Without a doubt, the Sydney Opera house was what surprised me most. Although it is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world, the ubiquitous pictures of it gracing the harbor do not do it justice. Naturally, there are lots of cafes and bars around this area so we grabbed a drink, slipped on our sunnies and watched the world go by for a while. 
If you look closely, you can see adventurous tourists walk along the top of the bridge.We came back to the harbor at night to take in the Opera house and Harbor Bridge lit up, check out The Opera Bar at night for great people watching, live music and a magnificent view.
A must do is getting out on a boat into the harbor. To experience Sydney at its best is to enjoy the sunshine out in the harbor, even if it is just on a ferry. We did precisely that, taking the morning ferry over to Manly Beach (only 15 minutes on the express) and it was an awesome way to see the skyline from the water. Manly Beach is what I've always thought Australia would be- beachy and bawdy, sunshine and surfers.
We are the happiest as tourists just walking the city and Sydney was a great city to explore on foot. Starting at Hyde park in the center of the city, we walked through a great outdoor photography exhibit:
Saw St Mary's Cathedral: 
And then went on to the Royal Botanic Gardens.Along the way we had at least 3 interesting animal sightings:
This last pic is of the grey headed flying fox. They are the worlds largest bat- no joke and there were hundreds of them.There were so many sights that didn't fit into our short weekend. When we go back we want to also do: Bondi Beach, Blue Mountains, Sydney Aquarium, Barracks Museum, and the Hunter Valley Wine Country just to name a few!
