Rice shares shopping, life tips Down Under

By Sue Pleming

PERTH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had a taste of life in the Australian mining boomtown of Perth on Friday, sipping coffee with the foreign minister at his local and chatting with girls about shopping.

Rice told a group of teenage girls that her favorite past-time was shopping -- also a favorite activity for many women in Perth which has just seen luxury jeweler Tiffany's open a store in the isolated Indian Ocean city now awash with money thanks to Australia's outback mining boom.

In fact, Perth's booming economy has attracted a swag of luxury retailers including Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Bally.

On a visit to Perth at the invitation of Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, Rice met Smith's parents at Cino's coffee shop to the surprise of locals and under the gaze of a dozen or so diplomatic security agents.

Rice is only the second U.S. Secretary of State to visit Perth, with most U.S. diplomats choosing the east coast cities of Sydney or Canberra as their usual diplomatic stops. George Shultz was the last top U.S. diplomat to stop by Perth in 1984.

As the first female and black Secretary of State, Rice dispensed advice to pupils at Smith's daughter's school, Mercedes College, telling them to follow their dreams and not be restricted by either race or ethnicity.

"Don't let anyone put limits on you," she said.

Rice also admitted her passion for shopping and said she was looking forward to getting back to private life and returning to California where there was a giant shopping mall about five minutes form her home in Stanford.  Continued...