COUP! It’s a Kiwi
Having starred in Packed to the Rafters, Love Child and The Wrong Girl, she’s an Australian TV favourite, but actress Jessica Marais says she’s a Kiwi at heart after spending her childhood years in Wellington. Speaking to Woman’s
Day on the red carpet at the Logie Awards in Melbourne, where she won Best Actress for the second year in a row, the 32-year-old says, “I love New Zealand – you can claim me when Australia doesn’t want me any more!
“My favourite memories are of walking along a pebble beach in Wellington to get some delicious crumbed fish and chips, and collecting so much pumice from Lake Taupo that my family couldn’t get through customs. Oh, and the earthquake drills – I got to stand under the doorway as I was the teacher’s pet!” Other Kiwi winners were
Sara Wiseman, 44, and Craig Hall, 42, whose show A Place to Call Home took out Most Outstanding Drama Series. The on-screen and real-life lovebirds are based in Sydney but also share a house on the Coromandel.
Sara says, “We’re dual citizens, but New Zealand’s home. We miss our friends, family, the music and the food – all the good things!”
Craig adds, “I can neither confirm nor deny that we’re just in Oz for the money.”
Also based in Sydney, former Wentworth star
Danielle Cormack, 46, longs ngs for Aotearoa too. “I miss the beautiful landscapes,” she he says. “Whenever I’m back, k, I head out to Auckland’s west coast to swim, surf and just ust get away from it all.”
Another red-carpet darling was Orangeis the New Black star Yael
Stone, 32, who plays Lorna rna Morello on the hit US show. how. The Aussie actress tells us, “After being locked in prisonrison for five years, all the Orange ladies have become family. We love each other, holiday together, do dinner, cry, laugh, text, eat and sing. We’re very close.”