Australia - Day 1 - Sydney Arrival

We're here!!!  All our flights were on time and comfortable and went by fairly quickly.  We went to sleep over the skies of Los Angeles and woke up over Australia.  The weather in Sydney is really nice - low 70s with a touch of humidity.  The afternoon grew warmer, but we were so happy to soak in the sun.

When we arrived, we hit the ground running and cabbed to the hotel.  We washed the 15 hour plane ride off and hit the streets in search of food.  We found a cute little sidewalk French cafe for small sandwiches and a waffle with tons of whipped and ice cream.  I didn't get any photos because we were so starved.  From the French spot, we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for some great views of the harbor and the opera house:

Rainy night leaving SFO 11/19/13

Sydney!!!!!!!!!!  (This is actually the view from the zoo,
but it's such a nice one I thought it would be good to start with :))

Entrance to our hotel, The Sydney Harbour Rocks

Little ally way around the corner from our hotel

Stairs before the stairs to the Harbour Bridge

Actual stairs to the Harbour Bridge

Classic view of the opera house from the Harbour Bridge

Aussie flag flying high above the beams of the bridge

Art shot of the opera house

After the bridge walk, we took a cab back over the bridge for a special treat we found via Anthony Bourdain - Harry's.  They specialize in what's called the Tiger Pie.  It's a crusty pie dough filled with curried beef topped with mashed potatoes, smashed peas and a healthy ladle of gravy.  It was SO good.

Harry's Tiger Pie

 After Harry's, we jumped on the ferry bound for Taronga Zoo!  It was a great zoo - we saw echidnas, creepy spiders, roos, wallabies, tons of birds and even an elephant.    I didn't get any photos, but on the ferry ride back, I got a shot of the bridge we'd been photographing from earlier in the day:

Sydney's Harbour Bridge

 Our feet were so tired, and after being up for who knows how many days straight, we decided to take a break before heading out for dinner.  On the walk from the ferry back to the hotel, we found another cool alley way:

Dinner tonight was at Rockpool Bar & Grill, which had a very meat wagyu-focused menu.  We all ordered some sort of steak dish including a steak tartare, fish crudo and aged wagyu chracuterie appetizer.  Needless to say, we were super full at the end.  The dining room was in a cool art deco building and this is what the ceiling looked like:

After a huge meal and some nice wine, we were totally exhausted.  None of us were sure exactly what day it was or how long it had been since we left the US, but it's to bed early for us tonight!  One last photo of the cool lights in the center of our hotel's staircase:

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, so we're going to try to hit the Sydney fish market, Chinatown and maybe some shopping!