On golden sands

摘要

GEORGE CLOONEY OWNED the biggest and shiniest of the chandeliers that light a grand, oak-panelled house on Takapuna beach. Baccarat's crystal cascade used to glitter away in Villa Oleandra, the Lake Como home of the Sexiest Man Alive, formerly owned by the Heinz family. But a mate of Gorgeous George suggested it was girly (Brad Pitt, was that you? Anything to say. Matt Damon?) and he promptly traded it in for a manlier black one. Make of that what you will. The chandelier's life here is probably muchhappier, given the loving family life that's carried on below it. Instead of lake views, it has panoramic sea and island ones; it hangs in a house previously owned by the famous-in-New-Zealand Winstones, and its owner of the last five years has a moviestar's name.