Los Angeles, February 25 – Hollywood actor Chris Hemsworth has expressed regret over moving back to his native Australia after a series of deadly shark attacks near his home.
The Thor star, 42, grew up in Australia but lived in the US for many years before moving back to Australia in 2015 with his wife Elsa Pataky and their children, but Chris has now admitted he thought he had made a huge mistake after two surfers were killed by sharks just minutes away from his home in Byron Bay, according to ‘Female First UK’.
During an appearance on the SmartLess podcast, he explained, "When I first moved to Byron Bay, there were a series of shark attacks, two deaths, then one guy survived, all within two weeks. One was right in front of my house, and another was 10 minutes south of me, and (another) was five minutes north. I thought, 'Where have I moved? What have I done? This is crazy!' And so, for the next (I was only going surfing) when there were other people in the water.”
He further mentioned, “Your chances are a little better. There was a period when there would just be helicopters going up and down the coastline, looking for sharks, and then they would activate a siren because there was this feeding frenzy. (They would activate the siren) or they would tell the police, and the police would come down with a loudspeaker and tell you to get out of the water. And you would all sit there and be like, 'Argh, I'm not getting out of the water,' and then each guy would start paddling in, like, 'Okay, okay, we'll go in.' Bull sharks and great whites are the most common.”
As per ‘Female First UK’, however, Chris refuses to let the risk of shark attacks deter him from the sport he loves.
He added, "I surf every day. I heard that more people die in America from vending machines collapsing on them. I don't know if that's true.”
The actor went on to reveal that there are "tons of snakes" around his house, and his three children are not bothered by them, but his Hollywood friend Matt Damon got a nasty surprise during his first visit to Australia.
The actor said, "(There are) tons of snakes. We see a lot of snakes around our house, especially pythons, but the pythons are very territorial, so they keep the dangerous ones away. We don't mind having the pythons around. My kids sometimes go and grab them by the tail. Matt Damon was asking me all these questions before they came to Australia. I said, 'Ah, you're fine.' The first day, he drives down the street, gets out of the car, and steps right onto a snake. I've been here for 42 years and I've never stepped on a snake. The first day, he did."
