Huge promise Hemsworths made about Byron Bay

Daily Telegraph

20 hours ago

Elsa Pataky has revealed why her and husband Chris Hemsworth chose Byron Bay as their ideal place to settle down and raise a family.
When the duo got together, the fact of their upbringings, Pataky is from Spain and Hemsworth is a born and bred Aussie, always meant that finding a place to call their own might be a challenge.
One that can test any relationship.
Their very first pothole on that rocky road to true love was Chris' ocker accent, Elsa said at first she didn't know what he was talking about.
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'Chris had such a strong accent that we couldn't understand each other,' she told Harper's Bazaar.
Once Pataky learned to speak Australian, and love boomed, it was onto the next step in their relationship, where to find a home together.
After they were married in Indonesia in 2010, the pair made a pact.
'I made him promise that neither of us would force the other to live in their country, because they were so far apart.' actor Pataky said.
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It was then a trip to the east coast of Australia that sealed the deal.
'It ended up happening because he took me to Australia, he showed me Byron Bay and I fell in love, it was a paradise,' she said.
'I had always wanted to live near the sea and with animals, so I told him: 'Okay, let's go, but you promise me I'll have horses.''
Madrid-born Pataky said she had long ago decided she wanted to live on a farm, surrounded by nature.
'Living in Madrid is complicated when you've already lived in the countryside, in the middle of nature, it's hard,' she said.
And Los Angeles was too restricting.
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'When you're in Los Angeles, work suffocates you,' Pataky said.
'There, all the conversations, even the billboards you see on the street, have to do with the world of cinema and its industry.
'It can make you lose perspective.'
Instead the Hemsworths only trip to Los Angeles for work and to Spain for holidays.
'It brings me joy, the kids love it, the ham,' she said of Spain.
The couple's social media shows off their holidays to Europe but it also shows the lifestyle they have wanted and found in northern NSW.
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The couple bought a big slice of land outside Byron Bay township in 2014 and three years later construction began on a huge home there, nicknamed 'Fortress Hemsworth' by the locals and worth as much as $50m, according to more recent valuations.
The home sits on 4.2ha estate that took three years to complete and boasts fantastic district views, all the way to the Pacific Ocean, six bedrooms, a media room, gym, spa and a massive 50m infinity pool.
Hemsworth has said in interviews, he enjoys making Byron Bay his home because he feels 'less famous' and more grounded there.
The area has also become something of a family hang, with Liam Hemsworth also buying significant holdings in the areas.
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