Austin TX
Jan 28th 2010 | 6:43 am
#16
Catahoula Lover!!!
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 924
From: Seattle - WA
Re: Austin TX
That reminds me of when we were in Australia and every night the fruit bats filled the sky, quite the sight!!!
Jan 28th 2010 | 6:45 am
#17
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,240
From: Toasty in Texas
Re: Austin TX
yep "bats" means "bats" !!!! a great sight to see by the way. There's so many of them that it takes 45 mins for them all to come out from under the bridge 
Jan 28th 2010 | 6:50 am
#18
Catahoula Lover!!!
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 924
From: Seattle - WA
Re: Austin TX
Jan 28th 2010 | 6:53 am
#19
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,240
From: Toasty in Texas
Re: Austin TX
yep they all live under one bridge and fly out at dusk...people come from all over to watch them! (it stinks to high heaven by the way!) This isn't an all year round thing so check the best time to go and see them.
Jan 28th 2010 | 7:08 am
#20
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 75
Re: Austin TX
Hoping to move there soon myself; want to get in before the weather heats up so I can get acclimatized! Coming from the UK its going to be quite a shock, still I don't mind flitting from AC to AC
Interesting list of pros and cons. Its a shame about the lack of basements, seems like the place you'd want to be mid summer! We visited a couple of years ago and it was awesome, really friendly people.
Visa interview on Tues (2nd Feb)
Interesting list of pros and cons. Its a shame about the lack of basements, seems like the place you'd want to be mid summer! We visited a couple of years ago and it was awesome, really friendly people.
Visa interview on Tues (2nd Feb)
Last edited by Aaarrrggg; Jan 28th 2010 at 7:11 am.
Jan 28th 2010 | 7:12 am
#21
Catahoula Lover!!!
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 924
From: Seattle - WA
Re: Austin TX
According to "Ace Ventura - Pet Detective" Bat Poop = Guano!!!!
Jan 28th 2010 | 9:48 am
#22
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 132
From: Boston suburbs
Re: Austin TX
eek - don't much like the thought of them there bats
Jan 28th 2010 | 10:01 am
#24
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 132
From: Boston suburbs
Jan 28th 2010 | 11:07 am
#25
Chocoholic !
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,324
From: Houston, TX - Officially Not Shit since 2009
Re: Austin TX
...and the mozzies don't forget the blood sucking mozzies - hubby has already had his first taker of the season 
Jan 28th 2010 | 5:20 pm
#26
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 14,680
From: Bay Area, CA
Re: Austin TX
Lived here 8 years, and been visiting since 1988.
Good:-Mild winters
Bad:-
Good:-Mild winters
- Hill Country
- Cost of living
- Cheaper housing, esp. outside of central Austin/close-in to downtown
- No state income tax (but see below)
- Friendly people (esp. if you are aligned religiously or politically)
- Top rated schools (esp outside of AISD i.e. Round Rock, Georgetown)
- Relatively low crime (but see below)
- Still has small-town feel
Bad:-
- Hotter than hell in the summer (summer is Feb-Nov). 68 days over 100 and 100 days over 90 last year, and it doesn’t even begin to cool off at night
- Not a whole lot to do, esp. for kids, the summer is too hot for them to play outside
- Not that I care but apparently not much pro sports
- Utilities (esp. electricity for A/C) are mind-bending expensive (I average $500 in electricity from June-Sept and $200 for water)
- Pay is deemed to be lower due to lots of graduates at UT
- Not as much hi-tech as you might expect
- Some bad parts of town are east of I35 downtown and around Rundberg
- No basements - Get ready to rent a lockup for all your 'stuff'
- Oasis in a sea of mediocrity (20 miles in any direction is the boonies, complete with rednecks, guns and trucks)
- Sales tax of 8.25%
- Property tax is very high. My 3,800 sq.ft house is over $9K
- Allergy capitol of the US. Cedar is really bad
- Going anywhere is a long drive or a connecting flight through DFW/IAH
- A little bit over-hyped IMHO.
- Getting crowded. Lots of CA, AZ and FL transplants.
- Traffic. Lots of. I35 runs straight through the middle and is always gridlocked
- Weather can be unpredictable – you can pretty much have 4 seasons in 1 day – I’ve had 2 new roofs in 7 years due to hail damage.
Weather is hot, but also ... humid. It's the humidity that gets you.
I would think the CA, AZ, FL transplants would help diversify the place - dilute the redneckiness.
Jan 29th 2010 | 2:23 am
#27
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 46
From: Texas and soon back to normality in the UK!!!!Yeh!!!!!
Re: Austin TX
You can see the bats from March to October around Congress and Riverside. There is also a colony that is steadily growing along the IH35 corridor and McNeil. There may be more that I don't know of.
Jan 29th 2010 | 2:24 am
#28
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,109
From: North Charleston,SC. born in Stockport,UK.
Re: Austin TX
The good, the bad and the ugly.....Good luck Jan
Jan 29th 2010 | 7:59 am
#29
Just Joined
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 19
From: Las Vegas, Nevada
Re: Austin TX
Supposed to have one of the best 'live music' scenes in the country. I was there one weekend and walked down the main 'bar/music' drag (closed off to traffic, good thing) and could not even get in to place after place - all full of people, all places playing live music. Block after block, very crowded.
Weather is hot, but also ... humid. It's the humidity that gets you.
I would think the CA, AZ, FL transplants would help diversify the place - dilute the redneckiness.
Weather is hot, but also ... humid. It's the humidity that gets you.
I would think the CA, AZ, FL transplants would help diversify the place - dilute the redneckiness.
Jan 31st 2010 | 4:08 am
#30
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 14,680
From: Bay Area, CA
Re: Austin TX
1) George Bush lives there
2) "Don't mess with Texas"
3) strong republican state
4) Gun rights fiercely protected
5) Gun racks proudly displayed on lots of trucks
6) former confederate state
If you read this definition, I think it applies more to Texas than anywhere else; especially the 'self-use' part - where people proudly call themselves Rednecks as a term of honor.
Austin is the least redneck city in Texas that I've found, based on the university, and the large number of outsiders who have moved there.
