Spy: Rich and famous get head start on international jet setting

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi at the Aurora Awards during the Milan Fashion Week.

New Zealand's rich and famous were no slouches when international travel without isolation on return became a reality for the fully vaccinated this week.

Last week toy billionaire Nick Mowbray ended two years of being grounded in Godzone with a golfing trip to the US. He was joined by Sky TV founder and fellow mega rich-lister Craig Heatley and son Nick who travelled to the picturesque Makena Bay on Maui's southern shore in Hawaii for their first round.

The golfing buddies then headed to the home of the Masters, Augusta National Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, where Mowbray thanked Heatley senior, a competitive amateur golfer who is a member with friends in the right places at the legendary club.

"Absolute bucket list. Playing Augusta - home of the Masters. Thanks Craig Heatley, once in a lifetime," Mowbray wrote on Instagram.

Matthew Banfield, Nick Heatley, Nick Mowbray and Craig Heatley at Augusta National Golf Club in Atlanta Georgia.

Days later, the group teed off at Cypress Point Club at Pebble Beach, California, where Heatley won the 2003 AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with NZ professional golfer Phil Tataurangi.

Meanwhile, rich-list son and intrepid traveller Topher Richwhite and fiancee Bridget Thackwray went to Russia to rescue their jeep, Gunther.

The pair are famous globally for their Expedition Earth journey of travelling the length and breadth of the world in their trusty jeep. They were two years into the three-year journey when Covid brought the trip to a halt. In January they told Spy they urgently had to travel to Russia as Gunther's export licence had expired and the authorities were about to seize it.

Topher Richwhite and fiancÈe Bridget Thackwray on the slopes.

Last week, the pair arrived in Moscow jet-lagged and were relieved when they rescued their Jeep from the airport. They then drove directly down to St Petersburg to spend the night. The following day, they drove to the Estonian border and had their Instagram followers on edge with fears the Jeep may be seized as they shared a video of crossing the border after waiting seven hours to go through. They were extremely lucky as hours later the Russian borders closed after the country attacked Ukraine.

Since then, the Expedition Earth Instagram has been quiet. Spy understands now Gunther is safe and the couple are holidaying in Switzerland, where Richwhite went to boarding school.

And down in Italy, star director Taika Waititi and popstar Rita Ora have been the toast of Milan Fashion Week. Waititi was home from Sydney last month before joining Ora in Los Angeles. Last week they took the fashion capital by storm both with attitude and sartorially. They matched in pale tones and cuddled up in the front row at Fendi. At Prada they stole the paparazzi flashes off Kim Kardashian, and on Sunday, they ended the week glammed to the max at the Bulgari B.zero1 Aurora Awards before jetting back to LA.