The Voice..

We know you have been wondering what Double Bay's new Intercontinental Hotel looked like. The Voice filmed their new advert for the 2015 season there a month ago and here is our sneak preview with the Madden Bros, Ricky Martin, Delta Goodren and Jessie J. Coming soon- an exclusive tour of Ricky's Sydney base.

Tearjerker Moment # 1

Who didn't love Harrison Craig's performance on The Voice last night ?. Watch the video..it says it all.

A Sydney Pad for Ricky Martin (& kids)

He's due to arrive in late February with the family in tow : Ricky Martin is looking for somewhere to bed down in Sydney and live La Vida Loca with partner Carlos Gonzalez Abella and of course, their twin boy bubs and presumably a coterie of assistants and nannies.

Martin is replacing Keith Urban on The Voice for 2013 and is looking for digs near Fox Studios where the show will be filmed. The Shuttle's hears a Martin rep has been in town for 2 weeks checking out suitable  properties and several have taken his eye with details dispatched back to Martin who has just taken possession of a new New York apartment.

First up is the sensational Altona in Point Piper, once the home of Rupert Murdoch's nephew Matt Handbury and his wife Fiona. Fiona scored Altona as part of a divorce settlement and sold it for around $29M before fleeing to the UK and joining the aristocracy as the Countess of Dartmouth.

Altona is on the market for around $54M but it can rented for $40,000 a month. It comes with a harbor side swimming pool and a jetty with a boathouse (handy for security guards).

Altona                                                                                  The Astor                                Packer's Bondi beach house

 Another property looked at is the grand 1920's apartment block in Macquarie Street in the city :The Astor. The 2 storey 5 bedroom luxury apartment is being sold by Yellow Brick Road boss Mark Bouris who fronts the TV show The Apprentice as a local Donald Trump but with better hair. The Astor apartment is going for four grand a week and was once owned by Barry Humphries. It has superb harbour views.

And discreet inquiries have been made about James Packer's luxury Bondi pad that was recently put quietly on the market for $20M.
 Ricky can basically pick and choose from any number of Eastern Suburb mansions. Many have lingered on the market for years now while owners ask impossibly high prices.
As for Martin's spiritual health- he is a Buddhist -we also hear his rep made a visit to the Nan Tien Temple (right) in Woolongong.

Introducing The Langham

SYDNEY HAS a new 5 star hotel-The Langham on Kent St in The Rocks. It's actually been there a few years as The Observatory Hotel run by the Orient Express people.

Sarah De Bono

The Shuttle has spent many a pleasant evening there for small shindigs. One for Sarah, Duchess of York and another for the Irish actor Gabriel Byrne who lived there while was he was filming Jindabyne . Keanu Reeves called it home for around six weeks and we once lunched with the late and wonderful British actress Susannah York in the hotel's Galilieo Restaurant.

Langhams are a name-in London and Hong Kong so we expect great things from them. They haven't changed much, just the name at present but it was always a wonderfully elegant old style hotel with superb service and that looks like it will continue. Certainly with their launch party last Wednesday, the future looks cosy. Sydney rock oysters and caviar, grilled duck and other such delicacies all washed down with great lashing of Laurent Perrier dispensed by an army of waiters bearing magnums of the stuff.
Megan Gale says she almost lives in The Langham whilst in Melbourne or London so we trust her word.

 One guest we were eager to meet was the gorgeous songbird Sarah De Bono who was such a success on The Voice. See her video below. Check out the unique staff uniforms :lovely pink Jackie Onassis, Chanel style suits with pearls .And full marks for the little gift as we departed, a bunch of lovely flowers.

Celeb Sightings in Sydney

Olivia, hubby John Esterling, Delta Goodren at the Downs Syndrome fundraiser

An unusually busy Sydney wet weekend with a charity ball, the finale of the Sydney Film Festival at the State Theatre and new superstar Chris Hemsworth taking a day off to surf at Maroubra Beach before the launch of his film Snow White and The Huntsman this Tuesday at Westfield in Bondi Junction.

Our favourite Academy Award types were at the State Theatre including Oscar winner Emile Sherman (producer of The King's Speech), nominee Jackie Weaver and Hugo Weaving. 

Emile Sherman

Hugo Weaving

Still celebrating his 25 years on TV, celeb interviewer Richard Wilkins hosted the 25 Year Anniversary Fundraiser for Downs Syndrome at Fox Studios and that brought out Hollywood types like Nicole Kidman and Olivia Newton John plus the judges from The Voice-Seal, Delta Goodren, Keith Urban and Joel Madden (they sang for their supper). 
Meanwhile Lady GaGa jetted in from Melbourne and did a walk about outside the Park Hyatt Hotel greeting a few hundred excited Little Monsters and posed for snaps with them.

major Hollywood eye candy at Maroubra Beach yesterday

And that's just the weekend!

Royals and Aristos

Chance Lodge

Few guests at photographer Susie Hagon’s book launch last week at the Wagner Gallery knew who the lady in black was although her companion, Hal Salter from Melbourne  in his jaunty red jacket and shoes is a regular sight at racetracks around the country.

Hal Salter & The Duchess of Welbergen

She was the grandly titled Her Grace Stephanie Alesandra Duchess of Welbergen who was visiting from Goornong near Geelong in Victoria where she has recently set up home with her husband David Martin.

Stephanie is a former New York stockbroker born in San Francisco and what a home she has settled in-it’s the imposing mansion with the Roman columns, known as Chance Lodge that comes with a horse stud and until recently, was the home of The Voice, John Farnham

John sold up in 2009 for a reputed $2M and sadly a fire in 2010 gutted the house which the Duchess is now about to set right.

The Voice

As Stephanie recently told the Bendigo Advertiser :“I’m very excited to rise to the challenge,” Stephanie says on renovating and re-decorating the landmark six-bedroom homestead. “It’s going to be absolutely stunning when it’s done, although I know it’s a lot of work.

Stephanie met her first husband while at University in Greece. She eloped with Rudolf Van Welbergen, the duke and married at 19.

Unfortunately the union only lasted 2 years and her mother-in –law frowned on Stephanie because of her ‘commoner’ status. All that is about to change as she and David become Chance Lodge’s master and mistress with no doubt, the grand property becoming the social focal point of the town.

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Mary & Frederick of Denmark at Bondi's Sculpture by The Sea

Zebras by The Sea

One former commoner who has become a great hit is HRH Princess Mary of Denmark. She and husband Prince Frederick attended Bondi’s Sculpture By The Sea today and spent a couple of hours wandering amongst the strange objects, chatting to locals and accepting the odd posy of flowers from little girls.