After a quick plane change in Auckland, NZ, I landed in Sydney just after 8AM and was able to meet up with my travel buddy, Thanks for the Mammaries from Orlando fairly quickly. We'd been planning this trip for a while and I knew it was going to be a great time. We were picked up by the hostel van and driven to our place at the Original Backpacker's Hostel in Kings Cross. After quickly throwing our stuff into the room, we headed out to see the town. The first thing noticeable of course is the different traffic pattern. It must be a big issue for visiting citizens of the United States since many of the corners along major roads had painted signs to look right for oncoming traffic. 
Figuring I would be pretty embarrassed getting flattened by a car, I quickly got into the habit of checking the right direction before stepping out.On the way to the waterfront near Woolloomooloo Bay after passing by Harry's Pie Shop, we strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens and thoroughly enjoyed the area. One surprising thing was the massive number of bats hanging in the trees throughout the entire park. There were thousands of the around with several occasionally just flapping around to a new perch. Our biggest first stop was of course the famous Sydney Opera House. We walked outside for a while and then took one of the inside tours that have a long history of the site from the deign to construction. I got a bit more out of it than I had expected, however we were unfortunately not able to get into the main auditorium since there was a performance or rehearsal taking place.
We walking a bit towards Circular Quay and made the first of many oyster stops of this leg of the trip. I think at the end we hit ever little cafe and stand that had seafood that we saw. Throughout the morning, we could see groups of a dozen people or so doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. While it seems like fun, the ripoff cost ($189AUD) and restrictions (personal cameras are not allowed, however they will of course sell you photos taken with their cameras) dissuaded us from participating. Instead, we walked the pedestrian sidewalk of the bridge to one of the main pylons where for a cost of $10AUD we could climb to the top as well as see some of the ironwork construction and interpretive displays. The top of the pylon ended up only being a hundred feet or so shorter then the top of the bridge span, so we still had sweeping views of the harbor and cityscape below. 
Unfortunately, which very much sucks, the camera lens for my Rebel XT stopped zooming. For this to happen at the start of the trip sucks beyond belief. I am seriously not in the mood to deal with this right now.After our own climb, Mams and I did our own crawl to some of the more famous pubs in the area including the Harbour View Hotel, Palisade Hotel, Lord Nelson brewery, and
Hero of Waterloo. The beef pie at the Lord Nelson pub was excellent and really hit the spot since the oysters we ate after doing the opera house were already burned off in the climbs and long walks. Throughout the trip we both enjoyed talking to the other patrons, bartenders, and even passers-by at time. One of the barkeeps ask if we had lost a bet when I said I was heading to New Zealand next. We snaked out way back to the hotel after checking out the Sydney Observatory, a section of town called 'The Rocks' and other random sites such that we arrived back just after dark. It was an exhausting day and the shower and bed were very, very welcome.
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