After saying farewell to Sin City, it was hello Texas! The flight to Austin was a bit hairy with some crazy turbulence and it didn't help that we were sleep deprived and hungover. Ros picked us up from the airport in Austin for the 45 min drive back to New Braunfels. New Braunfels is one of the fastest growing cities in Texas and appears to be going from strength to strength. Ros lives in the John Newcombe estate which has a clubhouse and massive tennis training centre. Back in the early days Newks worked on a ranch in the area. When he had enough money he came back purchased a whole heap of land and started to develop in the area. Ros's house is massive and on some land which after landscaping - 560k! The kids had school while we were there so Ros and Dan kept us busy by showing us the sights of San Antonio and New Braunfels. On our visit to San Antonio,we visited the Alamo. The Alamo is considered a shrine so no hats were allowed to be worn inside. It always amazes me when we visit buildings, monuments even pubs that were in use before Australia was even discovered, we really are only toddlers amongst all the teenagers. From the Alamo,we then did the riverwalk which is quite beautiful even more so at night. The river runs through the centre of town with shops,restaurants either side. We stopped for lunch at Budous where the most amazing guacamole was prepared fresh at your table and we had prickly pear margaritas. The flower from the cactus is boiled and creates this vibrant purple pink colour that is poured over the margarita. A lot of the margaritas that come out of the slushy machines are made on wine but these were proper ones - tequila ones!!
We had a couple of days of shopping but probably the best was when we took our tubes down to the river with our drinks tied up in a bag tied to the tube and then we just floated down the river. The river was pretty busy as it was a warm day but it was just so relaxing and 2 hrs later we ended up at the end and it was time for dinner. We had dinner at Coopers BBQ pit - it was amazing!! You picked out your piece of meat, brisket, pork, sausages whatever you wanted and then your sides - halapeno Mac'N'Cheese, corn,whatever and then dessert was 3 different types of cobbler, peach apple of blueberry! It was amazing!! The entire visit to Texas was amazing and we had our first sporting event of the trip watching the high school football team,the New Braunfels Unicorns! That's right, their mascot is a unicorn and we have the shirts to prove it!! Marching band, cheerleaders, baton twirlers and a winning team, what more could you ask for on a Friday night! Thanks for a great time Texas!!