Sydney

Monday
We arrived in Sydney in the morning after a very long flight. The Qantas flight was about as comfortable as an 18 hour flight can be. We were in the front of the coach section with window seats, the food and snacks were good, and every seat-back has its own TV with a large selection of movies and other programs. They even managed to find a tailwind to cut the flight by over an hour.

While standing in a 20 minute long line or "queue" for the taxi, Tara asked for a soda from a vending machine strategically placed next to the line. When I explained to Tara I didn't have any Australian dollars yet, the young lady in front of us gave Tara $4 for the machine. This was just the first example of the friendly and helpful Aussies we have met.
The rest of the day we spent shopping and getting settled into our hotel.

Tuesday
We rode the ferry to the Toronga Zoo, passing the Sydney Opera house which offered me my first iconic snapshot of Australia.

The iconic Sidney Opera House
This is a big zoo, and world-class. All of the exhibits are natural settings. We got our first look at koalas and kangaroos.

Toronga Zoo Koala

Wednesday
We are staying in Bondi Junction, a short bus ride from the famous Bondi Beach, so of course we had to go there. We were not disappointed. The beach is beautiful, and not too crowded in the middle of the week. The water is clear and not too cold, which is refreshing when the air is around 90 degrees.

Bondi Beach

Thursday
We took another ferry ride this time to Manly. We spent the morning at "Oceanworld Manly", which is a small aquarium with lots of local sealife, including several nurse sharks, which are viewed by walking through an acrylic tube through their tank. A very helpful guide gave us a nice tour. Later, we attended their reptile show and Kate and Tara petted a salt water crocodile. Note that Australia is home to 11 of the 15 most venomous snakes, a very deadly spider is found in yards around Sydney, there are deadly salt water crocodiles that grow to 5 meters long, and sharks and jellyfish. Nice place to visit, but you could die here!

(sorry for the lack of photos. My hotel's $5/hour "high speed Internet" is about 56Kbits/second. Photo uploads are taking forever. I will try to add some later if I find a better connection.)

(edited to add the photos)