Well after finishing a book, watching 5 movies, and getting a couple hours sleep we landed in Sydney at 6 am local time. Our luggage took FOREVER to come off the plane. I think that our group had the last piece on the entire plane. We made it easily through customs and border patrol and found our driver and we were driven to our hotel in a very nice car. They drive on the wrong side of the road here and after the long flight it was really nice to be able to just sit and relax.
The hotel lost our booking for tonight but its Marriott so they took care of us, it just took a long time to get all checked in. They let us check in right away (even though it was 8am) and so we all got to shower and change. I got to the room and looked out my window and I have a great view of the Sydney Opera House. Its awesome. The weather is cool but still felt nice so I opted for shorts and a t-shirt. It was a PERFECT day. Slightly cloudy but the sun was shining and it was just right.
We met in the lobby to go site-seeing and get some food. We walked right down to the bay and took some great photos of the Opera house and then went and found breakfast. The place was called "Pancakes on the Rocks" and it was delicious. Australia is a little more expensive than I'm used to but they do have tax included in the prices so its nice to know more of what you're paying when you order.
Next we found a nice street market that they do in the shopping district by our hotel so we wandered that and enjoyed some of the local culture/sub-cultures.
We decided to take a ferry to another part of the harbor and walk around and eat over there. The ferry ride was really cool and I was able to get a lot more pictures from better angles, including the one attached to this post.
We found a Chinese Garden (which i think we over-paid since its the middle of winter here... but oh well) and had a great time walking through that. We ate at an arabian food joint and I had a Camel burger. It was lean but with all their spices and everything it was still quite tasteful. Enjoyed some street performers and just walking around enjoying Sydney. It is a beautiful city! It has a lot of history and character. The views are beautiful and despite having all the problems of being touristy and a big city it was a very enjoyable day.

Funnies: 1. Our waiter described the specials and then called it "gorgeous" and then when we made our order he also called our orders gorgeous. 2. He also called the appetizers "nibblers". 3. Eating out here isn't about being quick, its a lot slower than in the US. Its not necessarily funny/bad but it was weird at first.

tomorrow: flight to Auckland