Australia Travel: Where Hollywood Hangs in Sydney and Byron Bay

With its lush golden beaches trimmed in eye-popping emerald waves, whale-studded waters, rugged mountains and the laid-back urban equivalent of Los Angeles, New South Wales — home to Sydney as well as perhaps the planet’s coolest surf town, Byron Bay — is an attractive proposition. And that’s not even taking into account its culinary and cultural scenes, or its draw as a filming location.

“Australia has ruined me for shooting anywhere else,” says Glen Powell, who shot Anyone But You in Sydney. “The crews are top-notch, everyone seems happy, and there’s a great work-life balance that makes set a place of joy.” (In the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, Anyone But You‘s director Will Gluck shares his diary about his love of living and filming in Sydney.)

Other films that have recently shot in New South Wales (NSW) include George Miller’s Furiosa, starring native son Chris Hemsworth; The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt; and Thor: Love and Thunder. Adds Alison Brie, who recently shot Peacock’s miniseries adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s Apples Never Fall in Australia, “While filming, I took several trips to NSW to go to Byron Bay. So many great restaurants! Such serenity!”

And Qantas, loved by such stars as Hugh Jackman and Ellen DeGeneres, soon will add additional weekly flights from L.A. and NYC to Sydney; it also recently announced an investment of up to $400 million toward new sustainable aviation fuel technologies to cut emissions by a quarter by 2030.

Below, are the latest openings, develpments and happening in New South Wales, from Sydney to Byron Bay.

Sydney

“It’s clean, it’s green and the water is pristine. Breathtaking hikes, delicious fresh food … and the people are absolute legends!” says Aussie actress Aubri Ibrag (The Buccaneers) of the city, which recently welcomed the first Down Under iteration of SXSW and saw the debut of a public art garden and the new Sydney Modern Project building at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

The past few months have seen Jackman hanging out at Bondi Beach (where Ibrag recommends the scenic Bondi to Bronte coastal walk); Gwyneth Paltrow sightseeing and posing in front of the 50-year-old Sydney Opera House; and Solange performing at Volume, the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s new music, film and performance festival.

The $500 million revitalization of the Sydney Fish Market on Blackwattle Bay is due to be fully realized in 2024, complete with the Sydney Seafood School for cooking classes. Forthcoming reasons to visit include February’s high-spirited Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (Feb. 16-March 3), the contemporary art–celebrating Biennale of Sydney (March 9 to June 10), and the vibrant annual creative festival Vivid Sydney (May 24-June 15). 

Powell tells THR he started his days in Sydney “running from Bondi to Coogee. I’d grab some Australian coffee — a long black and almond — and hit Slow House [wellness space] for a little sauna and cold plunge.” On weekends, the cast visited the farmers market in Bondi, says Powell, and frequented Raw Bar, “a local place right off the beach with great food and vibes.” Powell also recommends Clovelly Bowling & Recreation Club “if you’re looking for a view and an activity while you drink.”

When Gosling filmed The Fall Guy in Sydney, he and Eva Mendes reportedly rented director Baz Luhrmann’s property in Darlinghurst and took their kids to the UNESCO-listed Blue Mountains 65 miles west of Sydney, where they visited the adventurous nature park Scenic World. Other popular driving trips from the city include wine-growing region Hunter Valley to the north (where Amazon Studios’ The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart filmed) and Jervis Bay to the south, where new outfit Jervis Bay Stargazing offers astrophysicist-led constellation storytelling tours on a powdery white sand beach.

Right in Sydney Harbour, the elegant new 101-foot M.Y. Sea Raes superyacht is available for day or overnight charters from $1,300 per hour to $12,000 or more per night (depending on season, all-inclusive for up to eight guests). Margot Robbie recently stepped aboard to launch her Papa Salt gin brand. The floating retreat, which offer snorkeling and fishing equipment, cruises to beautiful spots like Farm Cove and Sugarloaf Bay and takes to the Whitsundays each June.

New Hotels

In Sydney, a flurry of hotels have opened — and are still rolling out — since the city’s strict COVID lockdown.

The art deco Morris Sydney (from $200 a night) is attracting locals to its intimate Bar Morris wine bar.

The moody, rich Hotel Indigo Potts Point (from $226) just debuted with 105 rooms behind the iconic Kings Cross Coca-Cola billboard.

And the W Sydney (from $386) is unmissable in Darling Harbour. With a bold, art-forward design that channels Australia’s spirit of larrikinism, a local term for rebelliousness against convention, it features 588 rooms, several culinary concepts and a two-story rooftop bar with a nearly 100-foot infinity pool.

The 192-room Capella Sydney (from $550), in a painstakingly restored and reimagined historic sandstone building, is the city’s most culturally connected and opulent new stay. Monumental works by Aboriginal Australian artists — including a wall by Otis Hope Carey, whom Hemsworth commissioned to paint a massive mural in his home — are prevalent throughout public spaces, which stylistically celebrate a sense of place and storytelling. The 192 generous rooms and suites are beyond sumptuous, with custom Frette linens, clean-lined furniture, and well-curated curiosities.

The Capella’s Auriga Spa, skylit indoor swimming pool, and trio of drinking and dining outlets are attractive reasons to stay on property, but Capella’s Culturists (essentially next-level concierges) offer compelling programming that give guests deeper connection to the surrounding neighborhood. First Australian elder Aunty Margret Campbell’s Illi Langi Aboriginal dreaming tours are an eye opening and intriguing way to absorb important history and context, while local historian Max Burns-McRuvie’s Wine, Dine and Crime evening experiences (from $1,200) are salacious, fascinating and delicious. There’s also a $10,000 half-day outing available onboard a vintage wooden yacht complete with private chef and Shark Island cooking class.

Openings last year included the Ace Hotel Sydney in Surry Hills; art-filled boutique hotel Oxford House; The Porter House Hotel Sydney by MGallery, and Kimpton Margot Sydney (from $421). The latter, in the 1930s art deco former Water Board building, was a filming location in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken before it was a hotel. Since then, Phoebe Tonkin and Kyle Richards have stayed in its retro digs.

On the future debuts list are Soho House’s first Australian location, due to open in a five-story indoor-outdoor building between Darlinghurst and Surry Hills; a 25hours Hotel (part of Accor) in a heritage-listed ex-theatre in Paddington; TFE Collection Surry Hills with a rooftop infinity pool; and, expected in 2025, the 220-key Waldorf Astoria Sydney at One Circular Quay (near the grand dame InterContinental Sydney, from $368 a night, where Barack Obama and Jolie are past guests).

Beloved sustainable fin-to-scale seafood restaurant Saint Peter — by famed Sydney seafood chef Josh Niland, also of Petermen restaurant — is taking over the Grand National Hotel in Paddington, which is set to reopen as not only a 45-seat dining room and bar but also a 14-room boutique hotel.

Indigenous Australian star chef Mark Olive’s newest restaurant, Midden by Mark Olive, at the Sydney Opera House, highlights native ingredients in dishes such as bush tomato-braised wallaby shanks. Fauna is a new Surry Hills boîte that blends Italian with Native Australian and Philippine influences, while King Clarence in the CBD (Central Business District) is acclaimed Bentley Restaurant Group’s new contemporary Asian venue, with an emphasis on seafood from its large tank. While filming, Gosling and Blunt dined at longtime fine-dining favorite, the two-hatted Aria Restaurant by prolific chef Matt Moran.

Byron Bay

This small hippie-turned-hip beach enclave in the far north of New South Wales is “a little pocket of natural paradise sitting on the most easterly point of Australia [with] stunning beaches and beautiful mountains. I would go back in a heartbeat,” say Luke Evans, who shot Nine Perfect Strangers there.

“I loved my secluded hilltop rented house in [the town of] Myocum,” continues Evans. “I’d often wake up to swamp wallabies sunbathing on the grass and sometimes an echidna walking across the decking. Nighttimes were full of noises I’ve never heard anywhere else in the world. I became very comfortable with the sounds of nature.” 

Adds Evans’ co-star Bobby Cannavale, “The term ‘quality of life’ is thrown around, but Byron Bay truly epitomizes the term in the best sense.” A typical day with his family could include “brekky donuts at The Farm, a surf at The Pass, a low-tide coastal hike from Broken Heads Beach to Whites Beach and, finally, a pizza at Treehouse at Belongil Beach.” This, he says, is “a lifestyle I’d be eager to return to anytime.”

Byron Bay is also where Hemsworth reportedly owns a nearly 250 acres property and hangs with the likes of Matt Damon and surfs with brother Liam. Robbie and her producer husband, Tom Ackerley, have been spotted home shopping, too.

Brie tells THR her “favorite thing was to walk up to the lighthouse to watch the sunset — magical!” Evans made a habit of climbing to the lookout to spot whales after breakfast on Sundays.

Brie also adored Raes on Wategos (from $625), the legendarily intimate and indulgent boutique hotel on a “beautiful, serene beach.” The impeccable seven-suite property’s fine, locally sourced Italian-meets-modern-Australian cuisine has drawn the Hemsworths, Matt Damon and Zach Galifianakis.

Come fall 2024, the owners of Raes expect to reveal their latest socially minded hospitality venture right in town. The Bonobo by Raes is a development of 41 two- to four-bedroom apartments (from $1.4 million) that will operate like a hotel, complete with a rooftop pool, restaurant, lobby bar, gelato shop, and Pilates and yoga classes, plus a fleet of 10 Teslas and e-bikes for guest use.

It will join the beloved and well-located adults-only boutique hotel The Atlantic Byron Bay (from $265) recently underwent a lush transformation, adding a new magnesium resort pool, nautical-chic timber decks and cheerful local artwork. Down the street, Hotel Marvell (from $460) opened this summer as the first five-star bolt-hole in town, with 24 rooms and suites that blend cozy comforts — linen robes, house-made macadamia bonbons — with fashionable design finishes in a warmly serene palette. The photogenic hotel contains two see-and-be-seen venues: Bonito restaurant downstairs and a rooftop pool and cocktail bar upstairs.

In the hinterland, the latest and greatest newcomer is Sun Ranch (from $430), which bowed in October on 55 rolling acres, styled after a rollicking ’70s California escape. Think floating wood-fired sauna, a whiskey lounge with restored vintage sound system and plenty of vinyl, ranch breakfasts, horseback rides, a pool club, and 11 artisan-crafted rooms, suites and barns with monikers such as Wam Bam and Saddle Up.

A bit south, The Brooklet (from $825) is a fresh 125-acre property of luxury villas with a long mineral pool and robust wellness programming.

When it comes to sustenance, Byron Bay and its surroundings — such as Mullimbimby, a town with “a unique feel all of its own. I bought my first guitar there,” says Evans — are abundant with locally sourced options. “Three Blue Ducks restaurant at The Farm, where you can see all the farm animals enjoying the mud and sunshine at the same time as eating delicious fresh produce,” is a pick of Evans’ as well as Brie, who loved going for lunch and leisurely walks.

Liam Hemsworth has worn merch from The Smoking Camel, one of the latest openings in town — from the owners of evening hot spots Light Years and Pixie Food & Wine — serving mouthwatering Middle Eastern fare in a colorful setting.

Evans also recommends Top Shop for breakfast and acai bowls, and calls Harvest in Newrybar “special, too.” When she’s in Byron Bay, Byrne makes a point to “visit Federal and the Federal Doma Cafe — such a stunning drive to the most beautiful sleepy village with this outstanding Japanese restaurant nestled in the bush.”

A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.