liam Hemsworth has been mingling at Sydney’s soiree’s with his partner, model Gabriella Brooks. The couple were spotted rubbing shoulders at an exclusive performance of The Nutcracker hosted by Chanel at the Sydney Opera House, with a glittering guest list that included the fashion house’s Australian ambassador, actor Phoebe Tonkin, Maia Mitchell and Budjerah.
Toni Collette is back in Sydney, finding downtime before the release of Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho’s much-anticipated follow-up to Parasite. The actor has had a banner year, starring in Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2, which is rumoured to be the 94-year-old director’s swan song. The film, controversially, bypassed a theatrical release and was dumped unceremoniously on streaming platforms.
Sam Kerr, the nation’s footballing talisman, arrived in Perth with her fiancee, West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis. The Perth-born sporting superstar and her American partner arrived at her home city’s airport on Wednesday from London. Kerr announced in November that the couple, who have been together since 2021 and got engaged last year, were expecting their first child together.
Also coming to Australia is British pop superstar Robbie Williams, whose upcoming biopic Better Man, directed by Australian Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), last week swept the international AACTA award nominees. Williams will headline The ABC’s annual New Year’s Eve concert at the Sydney Opera House.
Forget skiing and sailing; the new pastime of the country’s billionaire set is muscle cars and burnouts in the nation’s capital.
For Adrian Portelli, at least.
There’s never a dull moment in Portelli’s life; when he’s not giving away tens of thousands of dollars to shoppers as part of a promotion for his LMCT+ membership business, he is flying around in his jet or hosting parties in his Melbourne penthouse. Or battling South Australian lottery authorities in court.
Just after the new year, Portelli is heading to Canberra to take in the Summernats car festival, where he will revel in the streetcar festival that he now has an ownership stake in.
Other billionaires are heading further afield.
Victorian property magnate Max Beck will spend some time down at his clifftop mansion at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula, where he is leading fundraising efforts to restore the Sorrento Surf Club, before heading off to Europe for some skiing in the new year.
Laurence Escanante has been travelling for work, including dropping in on the Virtual Gaming World’s office in Toronto, while Perth media tycoon Kerry Stokes is already over at his mansion at Beaver Creek, near Aspen, Colorado, where he paid $US15m for a six-bedroom penthouse a couple of decades ago.
Son Ryan Stokes will join him and James Packer is likely to be around the traps at his luxury getaway in Aspen.
Clive Palmer has strung his 70th birthday celebrations out for about nine months, starting with a soiree aboard his Australia superyacht in Brisbane in March and then last weekend hosting 200 guests at his Coolum resort. Palmer is also heading overseas in January.
Already away are the likes of trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, who has been at the family compound in Hawaii, and Solomon Lew, who fresh from striking a deal to sell some of his retail businesses to Myer has been at his favourite holiday spot in Phuket.
Closer to home, Australia’s richest garbo Ian Malouf – who recently agreed to a $353m deal to sell some land in Sydney’s Eastern Creek where data centres will be built – says he will be taking it easy up at Palm Beach.
His Ahoy Club luxury charter business is sponsoring Comanche in the Sydney Hobart yacht race, though Malouf insists he will not be joining the crew on board – “I’d definitely slow it down,” he joked.
Other billionaires will sail their boats in the great race, though, including Will Vicars aboard his Oroton Drumfire and Christian Beck, who will defend the title he won last year on LawConnect.
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