Postcard from Gold Coast

This week Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand held a ministerial-level meeting to discuss national security issues in the Australian state of Queensland. It was my first-ever visit to Queensland, and although I had a lot of work to do both as a political reporting officer and as a control officer, my time in Gold Coast exceeded my expectations both for professional development and as a new and beautiful place to visit. If you’re going to be busy, why not be busy with the ocean and sandy beaches less than two blocks away!

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to go and work in Gold Coast. Not just because our front office asked me to, or because almost every issue in my portfolio was set to be discussed with some of our closest allies. But also, because of this:

So I left the frost of Canberra behind and flew northeast. It was kind of like Panama City meets little Vegas. Once at my hotel, the warm winter weather and the view were fantastic. I even wore sandals.

The actual location of my hotel was “Surfers’ Paradise,” and after walking a mere couple of blocks, I found this:

I made some friends at a dinner reception…

…and also managed to find an hour to get to the 78th floor SkyPoint observation deck for some prosecco and dizzying views:

There is something about the sky in Australia, as I’m sure I’ve said before, that just takes my breath away.

Even though there were numerous times where I was hurrying down the street talking on my iPhone while emailing on my BlackBerry, or jumping out of the backseat of a car with a bunch of serious-looking gentlemen positioned at every angle, or wearing work attire at the beach and getting funny looks from chilled-out young people and vacationing families holding colored towels and inflatable toys, it was all worth it and I would do it all again if I could! And I wouldn’t change the damp pant legs with fine grains of sand clinging to my skin, either.

You can read more about what the five partner countries agreed to do to keep our countries safer and our alliances strong here:

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/national-security/five-country-ministerial-2018