Last day

Here in the Big Apple, not much to do but tidy the apartment and prepare for home. After a leisurely morning trolling the climate change deniers on The Australian website, I go with Lynda for brunch at the Australian-run Bluestone Lane Collective Cafe on Greenwich Avenue, a haven for expatriates needing their Vegemite on toast, baked beans with eggs or a genuine flat white.

Washing done and time for a movie. We go to the historic Bow Tie Cinema on W 23rd to see Amy Schumer's first movie Trainwreck.

The movie is ok, if a bit formulaic, and passes the time.

What for the last meal? To Dallas BBQ for some down-home cooking,

  The chain serves meat and carbs, and lots of them, with large cocktails and upsized drinks. I go with the pulled pork burger, which emerges as a hamburger with pulled pork topping, sweet and smoked, on the burger,

Back to the apartment to pick up our stuff, leave the apartment with the keys and a card inside, to the C train to Penn Station, then the NJ Transit to Newark International Airport, bus to Terminal 2 and a wait for the Cathay Pacific plane strongly mitigated by a bottle of red and a cheerful waitress "Jyvette"

The best part of the day later, back in a rainy Hong Kong. We eat airport food at airport prices until the Perth plane arrives to take us home.

Final impressions of New York? Fashion stuck with distressed jeans,  mullet dresses and checked shirts for the boys, black wet-look skirts for young women. Not much obvious innovation in two years, tourists everywhere and the big danger in the mean streets is being bumped by people staring at their phones or e-books while they're walking. Prices up, and $AU down, so watch out for that.

Fun place to visit, the food is great and diverse and there's pop and real culture.