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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Megan Doherty

What it's like meeting Thor on his home turf

Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from the local news teams of the ACM network, which stretches into every state and territory. Today's is written by Canberra Times journalist Megan Doherty.

When you're going to meet Thor, you bring the god an offering.

In this case, I handed Chris Hemsworth the Go Bum card game created by Canberra father-and-son team Evan and Levi Turner during the lockdowns.

Think the cheeky version of Go Fish - find the matching pair of cartoon bums, basically. I thought Hemsworth's 10-year-old twin boys would appreciate a bit of bum humour.

"Don't all kids?" he said, with a smile and twinkle in his eye.

He may be larger than life as Marvel's Thor, but in real life, Hemsworth is down-to-earth, unpretentious and just a really nice bloke.

He turns up to be interviewed about a serious issue - homelessness - without fuss. Parks his ute in central Byron Bay. By himself. No entourage. Hat and sunglasses on. He doesn't want this to be about him.

Greets everyone with a handshake. Or a hug. Doesn't want to look like he is doing more than he actually does. Modest.

He's the biggest donor to the Fletcher Street Cottage which helps homeless and other vulnerable people in Byron.

High on his list is volunteering in the kitchen - and getting his kids involved, too.

"My kids go to a school that's part of the Living School, it's a pretty sort of alternative set-up but we were talking about having them involved and my wife and I were saying we'd get them down in the kitchen and a handful of them [the students] were super-motivated," Hemsworth said.

"I've done lunches at the school they used to go to, haven't done them here [at the cottage] yet - if you'll have me?" he said, looking at the managers.

Chris Hemsworth is understated and down-to-earth in his home town of Byron Bay. Picture by Karleen Minney

Done deal, I reckon.

One of the long-term users of the cottage in Byron reckons Hemsworth is undoubtedly a star in the town but "fame hasn't gone to his head".

"He's still a knockabout, Northern Rivers bloke," he said.

He's gracious and happy to be in a selfie with photographer Karleen Minney and myself.

"I'll take it. I'm good at selfies - I've got long arms," he said.

He's happy to chat about Marvel goss. Fans are agog Robert Downey jnr, aka Iron Man and Tony Stark, is returning to the franchise as Dr Doom. (This is apparently BIG.)

Hemsworth just laughs and says Downey jnr is "a gentleman" and he's happy to have him back in whatever capacity.

For someone so often photographed, Hemsworth is happy when the photos stop and he can talk about the cottage and trying to fix homelessness.

This guy seems the real deal - as deep as his voice. And that's saying something.

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