Horror trip from Austin: more like North by North West than SXSW!

Basically we boarded in Austin at 12.30 pm and arrived in NY at 12.30 am! Could've flown from LA to Sydney in that time. much of the time was spent sitting on the tarmac in Washington DC.
PS SXSW stands for South by South West, the film & music festival in Austin each March. North By North West was an Alfred Hitchcock horror film.

Sydney race tips, Rosehill Guineas day

Race 3 (Magic Night), #5 Lovemelikearock ($3.6f).Result: 4th
Race 7 (RH Guineas), #4 Caymans ($5). Result: 4th
R8 (Darby Munro), #3: Ahdashim ($7). Result: 2nd (paid $2 place).
Strike rate: win 0%, place 33%. Balance ($1 win): -$3

Hi from Austin TX

We are back in Austin and staying in South Austin, a very cool part of the city, somehwat like King St Newtown, or Greville St. Prahran. The locals refer to their city as "a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup" (a political statement). Around the corner from our hotel is the Continental Club, an iconic Austin live music venue.
Outside Continental Club on Sunday afternoon (end of SXSW festival)

The band Woodsboss, playing at Continental Club tonight

Southside Tattoos, next door to Continental Club.

Texas Hill Country tour:Tues/Wed Mar 24-25, 2009

After leaving San Antonio we headed 80 km NW to Bandera, the 'cowboy capital of the world'. These pictures were taken at the 11th St Bar, where they were getting ready for 100's of bikies to descend on the weekend. I don't think many of them are Lebanese, so should be peaceful! The bra donation ceremony would be interesting to witness.
then we continued N through the Hill Country, a limestone range 300-800m above sea level, to Fredericksburg. 12 km N of Fredricksburg is the Enchanted Rock Nat Pk, a little bit like Uluru, though the flora obviously different.
then back into "Freddo". It was the home town of Admiral Nimitz, head of the US Navy in the Pacific in WWII and they have a great interactive Pacific war museum here. Glad this is the closest i ever got to an "LTV". Freddo is about 100km west of Austin, and we got back here about 6pm in a humungous Sydney-style thunderstorm, with those grey-green clouds filling up the sky, and golf ball size hail reported west of here.

OzTips round 3

went into sunday 5/5, ended up 5/8! Now 10/16 and moved up to equal 8th. Here are my tips for round 3: MW (sticking with them), Broncos, Cowboys, SGI, SS to bounce back, Raiders to get on the board, Tigers, Titans. And with the Sydney Autumn carnival in full swing, i will post Sydney racing selections on Friday.

Postcard from Central Texas

View of Manhattan as we flew out of JFK on Sunday afternoon: a bit hazy but quite good if you click on the picture
Boot store in Austin: something for everyone!
Today at the Alamo, in San Antonio. Mid 20's, overcast breezy but was max of 4 in NYC today

Wed, March 18

It is definitely more spring like. It always gets into the teens now and never goes below zero for the min. These flowers were for sale at Union Square at the weekend

Tues March 17th, St Patricks Day

They really go over board about St Patricks Day in NYC. The strong Jewish influence here means alcohol is not really part of the culture (may be dope, cocaine and ice, but not alcohol). So SPD and the weekend before it are an excuse for the locals - whatever their heritage - to dress up in green (like a spring version of Halloween; Colin would have fitted in perfectly), go out, have one drink and get smashed. Took the opportunity to make a short detour on the way to work to pass via 5th avenue and take some photos. the day begins with Mass at StPats cathedral then an Anzac Day-style parade from 11-4, up 5th ave past Central park. it was a nice NYC spring day, sunny and max about 12C

South Sydney marches on

The Rorters are forever in our shadow.
Here are my NRL tips (5/8 last week; kate & steve both 7/8): Manly, Brisbane, Sharks, Cowboys, St George, Bulldogs, Raiders ...and for the upset: Bunnies back to earth vs Eels - it's a long way to September

pic of the day: Florida

It's our wedding anniversary today (no. 26). Also Kate flies back to Sydney today.
Here are more photos from Florida last week

sunset drink at Loew's Resort, South Beach.

pic of day: more Florida snapshots

The famous Jerry's Diner, South Beach, Miami
Hollywood beach

some pics from our ski trip the previous weekend

Taken at Plattekill, a small privately run ski field in the Catskills, on Saturday Feb 28.

More Florida pics & Round 1 NRL tips

Some great examples of the Art Deco architecture at South Beach, Miami



NRL Tips Rnd 1: Manly, Melbourne, Warriors, Sharks, Cowboys, Knights, Tigers, Bunnies ("Roosters forever in our shadow" as the Burrow banner says)

Trip to Florida

Some snapshots from our Spring Break in "sunny" Florida; most of the week it was in low 20'sC, overcast and breezy
NB Daylight Savings started here today. As the clocks below the movie reviews show, the Syd-NYC time difference is now only 15 hours
Thursday: Fort Lauderdale beach

Friday: Hollywood Beach

Saturday: South Beach, Miami
Sunday: Hyatt Regency&Spa, Westin, FL

Now back in NYC. More pictures from Florida during the week

Pic of day Wed march 4th

Curbside checkin at LaGuardia
Poolside in Florida

Pic of the dat: Tues 3/3

Central Park with 20 cm of snow

NY Snowstorm

NYC had its biggest snow storm in 2 years in the past 24 hrs. it began snowing at 9 pm last night (shortly after Kate arrived) and didn't stop till 3pm today. we had about 9 inches of snow in total. This was how it looked in E 68th street, at the hospital, at 9 am this morning. Schools are closed in this weather and many people can't come to work. Half the patients booked into my clinic rang to cancel.

These are the windchills for tomorrow morning. it will feel like 3 deg F in NYC. That's about -18 celsius. It says -15F in the top left hand corner, that is about -26 celsius. That location is in the direction of where we go skiing in the Catskills. it will be good to go to Florida on Wednesday - it's +26C there at the moment.

pic of the day: Sun

Last night at Terminal 7 JFK