The sun beats down on the landscaped gardens of the sandstone waterfront manse, The Hermitage, set in stately isolation at the end of a winding sloped driveway. For the past four months, storms have unleashed chaos across Sydney, smashing it with a year’s worth of rain, but today, in time for the Vogue shoot, a cloudless blue sky blazes bright above.
The weather coupled with the shotgun-barrel views of the glistening harbour are clearly working their magic on everyone’s mood. Pub tsar Justin Hemmes, CEO of the Merivale hospitality group, sits posing for shots like a pro under a magnificent olive tree, while Bettina, his sister, stands behind him, squeezing his shoulders, the siblings grinning over what’s clearly an inside joke. Benny and the Jets blasts out from the home’s outdoor sound system and a Merivale staffer places lunch – a range of pastas, antipasti and wood-fired bread from Totti’s – on a weathered teak table nearby.
The pair are in
