Day 1 in Sydney

Our plane landed in Sydney at 8:30AM Monday, July 7th, 2008. Since we were situated nicely in business class, we were one of the first to step out onto Australian soil. We breezed through immigration and all 6 of our bags came out onto the revolving carousel one after the other. We were pleasantly surprised by how easy everything was... until we got to customs. The line for customs wrapped around the building and we had to weave and bob our way through groups of unorganized and loud kids. Finally, we made it to the front of the line where Ron declared that we had 2 wooden spoons somewhere in our luggage. We thought it best to declare it in case they decided to search through all 6 of our tightly packed bags. Keep in mind, we are here for 3 years. We brought a lot of stuff.

Our driver picked us up and thank god we did not have to rent a car and drive! Not only are there only 2 lanes each way, they are super narrow. Of course, they also drive on the left side of the road. We thought San Diego driver were bad, we were wrong. They tailgate, honk their horns and almost run people over (this is only our experience so far within the City of Sydney. I cannot comment about drivers in other parts of Australia).

I was in a daze our entire first day in Sydney, at least according to Ron. I was lost and dumbfounded. I had no idea how to get back to our hotel and I was shocked by the prices here (even though we were warned. I will dedicate a whole post to this topic!). KPMG placed us in temporary housing for our first 2 weeks. We are staying at the York Apartments right in the heart of the city and 5 minutes from Ron's work.

We went to Paul and Lili's for dinner that night. It was my first time meeting them and I was slightly nervous. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about! They are incredibly nice and easy going (reminds me a little bit of Tina and Kevin). Their apartment is right on the harbor, next to the Sydney Opera House with a view of the Bridge. Our blog photo was taken on their balcony.