"At a very nice dinner given in my honour by Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, I was doing fine at table conversation until Rudd began a long soliloquy on the history of Australia," he writes.
"I had made it just past World War I when
the combined effect of a pain-killer, jet lag, and a glass of wine caused me to fall asleep
"
"This led to not-so-subtle attempts by my American colleagues at the table to rouse me.
"Rudd was very gracious about the whole thing; my team less so, as they took raucous delight in making fun of my undiplomatic snooze."
Mr Gates, who had broken his shoulder in three places when he had slipped on ice outside his Washington DC house, said he was "shocked" to wake the next morning and find his entire upper body was black and blue.
"The US Air Force doctor traveling with me called in a couple of Australian physicians, and everyone was puzzled that the bruising had appeared a week after my fall, but in typical Aussie fashion and with good cheer, they said it would take care of itself.
"Given the the number of pain-killing drugs he was on when he arrived at The Lodge, Mr Rudd thought it was surprising Mr Gates could remember anything from the evening at all," the spokesperson said.
"Perhaps Mr Gates should have taken up Mr Rudd's suggestion, made to him when he arrived, to forget dinner and just go home to bed"http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-09/kevin-rudd-27soliloquy27-put-former-us-sec...