Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. This week, rich-lister Jodie Dick has big plans ahead of her 50th birthday; Bondi Rescue’s Kiwi star Harrison Reid swaps lifeguarding for real estate; former model Kate Fowler and her billionaire ex are the epitome of modern parenting.
Society Insider: Rich-lister Jodie Dick’s year of big milestones; Harrison Reid swaps Bondi Rescue for Christchurch real estate; Kate Fowler’s very modern family
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Rich Listers Malcolm and Jodie Dick are having a big year of celebrations; former model Kate Fowler and her ex partner, Aussie billionaire Justin Hemmes, are navigating modern family life; Bondi Rescue star Harrison Reid has come home to Christchurch. Photo / Herald composite
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She and son Luke, who is also her business partner, finished renovations of their Parnell luxury boutique, Hartfield Jewellers; Luke got married; then Dick completed a personal challenge – walking the Camino Trail.
“Walking 800km from the Pyrenees through the vast Meseta and into Galicia, in rain, hail, sleet and snow, was nothing short of incredible,” Dick tells Society Insider.
“For some, the Camino is spiritual in a religious sense, for others, like me, it was about reconnecting with nature, with humanity, with a sense of purpose, and the quiet beauty in everyday life.”
Dick walked the Camino Frances with her good friend Susan Taylor Jones. The pilgrimage trail stretches from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Dick’s grandfather had been a competitive race walker; however, she hadn’t realised until walking the trail that both her aunties had walked the Camino too.
Every day brought different challenges, emotionally, physically and mentally, Dick says.
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“I had hip issues early on, and my chiropractor suggested walking barefoot, so I did. Then I switched to jandals and toe socks.
“Not the usual setup, but it got me through.”
Dick’s telecommunications and tech mogul husband Malcolm, who has a reported net worth of more than $250 million, joined her to walk the end of the trail, which finished in Fisterra, Spain, a place once thought to be the end of the world.
The couple were in Paris last week, where Dick had a final fitting for her ultimate birthday dress at Oscar de la Renta on the Rue de Marignan. Highly personalised gowns from de la Renta can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The gown has been a year in the making, and Dick says having it fitted was “very special”.
“Having a custom piece by one of the world’s most iconic design brands has been a dream of mine for a long time,” Dick says.
This week, the Dicks flew to Utah. The couple and their family are crazy about skiing and are in the middle of building their dream family home just outside of Park City.
The Dicks are proud to be founding members of a new ski and golf resort in Salt Lake City.
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They will then travel to the Jalisco region of Mexico, with some of the other resort founding members, before heading home to New Zealand.
It has already been a big year for celebrations for the couple, with son Luke marrying lawyer Hannah Cassone in a beautiful ceremony in April at the luxurious Kinloch Manor & Villas in Taupō. The wedding came just days after Jodie and Malcolm celebrated the 10th anniversary of their own wedding.
“Malcolm and I are so proud of all our children, and seeing Luke marry someone we love so much was incredibly special,” says Dick.
“Both he and Hannah wore Chaumet wedding bands from our store. It was the perfect day.”
Kiwi Bondi Rescue star’s exciting career move back home
After more than a decade living in Sydney, Kiwi Bondi Rescue star Harrison Reid has come home to Christchurch to make his mark in the city’s lucrative property market.
Reid has been living in Sumner for three weeks, working at Harcourts Gold in Papanui, the brand’s No 1 residential seller in New Zealand.
“The best part about being a lifeguard was meeting people from all walks of life and helping them out,” Reid tells Society Insider.
“Therefore, entering real estate felt like a great fit for me and a natural pathway.”
Reid is close friends with billionaire Nick Mowbray and his fiancee, Jaimee Lupton, and is a regular at the major milestones in their lives.
The couple once told Society Insider that Reid is one of the nicest people anyone could ever meet.
Sumner-born and raised, Reid, 30, attended one of the country’s top private schools, Christ’s College. From a young age, he was a member of Taylor’s Mistake Surf Life Saving Club.
During his last year of high school, Harrison did the holiday programme at Waverley Council Lifeguards in Sydney, the home of Bondi Rescue. The following year, Reid made a full-time move to Sydney, where he was employed full-time as a lifeguard and made his debut on the hit TV show.
“I did 12 years on the show, and it’s pretty funny looking at it across the years and seeing myself grow up,” says Reid.
Reid had been eyeing up a move home for some time. He is the only child of his parents, Kevin and Karen, and says the family are very close.
“So, you can imagine how happy we all are living in the same city,” he says.
“I’ve worked every Christmas Day for the past 12 years as it’s peak season on the beach, so Christmas will be very special this year, with us all together.”
He has been considering a career change to real estate for a while, and says he has found the perfect fit, joining Christchurch real estate power couple Lynette and John McFadden at their Harcourts Papanui office, working with everyone from first-home buyers up to premium investors.
Reid got his real estate licence last Friday and is excited to be working with Cameron Bailey, the No 1 Harcourts Sales consultant in New Zealand for the past eight years.
“I couldn’t have a better mentor in Cameron, both inside and outside of work,” he says.
Reid believes that working for so long at one of the world’s busiest beaches has earned him public trust through his “calm leadership, professionalism and commitment to safety”.
“I now bring those qualities to real estate, guiding clients with confidence, care and a deep sense of responsibility.”
After saving many lives, Reid says being a lifeguard at Bondi taught him not to take life for granted.
“I was exposed to a lot of incidents over the years. It’s amazing that one phone call can change a person or a family’s life forever.”
After more than a decade on Bondi Rescue, Reid has spent the first part of the year winding up his time as an Australian reality star by putting himself in some challenging situations.
In January, he entered the Network 10 hit show, I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, filmed in South Africa and hosted by Australia’s favourite son, Robert Irwin, and comedian Julia Morris.
“I had no phone, I slept on a canvas stretcher and lived on rice and beans throughout the day,” he says.
The ever-cheerful Reid got bitten by snakes five times in challenges and got electrocuted multiple times. He says the experience left him broken mentally and starved.
“I have never been out of my comfort zone, which was the reason why I wanted to do it.
“I know it sounds weird with what I went through, and people throw the word ‘life-changing’ around flippantly ... but it genuinely was.”
Reid lasted 27 days, placing fifth, with former NRL hardman Sam Thaiday winning the series.
After that, Reid finished filming his last series of Bondi Rescue, where he was thrilled to host British popstar Dua Lipa at Bondi.
“Dua was just lovely, I wished I had got tickets to her concert,” he says.
Kate Fowler’s growing modern family
The two young daughters of Kiwi former model and bed linen entrepreneur Kate Fowler will soon have a half-brother. Her ex, Australian hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes, is expecting his first son any day now.
Sydney-based Fowler, 35, split with Hemmes, 52, in 2018. Since then, the pair have successfully co-parented their two daughters, Alexa, 9, and Sacchi, 7.
Hemmes, the CEO of hospitality giant Merivale, has been in a relationship since 2020 with model Madeline Holtznagel, 28, who is now expecting their first child.
While Hemmes awaits his new baby, Fowler has been in Bali with her boyfriend of four years, David Oettle, staying at the Uluwatu Surf Villas in South Kuta.
Fowler and Oettle appeared in Society Insider in 2023, attending Kiwi skincare dynamo Emma Lewisham’s Aussie celebration party. The event, held at Sydney’s National Art School, featured a live performance by Florence and the Machine, who wowed the crowd made up of a few hundred friends of the Emma Lewisham brand.
In 2018, Oettle and Fowler were guests at the Lake Rotoiti wedding of fashion and hospitality power couple Paris and Henry Mitchell Temple.
South African-born Oettle was the best man for restaurateur Henry, while Fowler was a guest of Paris, the co-founder of fashion label Paris Georgia.
Although having split more than seven years ago, Fowler and Hemmes still regularly spend time together.
Last October, Hemmes flew Fowler, their daughters, and Oettle and Holtznagel on his private jet to Queenstown for a holiday.
In late April, Holtznagel hosted a lavish baby shower in Hemmes’ $100 million-plus mansion in Vaucluse in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Blue and white balloons were strewn around the Victorian rustic gothic style estate.
Although it’s understood Fowler did not attend the shower, she is said to still live very close to Hemmes and Holtznagel, in the Dover Heights mansion Hemmes gave her seven years ago, estimated to be worth nearly $10m.
In a rare media interview in May, Holtznagel said Fowler’s and Hemmes’ daughters had been asking for a sibling for a year.
“The little girls, you know, they’ve been asking: Please can we have a little brother or sister?” Holtznagel told Australia’s Daily Telegraph.
Fowler is juggling motherhood with running an upmarket textile business. In 2022, she launched luxury organic bed linen brand Sutram, with fellow Kiwi Rukaiya Daud.
Daud and Fowler first met at Auckland’s Diocesan School for Girls, where Daud was great friends with Fowler’s younger sister, New York-based top model Georgia.
While Kate Fowler enjoyed the sun in Bali, Georgia was doing her annual star turn at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. She attended the premiere of The History of Sound, directed by Oliver Hermanus and starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.
Last weekend, Georgia attended the annual Aids fundraiser, the amfAR Gala Cannes at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Mixing it up with the A-list models and movie stars was the world’s third-richest man, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his wife-to-be, US news anchor Lauren Sanchez.
Hollywood mega-star Leonardo DiCaprio is a regular at the amfAR Gala. In 2016, he and Georgia made headlines when spotted together partying.
Party people of the week
Record drop for football fans
Auckland Football Club Day One sponsor, ANZ, unveiled Record Season at nami record bar on Ponsonby Rd last Thursday. The limited-edition vinyl record has been created as a heartfelt thank-you to Auckland FC and its fans.
The exclusive listening party honoured the club’s historic debut season, with speeches from AFC CEO Nick Becker and ANZ marketing general manager Matthew Pickering.
The limited-edition vinyl is a cross-section of sport, sound, and street culture and captures eight highlights from the club’s inaugural campaign, including its six wins in its first six games, and a tribute to the record-breaking sell-out crowds.
DJ Steve Dunstan of Huffer spun tracks straight from the record, while guests enjoyed drinks and canapes.
Other AFC names in attendance included chief commercial officer Rafael Turnbull, head of comms Ian Benet, marketing manager Amanda Hayes, coach Steve Corica, and players Max Mata and Scott Galloway.
Also enjoying the evening were former Silver Fern turned broadcaster Courtney Tairi, Sky Sport’s Kimberlee Downs, the Herald’s Michael Burgess, Stars netball player Greer Sinclair, broadcaster Brodie Kane, ZM’s Clint Roberts, actor Fili Tapa and WeAreTenzing’s Dan Sing.
In addition to the physical vinyl, Record Season is also available to stream via Spotify and Rova.
GiGi opens on Ponsonby Rd
Last Thursday evening, Luke Dallow and Thane Kirby opened their new establishment, GiGi Bar and Restaurant.
GiGi has taken over the address on Ponsonby Rd that was formerly home to Ponsonby Road Bistro.
Although the GiGi renovations took a week or so longer than planned, Dallow told Society Insider he and Kirby are thrilled with the result.
Dallow and Kirby’s friends and family were in attendance for GiGi’s opening, which has delivered on the promised “Parisian lounge-style with a modern 80s revival twist”.
“From the oyster bar to the dance floor, it was a night of bold flavours, big energy, and beautiful people,” Dallow tells Society Insider.
A Piper-Heidsieck Princess wore a hooped skirt filled with Champagne flutes, margaritas and espresso martinis, which were the night’s signature cocktails.
Guests included fellow Ponsonby Rd hospo businessman Andrew Roberts, co-owner of The Longroom; Mars United general manager Tanya Mackisack; Ponsonby Bayleys saleswoman Cristina Casares; Vuksich and Borich finance manager Stephen Vuksich; textile artist Charlotte Scott; Lacuna + Co event maestro Kelly Marsden; and Auckland Thoroughbred Racing property development manager Adam Sadgrove.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008, where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012, he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
