Prince William enjoyed a hip-hop performance, fired a few rounds of ammunition while at a military base and joked on Wednesday that he was having such a fabulous time on his tour Down Under that he was ready to relocate to the sun-drenched country.
“I have had the most warm welcome ever - not just with the weather, but with all Sydney people,” the prince said during a barbecue feast along the city’s glittering harbour, the iconic Opera House behind him. “It has been a terrific couple of days in Sydney and because of that, I’ve joked that I actually will buy a house in Sydney.”
The 27-year-old prince also made some jokes at his own expense following a rap performance at a youth centre, telling Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: “I can’t do any beatboxing - I’m not so good at that.”
The second-in-line to the British throne also discussed his music tastes with Mr. Rudd, saying it was a varied mix of rock, Linkin Park and Kanye West.
“I normally get the piss taken out of me, for my choice of music,” the prince told the prime minister.
Prince William last visited Australia as a baby in 1983, accompanied by his parents Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. He arrived in Sydney on Tuesday for a three-day trip following a visit to New Zealand, where he opened the country’s new Supreme Court building in the capital, Wellington.
After talking with teens from the Ted Noffs Foundation, which helps troubled adolescents, the prince visited Holsworthy Barracks, one of Australia’s largest military bases on Sydney’s outskirts. There, he joined military personnel on the marksmanship training range and fired a few rounds of ammunition. He also met with soldiers who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just last week, Prince William completed an advanced helicopter training course that takes him one step closer to becoming a fully qualified search-and-rescue pilot with Britain’s Royal Air Force.
The prince enjoyed a spin around the harbour on a jet boat and was greeted by hundreds of cheering fans as he arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens for a lunch of shrimp, lamb and steak.
In a jokey mood, Prince William took the opportunity to tease the event’s master of ceremonies, Australian television star Daniel MacPherson.
MacPherson told the crowd he felt comfortable ditching his jacket and rolling up his sleeves because the prince was casually dressed. Prince William, in turn, yelled from the crowd that he wouldn’t be caught wearing pants as tight as MacPherson’s.
“It’s not every day that you get heckled by royalty,” MacPherson said.
The prince has enjoyed a packed itinerary on his unofficial tour of Australia. On Tuesday, he was greeted with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony - a sacred cleansing ritual - before spending time with residents of Sydney’s predominantly Aboriginal suburb of Redfern. He also lunched with Australian celebrities, sports stars and politicians, and spent Tuesday night at a popular bar and restaurant on Darling Harbour.
On Thursday, the prince will visit communities destroyed by last year’s deadly wildfires in Victoria state. Hundreds of blazes raced across huge parts of southeastern Victoria state in February 2009, killing 173 people and destroying more than 2,000 homes.
