Julia Ross's Villa del Mare is on the market for more than $40 million. Instead, neighbours report it is the occasional sound of leaf blowers and the footsteps of security guards patrolling the huge 3334 square metre home and grounds which can be heard these days, with neither of the Packers nor their three young children, whom much of the house was specifically designed around, choosing to live there. Those same neighbours endured 18 months of construction, including massive excavation works which made the site resemble an open-cut mine, the cavernous hole filled with a winter garden, wellness room, gym, sauna, a fully equipped commercial kitchen, expansive living quarters for staff, 22-seat cinema, a room described as a ''dance hall' and a 13-car, soundproof garage with living areas spread over six levels. While Erica Packer has reportedly been given the property in her divorce settlement, though her friends say she was never a fan of the place, it is not clear if she intends to hang on to it. Not far from the Packers' unloved pile rests another cavernous trophy home which has stood empty for years, despite once ranking as the most expensive home in the country: Altona.

The Barford estate in Bellvue Hill sits empty night after night. Having sat unlived in for years as its former owners Deke and Eve Miskin opted for the warmer climes of Byron Bay, Altona was finally sold last year for $52 million to Chaimovich Investments Pty Ltd, a company whose sole director and shareholder is Xiuzhen Ding, a 75-year-old born in China who lives in Melbourne. Neighbours say there has been no life at the property since it changed hands, and when PS last visited Altona, the designer furniture was covered in dust protectors. Altona at Point Piper was sold last year for $52 million. Its owner resides in Melbourne. Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox spent millions renovating the historic Boomerang mansion in Elizabeth Bay after paying $21 million for it in 2005. But for all the effort, and controversy, considering he had not sought council approval before some of the work commenced, Fox has barely spent a night there. Instead Boomerang has become something of a function centre, used for charity fundraisers, rather than a living breathing family home.

Over in Point Piper, the huge home Mandalay sits empty, and is on the market with a price tag around the $60 million mark. The house was bought by William Webb, a former tobacco company CEO, and his wife Marijke, in 2004 for $20 million. The Webbs reside in Melbourne, with Mandalay barely occupied for the past decade. Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox spent millions renovating the historic Boomerang mansion in Elizabeth Bay, but has barely spent a night there. The Barford estate in Bellevue Hill also sits empty night after night. Owner Ian Joye has had the place for 25 years but these days Hawaii is home. With an asking price of $60 million, Barford is more of a celebrity holiday home for the likes of sometime occupant Will Smith and Jay Z, but has largely sat empty for years. Former headhunting queen Julia Ross moved out of her Italianate mega mansion in Point Piper years ago. Known as Villa del Mare, the vast limestone palazzo stands on 1508 square metres of level land and famously has a remote control-operated billiard table which sinks into the floor when not in use. Ross has had the place on the market, asking more than $40 million, since 2011. The $100 million Packer family mansion at Vaucluse lies empty.

As one real estate agent told PS this week: "Point Piper, Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill are practically ghost towns ... there are so many trophy homes sitting empty around there it's almost incomprehensible. The lights might be on, but that's because the timers flicked them on ... there's most definitely no one home." Sydney flocks to Paris for fashion frolics There were a few familiar faces in the crowds this week in Paris for the haute couture fashion shows. Giorgio Armani at his Prive show with Francesca Cumani. Sydney is home to several women who would be considered afficionados of this most elite world of fashion. In fact, they are such good customers the various fashion houses shout them a luxurious trip to Paris to see the collections first hand.

Eastern suburbs decorator Blainey North was a guest at Giorgio Armani's Prive collection show, along with racing royalty Francesca Cumani, who was hosted along with her Scone-raised fiance, polo player Rob Archibald, who was once voted by SVanity Fair magazine as one of the world's sexiest polo players. Cumani and Archibald are preparing for their wedding in Tuscany later this month. Brawled with The Sex Pistols: Molly Meldrum. Credit:James Geer Word around Paris this week suggested Cumani will be wearing a tailor-made Armani wedding dress on her big day. Armani is known for creating such gowns for favoured clients, including Danielle Spencer when she married Russell Crowe. Also spotted in Paris was Ashley Dawson-Damer, along with Erica Packer, no doubt making a decent dent on her $100 million divorce settlement from James Packer. Erica has a penchant for Dior gowns, including the one worth $50,000 she wore on the cover of Vogue Australia earlier this year, which was completely see through. Adamant that she is "fine": Tara Moss. Credit:Peter Brew-Bevan

Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin turned up to see Karl Lagerfeld's show for Chanel, while Sydney fashion designer Anna Plunkett, the pink-haired half of kooky local label Romance Was Born was also at Kaiser Karl's show. It may not look it to the untrained eye, but haute couture gowns take teams of seamstresses hundreds of hours to construct. It's not uncommon for such gowns to sell for the same price as a bed-sit in Elizabeth Bay. Molly finally pens tell-all memoir Even before he fell off his roof, Australian rock and roll personality Molly Meldrum was not known for being the most succinct storyteller. But even PS was pleased to hear that after spending about 30 years writing his memoirs, Meldrum's first autobiography will finally be published in November.

It was reported in 1997 that the hatted guru was penning a tell-all expose on the music industry with rock journo Jeff Jenkins. But it never materialised. Then, in 2000, Meldrum revealed he had been working on his autobiography for 15 years. While PS has no clue as to what happened to the advance he was reportedly paid by Random House for his autobiography, this column can faithfully report that Meldrum's book is now finished and in the hands of rival publishing house Allen & Unwin. John Farnham has written the foreword of the book, titled The Never Ending Story, which begins with Meldrum falling off his roof just before Christmas 2011 and then focuses on the Countdown years from 1974 to 1987. In the book Meldrum writes: “You could probably write a book about the writing of this book. When the book started, Michael Jackson was at number one with Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Madonna had just landed a job with the Patrick (‘Born To Be Alive’) Hernandez Review, Malcolm Fraser was prime minister and Daniel Johns from Silverchair was yet to celebrate his first birthday."

Meldrum has dredged up plenty of anecdotes, including stories about Kylie Minogue, Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Jimmy Barnes, Patti Mostyn, John Mellencamp, Brian Mannix, John Paul Young, Daryl Somers, Joe Dolce, Plastic Bertrand, Nick Rhodes, Elton John, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cold Chisel, ABBA, Sherbet, Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, INXS and many, many others.



There's even a lengthy account about Meldrum brawling with Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten during a blackout in a London pub after they refused to do an interview. Meldrum was furious, having cancelled a flight on the proviso he had the interview, and putting at risk an interview with Prince Charles he had scheduled in Australia in just a matter of days. Miraculously Meldrum made it back in time to interview the Prince on Countdown which went on to make Australian television history. NO WORDS FROM MOSS ON ASSAULT Author and former model Tara Moss has refused to shed any further light on her alleged assault near Hyde Park this week. After alerting her tens of thousands of social media followers on Tuesday with claims that she was ''bruising up'' following the mysterious attack, the leggy beauty, who is in the midst of the publicity trail to promote her latest book, The Fictional Woman, assured PS she was ''fine'' but was adamant there was nothing further to add. Moss opted not to respond to specific questions about the incident or the injuries – minor or otherwise – she says she sustained, despite the significant public reaction to her alarming status updates. JONES OFF TO SEA

Clearly Alan Jones would be a different kind of guest to host on your superyacht than Miranda Kerr – for starters, he probably prefers a one-piece over a bikini. But who could blame the radio presenter for wanting a few days' peace and quiet aboard James Packer's super tinnie the Arctic P? PS hears one of the reasons Jones has decamped to the European summer during the radio ratings break is because his neighbour at the dress-circle Bennelong apartments is undergoing renovations – of the loud jackhammer variety. FEARS FOR RISING STAR CORR Friends of actor Ryan Corr have expressed concerns for the emerging star since it was revealed he had been charged by police who allegedly found him smoking heroin in a Bondi laneway. Corr, who has starred in Packed to the Rafters, most recently worked with Russell Crowe in The Water Diviner. On a set recently Corr was filming a fight scene, which one observer described as ''really taking it to the edge ... sometimes what makes people a brilliant actor is what causes their demons''. Corr's matter is due in Waverley Court on September 2. MORE CRUMBS AT PLANET CAKE Self-anointed Sydney ''cake queen'' Paris Cutler has seen her empire placed into administration for the second time in two years, with several long-time staff complaining they are owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid superannuation entitlements. Cutler, who baked Nicole Kidman's wedding cake and has gone on to become something of a celebrity in her own right, featured in PS in February last year when she was last in financial hot water, facing debts of $500,000, with her company placed in the hands of administrators on Christmas Eve. Burton Glenn Allen has been appointed administrator, the same firm brought in 18 months ago, when a new entity was registered which revealed it intended to honour all existing contracts. Time will tell if Cutler manages to see her cake empire ''rise'' yet again.