SHORT TAKES : Cruise, Girlfriend in Sydney

Tom Cruise’s girlfriend, his “Days of Thunder” co-star Nicole Kidman, has taken him home to Australia to meet the folks. The couple arrived in Sydney by private jet Thursday and emerged from customs smiling and holding hands.

“They are the hottest couple in the world, and they looked so in love,” an observer said. Cruise and Kidman wouldn’t talk to reporters and fled the airport so hastily they left the trunk of their car open.

Kidman’s agent, Bill Shanahan, refused to say where the couple will stay or how long they will be in Sydney. “It’s a private trip,” he said. “They are on holidays.” It is Cruise’s first visit to Australia.