Australia's ex-prime minister hangs ten next to bemused surfer
This is definitely one of those moments that could only take place Down Under.
Surfer Ivy Thomas was catching waves in Noosa, Queensland on Sunday, when none other than Australia's former prime minister, Tony Abbott, coasted on by her.
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While Thomas looks like she's wearing a glum expression in her Instagram picture of the encounter, she told the Courier-Mail that deep down, she was excited about the ex-PM trying to hang ten on her wave.
"In the photo I look like I was not happy about it at all but I was stoked. I had plenty of waves so I was happy to share a couple," Thomas told the newspaper.
Mashable Australia has reached out to Thomas for comment.
While in the past Abbott has found himself ridiculed for trotting around the beach in nothing but his budgie smugglers, this time, his weather-appropriate wetsuit and surfing skills impressed.
"He was loving it. It was epic and he's actually not bad. He can surf," Thomas said.
While Abbott can handle the swell, he's currently battling waves of discontent in his own political party. Perhaps he needed a beach break to take the heat off claims he's been destabilising Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's election campaign.
"Only in Australia [could] you get dropped in by the former prime minister," Thomas told BuzzFeed. There are probably less sharks at Noosa than in Parliament House, anyway.
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