Zac Efron building eco home in Byron Bay, Australia

Zac Efron is quietly living in Australia and building his dream eco home.

The High School Musical star has been living in Byron Bay in northern New South Wales as he develops a 128-hectare block of land in the Byron hinterland that he purchased in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Daily Mail, development has been underway for the past few months, and the actor has hired local environmental designer Joost Bakker to create the off-the-grid home that's been dubbed 'Futurecave'.

Bakker revealed last month that planning had been approved.

"Excited to get started on Zac's house!" the designer wrote on Instagram at the time.

Sources close to the Hollywood star claimed that he had been looking to relocate Down Under permanently since listing his Los Angeles mansion for sale in May 2021.

The new property is billed as a self-sustaining, zero-waste home, covered with plant ecosystems designed to support insects and help other species thrive.

"He just loves the Australian mentality and attitude, and he just wants to spend time in nature," Bakker told Homes To Love.

"We're using the building to get a lot of endangered insects and species back on track," he shared in a later interview with Domain. "So we can actually use the building to create habitat rather than take away from it."

"For the past year, we've experimented with making hemp blocks, replacing concrete with two materials that restore the environment. Hemp: possibly the best plant on earth at repairing and restoring."

Plans show a series of interconnected pods linked by walkways, providing approximately 9,000 square feet of living space that also features a gym and rooftops covered in vegetation.

Efron is currently working on a TV project that follows a down-and-out paparazzo who makes his living finding and photographing people who don't want to be found.