Private Sydney
(The Sydney Morning Herald)

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Hawkin' too many wares, by Andrew Horneryy - 20th October 2006

The face of just about everything ... former Miss Universe and in-demand model Jennifer Hawkins.

For three years now Jennifer Hawkins has milked her 15 minutes of fame. But cracks are emerging in her previously picture-perfect career as a second-hand beauty queen.

It's hard to avoid Hawkins's toothy smiles and cheer-leader hair. She's gracing billboards for Myer, making loads on the speaker's circuit, showing her knickers for Loveable, guzzling Pepsi, bathing with Lux, smearing CoverGirl Makeup on those perfect features and hogging the screen on Channel Seven's The Great Outdoors.

She's even flogging a block of flats in Hong Kong, her face gracing the backs of trams and buses from Causeway Bay to Happy Valley.

However, there are those who are walking away from the all-you-can-eat Jennifer Hawkins buffet, which is estimated to have netted the beauty at least $5 million in endorsements.

David Jones, which has its own "face" in model Megan Gale, recently knocked back a request for Hawkins to appear in its in-store magazine Precinct to promote the Loveable range. After all, Hawkins is the mascot of their arch rival Myer.

Despite denials from Hawkins manager Sean Anderson, who admits "there's always a tug-o-war", rumours persist lawyers were called in by Loveable's parent company, Gazal Corporation, after DJs complained about Hawkins's image appearing on its racks via the thousands of swing tags she graces.

In Melbourne Hawkins is at the centre of a battle between Channel Seven and Myer over which marquee she will grace during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. Myer, whose contract with Hawkins is up for negotiation at the end of the year, wants her in its tent, while Seven, who has signed Hawkins until next September, intends to base itself out of the Emirates teepee - with the star model.

With DJs's Gale headed for the Emirates marquee it could be fascinators at 50 paces with Myer's Hawkins.

Throwing his weight around

Beyond the glass wall and behind the privacy curtains, Australia's most expensive sweat flows freely.

The finishing touches are being made to James Packer's private gym next to his Park Street bunker in the old Hyde Park Club, and those few lucky enough to see inside the luxury fitness centre which has hosted Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Crown Prince Frederik say it's the most impressive one in the country.

Packer, who has long had issues with his fluctuating weight, appears to have re-embraced a fitter physique. And it's affecting his eating habits too. About 8.20am on Tuesday - the same day he shook up the Australian media - breakfast was being delivered to his Park Street office.

It comprised of one orange cut into quarters, a banana (well, he can afford them), peeled and already cut up, and a green apple cut into quarters. The fruit sat elegantly on a plate covered in cling wrap accompanied by a knife, fork and crisp napkin.

Tomorrow the Ellerston Spring Cup kicks off at the Packers' expansive country estate near Scone but James is not expected to play. Having just taken his arm out of a sling after a shoulder reconstruction (the result of a previous polo injury), Packer is jetting out of the country at the weekend.

Speculation that Packer and his recently reunited girlfriend, Erica Baxter, would be jetting off to good mate Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's imminent wedding, rumoured to be taking place in Italy, was hosed down within Packer's close circles, suggesting the trip was purely a business one.

Floating the dollars

Superyacht season has arrived. Now docked at the ADI shipyards is the $25 million tinnie Pangaea, with a crew of 13 and able to carry another dozen guests. It was recently sold to an undisclosed buyer after operating as a luxury charter with a tab of $200,000 a week. Bobbing off the coast around Port Dampier is the $70 million superyacht White Rabbit. Built in Tasmania a couple of years back for a mystery Singaporean businessman who loves fishing, the luxury vessel also has a giant fish tank on board to keep the catch fresh on the journey home.

Horses for courses

The crowd heading to tomorrow's Bentley Sydney Polo Cup at Richmond is a mixed bunch, including Channel Nine's Tracy Grimshaw (a renowned horsey type), perennial red carpet trawler Sonia McMahon, Big Brother's big mamma Gretel Killeen, modelling duo Martin and his handsome filly Michelle Walsh (who recently championed the cause of pregnant socialites wrongly derided for revealing hemlines), infamous blonde Shari-Lea Hitchcock and the celebrity hairdresser and show pony enthusiast Joh Bailey.

Dates with destiny

Billionaire truckie Lindsay Fox's green thumb is no doubt throbbing from the news the NSW Heritage Council wants him to remove the two Canary Island date palms he had transplanted to the front yard of his $20 million harbourside mansion, Boomerang, a year ago. The trees cost an estimated $10,000 each to plant. Meanwhile, two cypress trees removed in recent days did not go unnoticed by neighbours, though many are quietly happy with the deforestation - their harbour views are now more expansive than ever.

It comprised of one orange cut into quarters, a banana (well, he can afford them), peeled and already cut up, and a green apple cut into quarters. The fruit sat elegantly on a plate covered in cling wrap accompanied by a knife, fork and crisp napkin.

Tomorrow the Ellerston Spring Cup kicks off at the Packers' expansive country estate near Scone but James is not expected to play. Having just taken his arm out of a sling after a shoulder reconstruction (the result of a previous polo injury), Packer is jetting out of the country at the weekend.

Speculation that Packer and his recently reunited girlfriend, Erica Baxter, would be jetting off to good mate Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's imminent wedding, rumoured to be taking place in Italy, was hosed down within Packer's close circles, suggesting the trip was purely a business one.

Floating the dollars

Superyacht season has arrived. Now docked at the ADI shipyards is the $25 million tinnie Pangaea, with a crew of 13 and able to carry another dozen guests. It was recently sold to an undisclosed buyer after operating as a luxury charter with a tab of $200,000 a week. Bobbing off the coast around Port Dampier is the $70 million superyacht White Rabbit. Built in Tasmania a couple of years back for a mystery Singaporean businessman who loves fishing, the luxury vessel also has a giant fish tank on board to keep the catch fresh on the journey home.

Horses for courses

The crowd heading to tomorrow's Bentley Sydney Polo Cup at Richmond is a mixed bunch, including Channel Nine's Tracy Grimshaw (a renowned horsey type), perennial red carpet trawler Sonia McMahon, Big Brother's big mamma Gretel Killeen, modelling duo Martin and his handsome filly Michelle Walsh (who recently championed the cause of pregnant socialites wrongly derided for revealing hemlines), infamous blonde Shari-Lea Hitchcock and the celebrity hairdresser and show pony enthusiast Joh Bailey.

Dates with destiny

Billionaire truckie Lindsay Fox's green thumb is no doubt throbbing from the news the NSW Heritage Council wants him to remove the two Canary Island date palms he had transplanted to the front yard of his $20 million harbourside mansion, Boomerang, a year ago. The trees cost an estimated $10,000 each to plant. Meanwhile, two cypress trees removed in recent days did not go unnoticed by neighbours, though many are quietly happy with the deforestation - their harbour views are now more expansive than ever.

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