Gunnedah girls hope lightning strikes thrice Private Sydney: What's in the water at Gunnedah? It seems to be the spot James Packer likes his love-interests to come from. Gunnedah has spawned Miranda Kerr and Erica Packer. Andrew Hornery takes a trip to see what makes Gunnedah so special. PT2M7S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2ywnh 620 349 December 7, 2013 - 12:47AM Miranda Kerr and Erica Packer's families have lived on different sides of the railway tracks in Gunnedah - literally just a few hundred metres apart - for generations in blissful harmony. Thanks to James Packer, this week their families were unwittingly embroiled in an international media tsunami. "I've got a message for you, tell James Packer to stop taking our women," joked local farmer Trevor Worboys, who joined the "jury" at JB's Cafe to discuss the spotlight which had been cast on his home town with PS on Thursday. Cover girl: Miranda Kerr. Photo: Harper's Bazaar PS can confirm that Packer and Kerr have dined together twice in recent weeks, but those closest to Kerr are adamant "she is not in a relationship," while Packer has been telling his inner circle "who knows where it will go." Erica, the mother of Packer's three children, was warned about the approaching media storm before it hit last Sunday. She is said to have taken the news "hard." For six years Packer was Gunnedah's most famous son-in-law, his marriage to Erica, the daughter of local solicitor Michael Baxter and his late wife, the much revered Sheelah, putting the town on the gossip radar. Three times, the charm: James Packer. Kerr, six years younger than Packer's ex-second wife, raised the town's infamy to another level when her international modelling career took off and she married Hollywood heart-throb Orlando Bloom. "It's the fresh country air," laughed one of the women in the CWA hall when PS visited, midway through the annual Christmas pudding competition. Hairdresser Shallon Rowland said several of her girlfriends were hopeful a few other billionaires would follow Packer's path to Gunnedah: "It's really great for the town, you know, to have two of our girls do so well." Back then: in 2006 aspiring singer Erica Baxter marked a single release with a visit to her Gunnedah school. Photo: Paul Mathews And yet it was not the shared Gunnedah roots which brought about the former Victoria's Secret model's introduction to Packer, but rather his ex-wife's long-term friendship with Bloom, which led to the two couples becoming firm friends. Gunnedah councillor Tim Duddy said it made perfect sense that one of Australia's wealthiest men would be courting the "belles of Gunnedah" because "there are none better than here," citing the great beauty of Kerr's grandmother Ann, long a local celebrity thanks to her "ambassadorship" of an exotic brew called Tahitian Noni Juice, which the Kerr family has sold throughout the district for years. Asking the locals whether they were barracking for "Team Miranda" or "Team Erica" elicited wry smiles. However, PS got the distinct impression these folk were more interested in how much rain was falling. Besties: Francesca Barham and her cavalier Oscar Hoare in Paris. Australian heiress to the Packer billions has her debut in Paris As one branch of the Packer clan attempted to avoid the spotlight this week, another was basking in it with 19-year-old Francesca Packer Barham having her very own "princess" moment in Paris last weekend. As PS previously revealed, the eldest granddaughter of Ros and the late Kerry Packer, called Chessie by those closest to her including mother Gretel Packer, made her maiden society outing at Le Bal des Debutantes de Paris. Doing all sorts of jobs: Ajay Rochester. By all accounts it was a smashing success, with three generations of Packer women among the star attractions at the swish ball, where the teenager's Monaco-based father, Gretel Packer's first husband Nick Barham, was also in attendance. Barham chose her "childhood bestie" as her partner, or "cavalier" as the French call them, a young chap named Oscar Hoare. The heiress to the Packer billions has also given her first interview, to be published in next week's edition of Harper's Bazaar Australia, the same issue that ironically has James Packer's new girlfriend Miranda Kerr on the cover. Timed to coincide with her debut, she revealed both she and Hoare are "incredibly competitive." She told the magazine: "We refuse to be the couple at the ball who can't dance, so we're cramming waltz lessons." By all accounts they pulled it off with aplomb. Meanwhile, next year is shaping up to be more rigorous than her 2013 gap year. She has accepted a place at the University of Sydney to commence a four-year double degree: a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science with a triple major in psychology, business and languages. Taxing times for Ajay Rochester The latest instalment in the long running soap opera that is former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester's life is being played out inside the offices of the Australian Taxation Office. The ATO has been making contact with various associates of Rochester in recent weeks, informing them they may hold funds on Rochester's behalf which are actually owed to them - to the tune of $194,069.63. Yikes! The letter coincided with Rochester claiming a $20,000 prize from radio's Kyle and Jackie O Show after she took up their Fat Bet challenge to drop 20 kilograms from her expansive frame, over a 10-week period. At the time of being offered to take up the challenge, Rochester admitted she was taking on all sorts of unseemly jobs to "pay the bills," including a frightful-sounding photo shoot for a German tabloid, in which her fleshy body was poured into a Pamela Anderson-Baywatch-style swimsuit in full public view on Santa Monica beach. Rochester, who in 2009 escaped having a conviction recorded against her but was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to welfare fraud, referred to "blubber lovers" in Germany who had taken a shine to her since a series of equally appalling images were splashed across the cover of America's National Enquirer magazine. As for Rochester's latest windfall, she said on radio it would go towards her anti-bullying "charity," however when PS inquired about the charity and where it had been registered, Rochester's publicist Max Markson said there had been an error, and no charity existed. As for those tax issues, Rochester said that was between her and the ATO. Hair-raising deal Given her penchant for fake hair extensions and fillers, PS was a little surprised to learn that Brynne Edelsten was spruiking a new treatment for baldness. Biotech company Cellmid recently lodged a compliance disclosure with the Australian Stock Exchange revealing Mrs Edelsten would get 1.2 million shares and potentially 200,000 bonus shares (up to $60,000) in the deal. However PS can't help thinking they have hired the wrong Edelsten. Two lives on film While the rest of Sydney has changed a lot since the Queen Street and West Woollahra Association was founded by Leo Schofield in 1972, the fashionable enclave still bears the hallmarks that have made it such a style destination over the past four decades. A photographic exhibition celebrating the lives of two prominent locals, Anne Schofield and Robert Burton, is coming to an end on Sunday at Queen Street's Dickerson Gallery. It's well worth a visit, with a photographic essay featuring Schofield's love of collecting both costume and jewellery as well as shots of Anne with Liza Minnelli. A similar exhibition traces Burton's 40 years of dressing Sydney society, sirens and supermodels, including an image of author Alexandra Joel wearing her wedding suit designed by Burton. New shire face Watch out Lara Bingle, there's a new "shire girl" on the radar: veteran supermodel Naomi Campbell. Yep, Campbell has embraced the delights of Cronulla after being introduced to the seaside suburb by her new best friend and The Face co-star Cheyenne Tozzi. Campbell has even taken to calling Tozzi her "little sister" and will be back in Australia next year to launch the new TV series that goes on the hunt for the next big thing in modelling. She flew out of Sydney bound for London on Thursday. Gold for Kidmans The extended Kidman clan is set to converge on Sydney in about a fortnight to celebrate Antony and Janelle Kidman's golden wedding anniversary. PS hears Nicole Kidman's husband Keith will be performing at a gold-themed soiree on the lower north shore, though no word on whether Oscar-winning daughter Nicole will be dusting off her vocal cords for a duet.