Tongues wag over TomKat speculation

There was a "definite" sighting of Tom Cruise outside the Ferry Terminal building in downtown Auckland.

Radio news went wild. Photographers with lenses longer than a gangplank staked out the ferries while Waiheke real estate agents frantically prepared portfolios of splendidly expensive properties to suit one very rich movie star, his pretty fiancee and their two-month-old daughter.

Meanwhile at Coatesville, north west of Auckland, locals looked perplexed by inquiries about the mansion Cruise is supposed to be building out their way.

It's a rumour that won't go away but, they say, if he was here overseeing the interior finishing as the story goes, they hadn't seen him.

Meanwhile Cruise's agent in Los Angeles took all the fun out of the rumours by issuing a "he is not there" statement. And a paparazzi photograph showing Cruise and Katie Holmes, without baby Suri, visiting Hollywood funny man Jim Carrey's home shortly before the ferry terminal sighting really made the lenses wilt.

No matter, Coatesvillians will take it in their stride if Tom cruises into town. Not that there's a town exactly. The nearest big smoke is Albany but Coatesville people like it that way and they reckon Tom and Katie will, too.

Simply Divine cafe owner Yvonne Simpson does a little sales pitch while clearing tables. All the cafe food was made on the premises - "not like Auckland cafes where they buy their food in," she said.

Her cafe was well set up for young mums and families, she added. And so it is, what with fluffies on the menu, a highchair on both levels, a sandpit, toy box, enclosed playground and, good news for mothers of new babies, a nappy-changing table in the ladies' loo.

It's just the sort of place where Cruise, Holmes and their bodyguards could comfortably blend in while reading the paper at the big, wooden tables, listening to Dave Dobbyn wail "...from the bottom of our hearts, welcome home..." on the radio and deciding which of the local artworks for sale on the walls might do nicely over the fireplace of the new mansion.

A chai latte for him, peach iced tea for her - and, to top it off, Simply Divine opens Thursdays and Fridays for dinner.

With the social life sorted out, Coatesville locals would make sure that new mum Katie Holmes was well looked after by Plunket and would help her to settle into a coffee group. Plunket nurse Julia Hodges does home visits in the area and new mums can visit clinics at either Kumeu or Albany.

Stephanie Shennan, Plunket's operations manager for Waitemata, said the group would help to arrange weekly play or coffee groups, or put on free parenting courses.

Some of the coffee groups in the area have been so successful they're still meeting 20 years later. And for Tom, the boys would take him mountainbiking in Riverhead Forest.

Meanwhile New Zealand's local branch of the Church of Scientology on the Panmure-Ellerslie Highway is eagerly waiting for contact from the superstar, who well and truly made fans look sideways at the church. They've heard the rumours too - but so far there's been no sign from Hollywood.

However, the church's public relations person, Michael Ferriss, speaking from a bus in Sydney, said physical attendance at church was not a prerequisite so Cruise would be forgiven if he didn't turn up to the 10am Sunday service.

Scientology was about a study of the spirit and life, he said. That could involve taking courses and reading books by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard. "Our members can do what they want. Celebrity Scientologists are not obliged to come into the church."

But, he added, if Cruise did pop in he would be "very warmly welcomed".