While we weren't on set for a new Hangover movie, a living tiger was peering into the bathroom at Canberra's new Jamala​ Wildlife Resort, a five-star extension of the National Zoo and Aquarium, where the animals and guests reside in close quarters together, albeit with a sheet of glass separating them.

The unique, African-themed hotel was built by Zoo owners Richard and Maureen Tindale as a way to raise funds for animal conservation and research.

While the stars of Shark Tank, Janine Allis and Naomi Simson chose to feed the more docile creatures like the giraffes at the official opening, the daughter of Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart, was the first guest to venture into the lion's den. The heiress, like Steve Irwin in heels, jumped at the chance to cuddle two cheetahs and sleep just five metres from a sun bear, perhaps a welcome reprieve from the jungle that is the Federal Court, where she is locked in an ugly legal battle with her mother.

She charmed guests with stories about her idyllic childhood in the Pilbara and her love of animals. A love which made zoo keepers in China nervous when she once patted a bear that had been rescued from a circus. Her passion for animals also extends down to her foot where she has a tattoo of a turtle inked, a symbol of protection and nurturing –something she in return does for her young son.

Philanthropy is also a keen interest for Rinehart who supports cancer prevention charity Pink Hope, an organisation that is close to her heart since losing her grandmother to breast cancer.

"I am so delighted to have been embraced as part of the Pink Hope community. As a mother to Nicholas, named after my grandmother Hope Nicholas, I am even more aware of the importance of preventative and hereditary health," she told Fairfax Media.

She travelled back to Sydney to attend the inaugural Pink Hope Gala at Ivy on Friday alongside other high profile supporters like Francesca Packer where auction items including jewellery, a dinner date with Jennifer Hawkins and a Vogue internship donated by editor Edwina McCann raised more than $15,500 for the charity.

"The Pink Hope Gala has been made possible by sponsors like Emma and Roe by Michael Hill and supporters like Bianca and Francesca, who all work tirelessly behind the scenes spreading the preventative health message of Pink Hope," founder Krystal Barter said. 

Aussie Chef to cater to Kanye for charity

Kanye West and chef Sean Connolly. Photo: Getty Images

As former Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide editor Joanna Savill once quipped, "blessed with sound technical wit, imagination and the intelligence not to try too hard [Sean] Connolly continues to please ... and sheer bloody talent ensures that his star will continue to rise."

Yo, Joanna, Imma​ let you finish but Connolly's star is now set to rise even higher, all the way to the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco to cook dinner for Kanye West and business titans from Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

The 2008 Chef of the Year who has more hats than Imelda Marcos had shoes, has been selected to create the five course menu at Diamond Nights, a glittering affair that will raise funds for the late Paul Walker's humanitarian charity Reach Out Worldwide. Top tier tickets start at $21,000 per head and guarantee you what Connolly plates up plus "an endless supply of Dom Perignon and a private cocktail party with Kanye West" according to the invitation which, the ever-perfectionist West designed.

The Voice Australia judge Jessie J will also perform at the June 6 event, but they are not the only Aussie connections.

After generous Australians donated $70,000 to the late The Fast and Furious star's cause during a promotional tour of his final movie, Furious 7, it was then possible for a team of 10 to travel to Nepal to aid relief efforts last week.

Unlike Seven and Hugh Sheridan, the ROWW team  headed to the disaster stricken area to provide help. 

Blanche dishes on her dish of a son 

It turns out Blanche d'Alpuget's son Louis Pratt is as perfect as was when he almost stole the spotlight from Australia's most popular silver fox, Bob Hawke, during an episode of Annabel Crabb's Kitchen Cabinet last year.

The sculptor and artist missed his mother's favourite social event, the Mother's Day Polo Classic which raises funds for Inala on Saturday, as he was busy working of a new project with wood carvers in Bali. He has since returned to be with Blanche for Mother's Day, a day which holds a special place in the author's heart.

"We had a spectacular falling out when I left Louis' father [Tony Pratt]. He didn't talk to me for four years. Then one day after he turned 18 he called me up and invited me to lunch, I didn't even realise it was Mother's Day until I got to the restaurant in Bondi and he had a posy of flowers for me. It is one of the sweetest memories of my life," she said.

However, stand down single ladies, the 42-year-old who knows a thing or two about poaching barramundi and how to tie a bow tie is now seeing a "gorgeous girl from Siberia who is an interior decorator" according to his proud mum.

Miranda Kerr moves for Orlando

Miranda Kerr and Selena Gomez. Photo: Getty Images

Their exes may have scrapped it out in Spain last year but model-slash-mogul Miranda Kerr and singer Selena Gomez have put on a united front in California, cosying up for the photographers at the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2016 presentation.

Their soap-operatic lives became entwined when Kerr's ex-husband, Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom allegedly slapped lord of the brats, Justin Bieber, Gomez's ex, for what was believed to be retribution for the 21-year-old fraternising with Kerr three years ago. Bloom was then spotted sharing a cigarette with Gomez. Now Kerr has recently relocated to LA to be closer to the actor.

"Orlando and I live across the street from each other and it kind of felt better for Flynn [the couple's 4-year-old son] that way," she said on Friday.

Watts gets woolly

Naomi Watts has come a long way since she was selling tampons back in the '80s.

"I always had the attitude that work begets work and one thing would roll to the next," the Oscar nominee and former star of Tampax commercials told InStyle after being nominated for the magazine's Women of Style awards.

"We've been a long supporter of her work, work which is committed to telling stories about complex women," InStyle's new editor Emily Taylor said.

As well as vying for the coveted prize in the Entertainment category on Wednesday night, she'll also promote another, albeit more appealing product this week – a new Woolmark capsule collection for Sportscraft​.

It's been a lucrative time for Watts recently, having inked a contract with L'Oreal​ and signing on as the face of Sportscraft's​ autumn/winter campaign.

However on Sunday, she'll be taking a break to enjoy Mother's Day with her husband Liev Schreiber​ and their two sons.

On her wish list?

"Breakfast in bed with my family and hand-written cards," she told Fairfax Media.

Party of the week

Sarah Murdoch, Dame Marie Bashir and Lisa Wilkinson. #MCRIMothersDay

They say the best parties are the ones which you aren't invited to, which is why the media were "strictly off limits" and only the creme de la creme of Sydney society were privy to audience with Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch for the second annual Dame Elizabeth Mother's Day Appeal in the garden of their Vaucluse nest this week.

Some of Australia's most esteemed philanthropists including Ros Packer, personalities like the Hon. Marie Bashir and Collette Dinnigan and neighbour Lucy Turnbull turned out in support of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

A similar function took place in Melbourne, where Dame Quentin Bryce spoke of the Institute's goal to raise more than $1 million for genetics research.

Jess Hart's flag fail

Geography is hard. Especially if you are a globetrotting Aussie model like Jess Hart working for an American lingerie giant like Victoria's Secret having to attend the "China: Through the Looking Glass" themed Met Gala in New York.

After partying at what many call "Fashion's Prom", Hart posed a photo of her looking five stars in a red Valentino gown to her 198,000 Instagram followers but went a little too far east with her emoji use by using Japan's flag instead of China's.