Prince William enjoys rap serenade in Aussie tour

SYDNEY — Prince William joined Australia’s prime minister in the audience for a performance by a group of young hip-hop artists Wednesday before firing a few rounds of ammunition during a trip to a military base on his whirlwind tour Down Under.

The 27-year-old prince took the opportunity to poke a little fun at himself following the rap serenade at a youth center, 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 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, 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 was later whisked off to an Aussie barbecue lunch in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens along the city’s glittering harbor, where he briefly addressed the crowd.

“I have had the most warm welcome ever — not just with the weather, but with all Sydney people,” he said. “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 prince has enjoyed a jam-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.