We want to hate her. We really do. Married to Chris Hemsworth. Stunning. Living a free-spirited existence in Byron Bay in between modelling and acting gigs… It really would be easy to hate Elsa Pataky. Except you can’t – because she’s just so damn adorable.

Meeting her at yesterday’s Botanicals Fresh Care event, a new natural haircare range, Elsa was so down-to-earth you could almost forget she was a Hollywood star with a multitude of blockbusters to her name (and a million+ Insti followers). Almost.

As she sat up the front of the event with Magdalena Roze, Elsa chatted openly about life with Chris, turning farm hand, and taking Byron Bay mums to New York on a field trip…

You’ve moved to Byron, what is it about the Bay that made you want to live there?
I just fell in love with it the first time Chris took me there. I love the vibe, I feel people are very similar to the Spanish in that we have the same sense of humour – it’s just about enjoying life and having fun, very different from a lot of places I’ve been. It’s been very easy for me to make friends immediately with all the mums. When we [Chris and Elsa] met, we said “I’ll never make you live in Australia” and “I’ll never make you live in Spain”, because it was so far from our families, but when he took me to Byron – I was like “I want to live here!” Byron has this amazing energy and you feel like you are always on holidays. It’s beautiful.

You’ve recently been shooting with your husband. What’s that like?
It’s been great because we haven’t worked together at all. I didn’t know how it would be because we’re both perfectionists – but the good thing is that we always can get advice from each other. We can work with each other and go through the lines. It was good to actually be away from the kids and be together working, rather than always just being mama and papa. We were saying we should do it more often because it was like a holiday while at the same time doing something we’re passionate about.

What other plans do you have for 2017?
We’ve just finished the The Fate of the Furious, the eighth one – that was my fourth one with them. It’s been amazing, it’s been huge…

You had the premiere in New York recently… you had a girls’ trip for that?
It was amazing because I took some mums from Byron to New York that had never been out of Byron. My husband did a surf trip with their husbands, and I was like: “Don’t worry girls, I’ll take you somewhere nice!” And when I took them to the premiere in New York, they were like crying they were so excited. It was such a big premiere – there was like 4,000 people in the theatre. They were with me on the red carpet, so they saw everything; it was the best experience for me to be able to see everything from their eyes.

Is it weird to go from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to countryside Byron Bay?
No, it’s the best! I can’t wait to take off my heels and my fancy dresses and just enjoy nature and being with the horses. Every morning I go to my horse barefoot and I clean out the stalls. My daughter asked me “Mumma, are we farmers now?” And I was like, “Yes! We are farmers!” She doesn’t admire anything about the movies, she’s just excited to be at home and being with the horses – giving them hay. I hope that they [Elsa’s children] appreciate that kind of life because I didn’t have it when I was growing up and I always dreamt of being a farmer.

Well, you’re a pretty glamorous farmer…
I don’t look like this all the time! The makeup girls have been trying to work on my feet – I haven’t had a pedicure in like two years! Seriously.

So is living the free-spirited life who the real Elsa is?
Yes! I’ve always been like that. People who know me are like “You are your own person”, and it’s true. I don’t mind the wild, people are like “You have a snake in your bedroom!” And I’m like, “I know! I love it!” It’s so exciting. My kids don’t like huntsman and that, but I’m a very fearless person. It’s totally me, more than any inch of glamour. People don’t know me in that way because they see you all dressed up and with your makeup done, but when I feel my most happy is when I’m the total opposite.

All images: La Tessa Photography