Wonder From Down Under

One of the the occasions to which I look forward is the annual Spring visit from Ben (Bendy). Ben travels from Australia to Austin for a work-related conference and gives us an opportunity to catch up on watches and visit some local attractions.

We journey to my town outside of Austin for some righteous Texas BBQ at the nationally known Louie Muellers. Ben seems to be in smoked meat heaven!
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This year besides having the opportunity to compare CF3's (4 & 48), Ben brought me a special gift.

Stetson and Resistol hats are the iconic Western headgear of Texas. Akubra hats fill that same role in Australia...and an Akubra hat is exactly what Ben gifted one very happy Texan. It is the perfect complement to the CF3!
[](s596.photobucket.com/user/ahaujim/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-05/6D9DAAE5-6B7A-4664-A43F-3C72BE9AC7EB_zpspbdcru5e.jpg.html)

Thanks, Ben and I look forward to another GTG next Spring. Did I mention how I never tire of meeting the fine people in this community? Considered it mentioned!

Great Food, great report and great looking CF3! That's what its all about.

Thanks for sharing.

Nice. Always good to see GTG pics.

Ben, I'm in Sydney, our timing is off again! :-)

Nice picture! GTG posts are always great

Great to be able to connect with each other around the world like this.

Has Ben introduced/subjected you to Vegemite yet?

I am going to have to avail myself of Jim's hospitality some day. Good to see this meetup is becoming a tradition.

Nice to see your smiling face again Ben. When will you return to NYC for a Big Apple GTG? I am certain Jim and Dorothy will take care of you and add a few kilos to your weight.

Anthony, We are as yet uninformed about Vegemite.

You would be most welcome...and I can promise some great BBQ!

Great glimpse of your gathering, and CF3's!

I'll let you know next time in Austin...

Thx for sharing
/Anders

Great to see it happen again!

Good friends, food and fine watches - fantastic!

Please do...it would be a pleasure to meet you and have a GTG.

Hey Jim,

It's an Aussie "staple" - a savoury spread that is traditionally put on toast. :-)

On another note, a friend of mine recently completed his first movie - a music documentary called "Austin to Boston" and the Australian premiere was Friday night. The music is raw, yet sublime, especially the harmonies from "The Staves". If you ever get that chance to see it, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

m.imdb.com/title/tt3722248/

Hi All - or should I say Y'all,

I have to apologise firstly to Jim and then the rest of you for taking so long to get back to this post - I had a particularly long journey home no thanks to a detour on the way which made the worlds longest flight (Dallas to Sydney) even longer - we spent 21.5 hours in the same seat so the jet lag has been particularly bad and I am just getting my head back together enough to catch up with things.

I headed over to Austin TX the other week for an annual conference and for the 3rd time caught up with DZUL - Jim, to talk all things IWC, BBQ and Texas! I huge thanks to Jim for taking the day off work to come into town, pick us up ( I was travelling with my business partner this time and had to show him some great BBQ) and take us out to his home town where there is arguably one of the best BBQ places in the US of A!

Jim came and picked us up in his "Big Ass Truck!" -

and took us out to a town named Taylor where a BBQ joint called Louie Mueller resides -

If you are ever in Austin, you have to make a point of a) catching up with Jim and b) getting out to Louie Mueller, they have some great meat including hte brisket and 1 and 3/4 pound ribs! -

After receiving Jim's hospitality for the last 3 years, I was more than happy to show the Texan how we do hats in down under and gift him an iconic Akubra hat -

After which we had to do the obligatory wrist shots with our CF3'! -

It is always a pleasure to catch up with Jim, the great thing about these get togethers is as the years go on, it becomes less about the watches and more about some great time catching up with friends with a common interest! Unfortunately the wonderful Dorothy was not available this year around to catch up but I look forward to catching up with her again next time I am in Austin.

A big thanks to Jim for his great hospitality, it is always a pleasure to catch up with you and you know there is always a place to crash if you get the chance to head down under!

Bill - I don't have any plans at the moment to head over to NYC but definitely look forward to getting over there again and will let you know as it would be great to catch up again!

Jarrod - I thought we had organised our times better this time around - did you bring your trip forward?

Cheers ya'll!

Ben

Hi Ben,

Yep, our timing is off again! I'll reply to your e mail soon. :-)

Jim, I'm going to have to try to get to Texas at some point on our journey. I love meat. And I love BBQ's. Two solid reasons to make the trip, watches etc aside....

Ben, no apologies are necessary. It was great to see you again and have the opportunity to meet your business partner. Thanks for the great Akubra and a chance to see CF3 #4. Dorothy sends her best and looks forward to your next trip!

Jarrod-Steff and you need to make one of the F1 events in Austin (or any of the music festivals) and we will show you around...and yes, hit Louie Muellers for some 'Que.'