Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have made a big change, exchanging the bohemian lifestyle of Byron Bay for the urban landscape of Sydney.
The couple own a $30 million dollar mansion in the idyllic beachside town with Pataky telling the Sydney Morning Herald, “We made the right decision in 2014 to leave LA and come to Australia — it’s been great for the kids to be in nature, enjoy animals and go horse riding.”
The couple, who are both actors, are currently each working on films at Sydney’s Fox Studios and have their three children enrolled in school in the city. The family hopes to enjoy the best of both worlds as Pataky explained to SMH that they hope to be able to spend weekends up north.
Hemsworth and Pataky were some of the first A-list Hollywood stars who made the transition from Los Angeles to Byron Bay, with the Thor star explaining that he had been feeling “suffocated” by his career living in the worlds entertainment capital.
“You’re a little bit too much in the eye of the storm when you’re living in Hollywood,” he told GQ in 2020.
“Living in Australia, it’s also easier to detach myself from work – and you get a bit more leeway to let a few emails and phone calls slide on by.”
The actor also told The Daily Telegraph that not being able to escape the industry was a deciding factor in his move.
“When you’re suffocated by the work, every conversation that you’re having and every billboard you’re seeing is to do with a movie or whatever around the industry. You lose perspective,” he said.
Since the glamorous couple took up residence in Byron Bay the area has experienced a huge boom — leading to locals complaining that the the town is stretched to the limit with increased traffic flow and restuarants at capacity. The resort-like enclave drew even more attention when Zac Efron became a fixture in the area, after starting a relationship with a Byron local and after Matt Damon — who is working on Thor: Love and Thunder with Hemsworth — also appeared to be setting up shop in the locale.
For Hemsworth and Pataky, however, the move will be a temporary one with the couple expected to return to their lavish Broken Head digs once Pataky wraps her Netflix film Interceptor and Hemsworth completes production on Thor: Love and Thunder.
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