Hang ten, you tubular dudes! As part of Prime Minister Tony Abbott‘s ongoing visit to the US and Canadia, he’ll be visiting with US President Barack Obama later this week to discuss all things leader-of-nationsy. The meeting caps off a whirlwind diplomatic tour of the country which has seen him visit schools, shake hands with the Speaker of US Congress, accept an audience with his daily holiness, Rupert Murdoch, and all but brazenly make out with his BFF, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But far from being your ordinary catch up and chin wag, in which one might bring a cheese platter, a jar of pickled onions and a cheapish bottle of plonk (from Tassie! Fancy!) Abbott is stepping up his – and, by extension, our – gift game. When our PM meets with POTUS he’ll be bringing a gift from the rest of us in the form of a good old fashioned Aussie made SURFBORT surfboard.
The board – a custom-made long board emblazoned with the US and ‘Strayan flags, along with the Presidential seal and the phrase “Gift from the Prime Minister and People of Australia” in case that was somehow ever forgotten – cost roughly $1200 to make, and severely outstrips former PM Julia Gillard‘s last gift to Obama of a Sherrin Football and a West Coast Eagles jersey with “OBAMA” on the back.
The board’s makers – Bennett Surfboards for those playing at home – are no strangers to high profile board construction. The company previously made a surfboard as a gift to the visiting Prince George, who will surely enjoy shredding the gnar or tubing it up in Swansea’s choppy grey hell once he develops the motor skills to do so.
Photo: Craig Golding via Getty Images.
