Aussie celebrity rural and beachside hideaways revealed.
Aussie celebrities will be making a dash for their rural and beachside hideaways over the Easter long weekend after a busy start to the year.
From the Southern Highlands to the north coast, we reveal some of the most exclusive getaway properties owned by our A listers.
Some choose to live there permanently while others use them as their private pads while down under.
SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS
NICOLE KIDMAN AND KEITH URBAN
Australian actor Nicole Kidman and country music star Keith Urban own one of the region’s finest Georgian homes and often retreat there during trips home from the US.
Named Bunya Hill, the Sutton Forest property sits on 45ha and was purchased for $6.5m in 2008 from Peter Coad, the then head of global markets at National Australia Bank.
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Nicole Kidman answered questions for Vogue at her Southern Highlands home.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at the Elton John concert earlier this year. Picture: Richard Dobson
The mansion has wide sandstone verandas, pressed-metal ceilings, a carved cedar staircase and 10 marble fireplaces.
It had previously been known as Mount Valdimah, named after Denmark’s King Valdemar the Great, and also Shrublands.
The couple have done work to the property over the years with their latest move to increase security with the approval of a gatehouse at the estate.
MICHELLE BRIDGES
The fitness guru is one celebrity looking to offload her rural getaway in the Southern Highlands and head back to Sydney, listing her Kangaloon property earlier this year.
However the property failed to reach the $6.5m guide at its auction in March, with auctioneer Damien Cooley passing in the property for $4.825m.
Michelle Bridges’ Southern Highlands home.
Bridges has owned the home since 2017.
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The 4ha property was bought by Bridges in 2017, with the trainer enjoying the pool and tennis court, barn-style double garage as well as five bedroom, three-bathroom house.
The property has open plan living, sweeping views of the surrounding country and curated gardens by landscape architect Michael Bligh.
It is now listed with a price guide of $5m.
COLLETTE DINNIGAN
Acclaimed fashion designer turned interior designer Collette Dinnigan bought a Southern Highlands cottage in 2022.
Dinnigan spent $2.85m on “Argyle Grange” in Robertson.
Collette Dinnigan is also a fan of the Southern Highlands.
Collette Dinnigan’s house in Robertson.
The three-bedroom cottage, set on a sheltered country road, came with an AGA cooker in the kitchen.
It is surrounded by farmland on a 1.8ha block, which has a newly renovated studio and workshop amid its outbuildings.
In early 2022, Dinnigan opened a homewares store in Mittagong in the 1880s post office, which she deemed the perfect place to showcase her developing range of artisanal homewares.
NORTH COAST
THE HEMSWORTH BROTHERS
While they may not permanently live in Byron Bay any more, it’s no secret that the Hemsworth brothers will still frequent the seaside location.
Chris Hemsworth’s $30m mega mansion has now become the family’s North Coast getaway after they moved to Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.
However that’s not the only property Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky have in Byron, with plans for a second mansion near their home getting the green light from Byron Bay Shire Council last year.
Chris Hemsworth (left) and Elsa Pataky at Doug Jennings Park. Picture: Celeste Humphrey
Hemsworth and Pataky purchased the land, just a kilometre away from their existing mansion, for $4.25 million in 2019.
They proposed $4.4 million worth of works to build two new separate homes on the sprawling 35-hectare Broken Head Rd section.
Plans reveal a mini mansion to include five bedrooms, a luxurious entry courtyard, butler’s pantry, media room, basement gym, and backyard swimming pool.
Meanwhile brother Liam Hemsworth and his model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks quietly left Byron Bay in 2021 to make a move to the United States.
Liam Hemsworth’s $6.8m purchase at Newrybar.
Liam Hemsworth has left Byron, moving to the US in 2021.
Hemsworth has left behind two properties including a $6.8 million vacant parcel in Newrybar along with a $6.5m five-bedroom house also in Newrybar.
The luxury residence with two wings built around the swimming pool. Inside has a mix of formal and informal spaces, spacious bedrooms and a striking kitchen with gas cooking and an island bench.
TONES AND I
Toni Watson, who sings as Tones and I, spent $3.3 million on the outskirts of Byron Bay in late 2020.
Watson secured two homes on the same holding, Sky Lodge and Starr Cottage.
The 1000 sqm holding was bought in a company name, Johnny Run Away, the title of her debut single released in March 2019.
Tones & I also has property in Byron Bay.
Tones & I was once a busker on the streets of Byron Bay.
2020 marked the end of a busy year for Watson who also spent $5.1 million on a five-bedroom mansion in Melbourne’s coastal retreat, Mt Eliza.
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RUSSELL CROWE
Russell Crowe’s Nana Glen hideaway is no secret ever since he bought into the North Coast hamlet.
Crowe bought land in Nana Glen in 1999 before later expanding his property to included nine surrounding lots.
He married his ex wife Danielle Spencer on the property in 2003.
The Crowe family’s generosity in the region is legendary from supporting local businesses at every opportunity to founding the Nana Glen Heartstart program.
Crowe working on his property Nana Glen. Picture: Twitter
Russell Crowe showed rapper, RZA around Nana Glen. Picture: Russell Crowe’s Twitter
The Oscar winner’s 400 hectare estate was savaged by the bushfires of 2019, with Crowe working hard to salvage his as well as neighbouring properties.
A neighbouring 115 acre property called Wild Guy Station, owned by Australian TV host Cliff Guy, recently hit the market for $2.8m.
The area was advertised as the home for many Hollywood celebrities.
HILLS DISTRICT
KYLE SANDILANDS
KIIS FM’s breakfast king Kyle Sandilands paid $3 million for a property at Glenorie in mid 2022.
Soon after the purchase, the shock jock revealed that he intended to build a Hamptons-style family home on the 9580 sqm acreage which adjoins bushland and has mountain views, town water, a paddock, manicured gardens, and an in-ground pool with slide.
KIIS FM’s breakfast broadcaster Kyle Sandilands paid $3m for this Glenorie home.
Jackie “O” Henderson and Kyle Sandilands were crowned best on-air team (FM) at the 33rd annual Australian Commercial Radio Awards in October 2022.
The eight-bedroom, five-bathroom house sits on 2.3 sprawling acres within the sought-after High Gables Estate.
Sandilands, who has a strong real estate portfolio with properties in LA and Port Douglas, and his fiance Tegan Kynaston were previously renting in Bellevue Hill.
CENTRAL COAST/HUNTER
SOPHIE MONK
Beloved Aussie celebrity Sophie Monk is on a rural block in the suburb of Matcham on the NSW Central Coast.
The Love Island Australia hostess spent around $2.25 million on the home in 2020.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom hinterland home on 8000 sqm is close to Wamberal and Forresters beaches.
There’s a luxury master bedroom with ensuite, home theatre, electric fireplace and floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in its loungeroom.
Sophie Monk bought in Matcham in 2020.
Sophie Monk winding down at her Central Coast home in NSW. Picture: Supplied
At the time, Monk told The Daily Telegraph she was obsessed with the Central Coast.
“I rented in Forresters Beach when Covid started. While I was renting I fell in love with the place and bought in Matcham,” she said.
“My partner Josh grew up here and his family is a few minutes down the road. This is the best place, with the country and beach vibe and the people are adorable. They are all just so down to earth as well.”
It’s not the first time a celebrity has set sights on the coastal secret with Peter Stirling previously living in Matcham since 1997 when he and his wife Selina secured two lots for $495,000.
They reportedly sold the four bedroom home in 2018 for more than $3m.
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JENNIFER HAWKINS
Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall’s dream Central Coast home came true in 2022 when they bought a property in Terrigal with rolling lawns down to Avoca Lake.
It was a quiet, off the market sale for $6 million.
The 3.3ha holding has a seven-bedroom old-English style manor, which the couple planned to knock down, and is one of only a handful bordering the lagoon.
Jake Wall and Jennifer Hawkins bought lagoon acreage at Terrigal.
Hawkins and Wall had reportedly been looking for the right property since Frankie Violet was born in October 2019, then more so after brother Hendrix arrived in October 2021.
The couple will now be closer to family based in the Newcastle-Lake Macquarie district.
MIRANDA KERR
When she comes home to Oz, supermodel Miranda Kerr has a Hunter hideaway at her disposal.
Kerr and husband Evan Spiegel like to stay at the Hunter Valley Loggerheads vineyard that the 39-year-old purchased for a cool $7.5 million in 2020.
Loggerheads estate in the NSW Hunter Valley. Supplied
Miranda Kerr during a trip to Australia in March 2023. Picture: Hanna Lassen
The Pokolbin estate includes a 36-year-old vineyard, plus the Michael Suttor-refurbished homestead amid Paul Bangay landscaping.
There’s a summer house, pool, orchard, vegetable garden and shiraz and gammay vines.
The founder of Kora Organics and her billionaire husband, who is the founder of Snapchat, live in Malibu.
NOOSA
KARL STEFANOVIC
Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic have a hideaway in the Queensland holiday destination of Noosa.
The Sydney-based couple reportedly paid $3.6 million for the beach house in 2020 with Jasmine’s interior designer sister, Jade Yarbrough, leading the renovation.
The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home is in the Sunshine Beach’s Seaview Terrace, known as the most expensive street in the area.
Inside Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic Queensland home.
Karl Stefanovic and wife Jasmine. Picture: Instagram
Meanwhile Stefanovic is planning to splash cash on a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of his north shore home.
Plans to the value of $4.5m have been lodged to knock down and rebuild his three-bedroom Castlecrag property into a new home, boasting features including a spa, terraces and a pool room.