While checking out my iptables generated logs, I noticed that the mac address of
most of the entries were the same. The MAC address shown is also much longer
than a traditional MAC address. It's also impossible that all these entries were
generated from the same piece of equipment, so I'm left wondering, how did I
get this address in my logs?

Is this some kind of default entry generated by iptables? Is it the address of my ISP gateway?

I guess I'm a little foggy on how MAC works inside a packet. Does an internet
transmitted packet retain it's source MAC through it's whole journey, or is this
something that changes hop to hop?

Thanks for any clarification, or links

MAC addresses are 6 octets, i.e. 48bits. They're displayed as 6 fields of 2 hex digits. These addresses are used by hardware devices to know where to send frames at the lowest network layer (link layer, AKA layer 2). Since MAC addrs are only used by hardware, the original host's MAC is not sent along the entire life of a datagram. Each hardware device that performs routing has it's own MAC, so firewalls, routers, intelligent bridges, etc all have MACs.

Close, it's the MAC of the internal interface of your broadband router.

Thanks Chort