1986 Life in San Diego

1986 - Our lives in America
Up to March, 1986   The breakwater from San Diego harbour extends into the Pacific Ocean 1986 ToMarch 0002 a Up to March 22, 1986 I go to a conference held in Atlantic City New Jersey. It's about Trends in Software Development and one of the topics is about President Reagan's Star Wars. I come away knowing almost nothing about anything but I do remember a graphic that showed an iceberg with most of the costs hidden. It had something to do with maintenance costs - or something.
The conference is held in this hotel, Resorts International, in Atlantic City. Atlantic City is a resort city on New Jersey's Atlantic coast that's known for its many casinos, wide beaches and iconic Boardwalk. Established in the 1800s as a health resort, today the city is dotted with glitzy high-rise hotels and nightclubs. In addition to gambling at slot machines and table games, the casinos offer spa treatments, performances by famous comedy and music acts, and high-end shopping. Bluh. I really hate this shyte photographic technology. This is the casino at Resorts International. The boardwalk at Atlantic City. The Atlantic City Boardwalk was America’s first. The area was developed in the nineteenth century as a resort and became extremely popular; its famous beaches and easy access from Northeastern cities made it one of America’s most prominent holiday destinations for over a century. After a decline in the 1960s, the introduction of gambling in 1978 allowed Atlantic City to reinvent itself and the Boardwalk to regain some of its former prominence.
Caesar's Palace. Pale imitation of Vegas. In the early 1850s, Dr. Jonathan Pitney, an Absecon Island resident, felt that the island would make a good health resort. However, he realized it would need better access. He and his partner Richard Osborn began the construction of the Camden-Atlantic City Railroad. On July 5, 1854, the first tourist train arrived from Camden, New Jersey. The island quickly became a popular vacation spot; luxurious hotels and cheap rooming houses sprung up all over town. However, sand was a major problem: Visitors would track it everywhere, including railroad cars and the lobbies of expensive hotels. Now here's the funny part: There is a famous model flying club in New Jersey called the Garden State Circle Burners (GCSB). On the Saturday night following the conference, the GCSB was having its annual dinner and presentations ceremony.
Before leaving for Atlantic City, I had called one of my mates in the GCSB and learned about the GCSB's annual dinner. He invited me along, and to this day, Jenni believes it was not coincidence but that I had arranged it.   By the way, this is Atlantic City's "famous" beach.   Seriously. Between March and April, 1986 This is the Anza-Borrego Desert about 75 miles inland from San Diego. We've come to see the wild flowers in bloom which usually happens during March and April each year. The peak, which is often short-lived, can fall at any point between these two months. Isolated blooms sometimes occur during late summer and early fall due to heavy monsoonal downpours, but the scorching temperatures during this time make wildflower viewing uncomfortable. This an Ocotillo, or fouquieria splendens. It is a common plant of the Southwest deserts, ranging from the Mojave in south California across the to the Chihuahuan of west Texas.
Jenni competes with the flowers and the flowers lose. I think this is one of the Lupine species, a member of the pea family. Another kind of Lupine These appear to be desert dandelions
Beavertail prickly pear cactus in bloom with pink magenta flowers, in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Beavertail prickly pear cactus in bloom. The prickly looking plant is a Cholla maybe? March 1, 1986 &nbsp: This is our new place at 9815 Rimpark Way.
We move in March 1, 1986. It's the place we like the best of the three places we stay during our three years in San Diego. We have a two car garage as well. The swimming pool, about 25 metres, is good enough to do laps and we both lose a lot of weight. It also has tennis courts and a community centre.
What's really interesting though is a life lesson that we learn here. The apartment is owned by a very nice, little old lady who is temporarily living back east. She tells us that she has severe arthritis and comes downstairs from her bedroom each morning and stays downstairs for the day. At the end of each day she agonisingly climbs back up the stairs to sleep. We decide one day we'll be old too, such that when we return to Australia and build our new home at Mount Colah, we build a single story house on a flat block with no steps or stairs. We benefit now from this decision and the lesson we learn, here, in 1986. Around March 1986 to about May &nbsp: Ian Smith comes to visit us and we go to LAX to pick him up. These are flower beds off I5 on our way up. These seem to be everywhere, usually loitering over ball games. At LAX waiting for Ian.
What catches your eye here is reasonable looking condominiums for $79,900 - about 19 American months wages for me at the time. (Median $450,000 in 2022 - still cheap). Definitely May 5, 1986 &njbsp; Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Old Town San Diego. Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on May 5, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In the background, divers participate in the Danza de los Voladores Led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, the victory of a smaller, poorly equipped Mexican force against the larger and better armed French army was a morale boost for the Mexicans. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, and a larger French force ultimately defeated the Mexican army at the Second Battle of Puebla and occupied Mexico City.
Probably May, 1986   Disneyland; it looks like we go on our own today. Bobsled ride down the Matterhorn. Cable car. In the end, we become quite bored with Disneyland and take it in turns to escort our Aussie visitors.
1986 LifeInSDAndBeyond 0033 a 1986 LifeInSDAndBeyond 0035 a Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, President Lincoln audio animatronics talk-fest. Even in 1968 this exhibit was old and tired. It was originally showcased as the prime feature of the State of Illinois Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. One year after its debut at the World's Fair, the show opened at Disneyland, where it has undergone several changes and periods of hiatus over the years. Today Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is an element of the Disneyland attraction "The Disneyland Story - presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," which opened in 2009.
Also old and tired in 1968: Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is an attraction located in Disneyland where It first opened on June 23, 1963. The attraction is a pseudo-Polynesian musical animatronic show drawing from American tiki culture. Probably May/June, 1986   This is the Henry Ford Museum clock tower in Dearborn, Michigan. The building is a replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I vaguely remember being here but don't know when; maybe I was on my way back from Dayton. Current map (2022) This is "Manufacturing", part of the Made in America exhibit.
Also in the Made in America pavilion is an impressive display of Ford Motor Vehicles. The Ford Trimotor fitted with skis for Admiral Byrd's plan to be the first person to fly over the South Pole. On November 28-29, 1929, Byrd and a crew of three achieved that goal in this plane. This was the first car built expressly for presidential use. It was nicknamed the "Sunshine Special" because President Franklin Roosevelt loved to ride in it with the top down. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the car was returned to the factory where it was equipped with armor plate and bullet-resistant tires and gas tank. The "Sunshine Special" was retired in 1950. 1937 Cord 812 Convertible. The Cord's swooping fenders, sweeping horizontal radiator grille, and hidden headlights were unlike anything else on American highways. The Cord was the only front wheel drive production car available in America for the next three decades. The engine was a 4.7L V8.
This is a working model of Stephenson's Rocket. Though the Rocket was not the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day. It is the most famous example of an evolving design of locomotives by Stephenson that became the template for most steam engines in the following 150 years. Early model T fords. The Model T was built by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 until 1927. Henry Ford conceived it as practical, affordable transportation for the common man. More than 15 million Model Ts were built in Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan. Assembly line production allowed the price of the touring car version to be lowered from $850 in 1908 (equivalent to about 18 months salary for an average wage) to less than $300 in 1925 (equivalent to about 4 months salary for an average wage). At such prices the Model T at times constituted as much as 40 percent of all cars sold in the United States. Even before it lost favour to larger, more powerful, and more luxurious cars, the Model T had become an American folkloric symbol, essentially realizing Ford’s goal to “democratize the automobile.” This is John Kennedy's X100 Lincoln; the car in which he was shot. Ford Motor Company assembled the car at its Lincoln plant in Wixom, Michigan in January 1961. Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, Ohio was responsible for customizing the car to function as a presidential parade limousine, literally cutting it in half, reinforcing it, extending it 3 ½feet in length, and making numerous other modifications. Although other presidential parade cars were built in 1968 and 1972, it was used occasionally by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter. The X-100 remained in service until early 1977. The car is now exhibited to the public at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The car on the left is The Ford Mustang I, a small, mid-engined (4-cylinder), open two-seater concept car with aluminium body work that was built by Ford in 1962. Although it shared few design elements with the final production vehicle, it did lend its name to the line. The one on the right is the FIRST mustang ever built and is fully restored. The first-generation Ford Mustang was manufactured from March 1964 until 1973. It was initially introduced on April 17, 1964, as a hardtop and convertible with the fastback version put on sale in August 1964. At the time of its introduction, the Mustang shared its platform with the Falcon and was slotted into a compact car segment. Behind is a first generation of the Thunderbird , a two seat convertible produced for the 1955 to 1957 model years. It was the first 2-seat Ford since 1938.
This is the Allegheny Steam Locomotive, 1941. Among the largest and most powerful steam locomotives ever built, it weighed 1.2 million pounds with its tender and could generate 7,500 horsepower. Greenfield Village, the outdoor living history museum section of the Henry Ford complex, was (along with the adjacent Henry Ford Museum) dedicated in 1929 and opened to the public in June 1933. It was the first outdoor museum of its type in the nation, and served as a model for subsequent outdoor museums. This is the Edison, a 4-4-0 built in 1875 at the Manchester Locomotive Works in Manchester, New Hampshire. It is still In active service. It was originally an 0-4-0, that was rebuilt into a 4-4-0 by Ford in 1932. Buggy rides around the village
The Wright brothers' bicycle shop and home, which were bought and moved by Henry Ford in 1937 from Dayton, Ohio. I'm walking down Washington Blvd.   Sir John Bennett's clock on the left, was a watch and jewelry store in London, England originally standing five stories high. Ford was especially attracted to the Gog and Magog figures, who strike the clock. Henry Ford, a watch enthusiast, purchased the building for his historical village in 1928. Village architect Edward Cutler reassembled the structure as a two story building making it compatible with other buildings in the Village. The Town Hall at Greenfield Village. Built in Greenfield Village in 1929, this town hall was patterned after New England town halls of the early 1800s. The Martha-Mary Chapel, with its architecture inspired by New England's colonial era churches, was built in Greenfield Village in 1929. This chapel was named after Henry Ford's mother, Mary Litogot Ford, and his mother-in-law, Martha Bench Bryant.
Luther Burbank Birthplace.   Luther Burbank (1849-1926) was an American plant breeder, naturalist, and author and was especially noted for his experiments with plants, fruits, and vegetables. He was born in this house, built around 1800 and originally located in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Although he attended local schools there, much of his knowledge about nature and plant life came from reading books at the public library. Cotswold Cottage is from the Cotswold Hills in southwest England. The Fords were attracted to the distinctive character of Cotswold buildings, which are characterized by the yellow-brown stone, tall gables, steeply pitched roofs, and stone ornamentation around windows and doors. Several decorative additions were made to the house in England, before dismantling and re-erecting it in Greenfield Village. Circa June, 1986   I go to a car show at Mile Square Park with Bob Whitely. Bob tells me how to tell this 1940 Ford from a 1939 model: "Wipers are at bottom (not the top), the grill has extra side grills and the headlights have different surrounds. There are also differences at the rear with the '40 having chevron style taillights"   knowing this kind of stuff vastly improves my street cred. 1932 Ford restored and heavily modified
A 1955 custom Chevrolet with Candy Apple paint job. Corvette Interior. From the little I can see, my guess is that this is a 1962 model, the last of the C1 series. This is a T Model Ford Hotrod. The Ford company probably didn't manufactures this car because all the parts are available to build your own. Supercharged engine and disk brakes. More T Model hotrods
Why doesn't America make cars like this any more? This is a 1958 Cadillac Series 62 Hardtop Coupe. Absolutely beautiful. During the immediate post-war period, Cadillac, under the direction of Harley Earl, produced some of the world's most attractive automobiles and pioneered the ultimate direction for American automobile styling over the next decade. The cars surpassed their competition not only visually but technologically as well, introducing a potent OHV V-8 in 1949, which was no doubt a factor in Motor Trend's decision to christen the 1949 Cadillac as their very first "Car of the Year". This is a 1940 Ford (I know these things now) Woody. Supercharged with disk brakes. This is Bob Whitely's 1957 Bel Air 2-door "Sport Coupe". The car has no post between the front and back window when the windows are lowered and the Bel Air was the top of the range. It was a crowd favourite whenever Bob drove it to a car show (called a Cruise Night). I was with Bob a couple of times when he drove this car and it always attracted crowds of people who wanted to talk with him about it. It was in peak condition in 1986 but by the early 2000's it had rusted away and was in bits.
A 1957 Ford Thunderbird. It was never meant to compete with the Corvette because the T'Bird was never a sports car. It was designed to appeal to a different market segment. This is almost the first Corvette model produced. In 1955 it had a straight six but in 1956 they put in the V8 it should have had from the start. A 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk. Golden Hawk sales were heavily hit by the late-1950s recession, and the model was discontinued after only selling 878 examples in 1958. The South Bend plant ceased automobile production on December 20, 1963, Back in 1986 calling women "girls" was falling rapidly out of favour. This is therefore a women's band.
Another Model T hot rod with a brass radiator and supercharging. An Offenhauser engine no less.   The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. the 270 cu in (4.4 L) was a DOHC naturally aspirated 4 cylinder racing engine with a 15:1 compression ratio. Look at the massive brakes. Circa June/july, 1986   This is La Jolla Beach. La Jolla (pronounced hoya) is a suburb of San Diego. Nearby is the Torrey Pines Golf course which hosts USPGA tournaments. We go there to see the sun setting in the ocean, a new experience for us.
I continue to take pictures as the sun sets. The sun sets slowly into the Pacific Ocean. The surfers are still out and, in many ways, Sydney and San Diego life styles are very similar. We're quite at home here. The sun also sets 7 hours later across the Pacific Ocean in Sydney but it sinks behind the Blue Mountains
Ian and Julie Smith join us and we take them to the waterfront for a look see. Circa June/July, 1986   We visit San Diego's Wild Animal Park with Ian and Julie Smith. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is an 1,800 acre zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is now called the San Diego Zoo Safari Park having changed its name in 2010. I recall that the park was desperately trying to restore the California Condor to its former glory At the time of our visit, the California condor is near extinction. It is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah (including the Grand Canyon area and Zion National Park), the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California in Mexico. A conservation plan put in place by the United States government led to the capture of all the remaining wild condors by 1987, with a total population of 27 individuals. These surviving birds were bred at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. Numbers rose through captive breeding, and beginning in 1991, condors were reintroduced into the wild. Since then, their population has grown, but the California condor remains one of the world's rarest bird species. In December 2020 there were 504 California condors living wild or in captivity. The condor is a significant bird to many Californian Native American groups and plays an important role in several of their traditional myths.
Ian and Julie Smith admire an Indian Elephant. Circa June/July, 1986   I'm on my way to Dayton for either more training or meetings of some kind. I fly out of a stop-over in Phoenix. I usually fly Delta to Covington, Kentucky, (Cincinnati's airport) rent a car and drive up I75 to Dayton. In 1986 Phoenix is a fast growing city. The city with the largest absolute increase in population between 2010 and 2020 is Phoenix, which grew by over 262,000 people. Phoenix is currently the fifth-largest city by population in the U.S.
A weekend in probably late June, 1986   Whatever I come for, I find myself with the weekend spare, so I decide to use the time to explore Kentucky. The first thing I visit is an old plantation and, unfortunately, I don't note note where it is. Wherever it is, it kept slaves kept in log cabins. I spent quite some time using Google and Wikipedia trying to find where this was but without any luck. Kentucky was one of the pro-slave states and fought to maintain its right to enslave people in the US Civil War. To me, I can't understand how anyone who purports to have Christian values can accommodate these contradictions in their belief systems. I'm also saying that our own treatment of Australia's indigenous people does not put me any position to criticise Americans. My old Kentucky home was a song composed by Stephen Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864) He was known also as "the father of American music" and was known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as "the most famous American songwriter of the nineteenth century". As Foster wrote it, “My Old Kentucky Home” is actually the lament of an enslaved person who has been forcibly separated from his family and his painful longing to return to the cabin with his wife and children. The Federal style mansion commissioned by John Rowan Sr. was completed in the year 1818 and was the centerpiece of a 1,300 acre plantation.
Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, lived here for five years on this Knob Hill farm. Part of the Lincoln farm. This is the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. It is a designated U.S. historic park preserving two separate farm sites where Abraham Lincoln was born and lived early in his childhood. He was born at the Sinking Spring site south of Hodgenville and remained there until the family moved to the Knob Creek Farm northeast of Hodgenville when he was two years old, living there until he was seven years of age. The park's visitor center is located at the Sinking Spring site. Abraham Lincoln's birth place has been moved into this air-conditioned building to preserve it for future generations. This is real. This is amazing. In Australia, we have never had a man as revered as this man was - other than cricket players of course.
This is an almost useless picture except for its importance. This is the Boundary Oak that was first identified as a specific boundary marker in the original 1805 survey of the farm. A landmark to countless early travelers, the Boundary Oak was located less than 150 yards from the cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809. It is estimated that the tree was 25 to 30 years old at the time of Lincoln's birth. I now visit the Patton Museum in Fort Knox Kentucky. The museum was originally founded as the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armour in 1948. The present building was originally constructed between 1972 and 1992, without cost to the U.S. Government, by the Cavalry-Armor Foundation. The museum was later renamed the General George Patton Museum of Leadership. The museum receives about 360,000 visitors/year. General George Patton George (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
I now visit the Jim Beam Stillhouse in Clermont, KY. Booker Noe was Jim Beam’s grandson, sixth generation distiller and this is his homestead. Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Kentucky by Beam Suntory. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have been involved in whiskey production for the company that produces the brand. The brand name became "Jim Beam" in 1943 in honor of James B. Beam, who rebuilt the business after Prohibition ended. The brand was purchased by Suntory Holdings in 2014. I'm forced to use a digital picture to show the American Stillhouse which is of no historical moment but sells lots of Whiskey. This is the bottle display inside the Jim Beam American Stillhouse. Clermont Ky is just to the south of Louisville; Its terrain is gently undulating, varying in elevation from 800 to 1,000 feet above sea level. This Pleasant scenery is opposite the Jim Beam Still house.
October, 1986   Beautiful coastal scenery along State Route 1. We're on our way to the Golden State Stunt Championships in Fresno, CA. My guess is that trees in this picture are a small clump of Monterey Cypress that is found naturally-growing only on the Central Coast of California. The natural distributional range of the species during modern times is confined to two small relic populations near Carmel, and at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and nearby Point Lobos. Historically during the peak of the last ice age, Monterey cypress would have likely comprised a much larger forest that extended much further north and south. We pass Hurst's Castle on the way. We have already done a tour of this place and we do not stop. It's near San Simeon about 250 miles north of LAX. We continue on SR1 towards Monterey
More coastline along State Route 1 Same spot with telephoto The sand is black along this part of the California coast but it gets to be a whiteish colour near Monterey. The Big Creek Bridge is a 589' open spandrel, concrete deck arch bridge located on the southern portion of the Big Sur coast of California, near Lucia. It was destroyed, as with many of the bridges along the route, by an earthquake in 2017.
The road was reopened on July 18, 2018, but is still subject to closure during heavy storms. Later, on January 29, 2021, the land under the road collapsed into the sea due to heavy storms near Rat Creek 15 miles (24 km) south of Big Sur Village. After 30 days of debris removal and only 56 days of construction, the highway was reopened on April 23, 2021. From Gamba Point, we look down on Gamba Point Beach. We're about 45 miles from Carmel. There is not a lot of tree life here; it's surprisingly rugged but very beautiful. At the beach at Carmel - Clint Eastwood is Mayor. We are impressed with the sand which is more like our own Australian beaches. In the distance is the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course.
As we enter Monterey, we see this marina. Fisherman's Wharf is a historic wharf in Monterey. It was once used as an active wholesale fish market into the 1960s, but the wharf eventually became a tourist attraction as commercial fishing tapered off in the area. Fisherman's Wharf is now lined with seafood restaurants ranging from casual, open-air clam bars, to formal indoor dining with views of the bay. Along with Cannery Row, Fisherman's Wharf is one of the few areas in Monterey that sells souvenirs, so the restaurants are interspersed with gift shops, jewelry stores, art galleries, and candy shops. Sea lions poop and sleep happily under Fisherman's wharf in Monterey.
October, 1986 at the Golden State Stunt Championships   Bob Whitely and Ted Fancher at Fresno. The Golden State Stunt Championships are held at a school grounds at Clovis, a suburb of Fresno. We fly at another spot at the school where there are no school children present. This is 6'8" Dino Mancinelli from Fresno posing with a 3 oz stunter. I come sixth and Ted Fancher wins. November 2, 1986   Bob Mutton, long time friend (I've known him since I was 18) and fellow NCR employee visits us and we show him a few highlights. He's on his way to Dayton.
San Diego from Balboa Park. What a beautiful woman. Sigh! And smart too. November 8, 1986   We visit La Jolla. This is the Children's Pool a bit south of where we are standing. Jenni takes pictures of the eared seals.
And on those rocks we see some California Sea Lions. The California sea lion is a coastal eared seal native to western North America and is one of six species of sea lion. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of California. California sea lions are sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females, and have a thicker neck, and protruding sagittal crest. The exploitation of California sea lions: "Extensive commercial killing of California sea lions for their blubber (for oil), hides and genitals was carried out in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although the species was subsequently afforded some protection, sea lions continued to be hunted until the latter half of the 20th century in certain areas of California and Mexico for sport, pet food, hides and other uses. Large numbers were also captured for display. The species was protected in the United States in 1972 by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the killing of California sea lions has been banned in Mexico and Canada since 1969 and 1970 respectively." This unlike Australia and NZ where they were hunted to near extinction in the 1800's. The wharf belonging to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is visible up the coast across the bay. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 and is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and Earth science research, public service, undergraduate and graduate training in the world. Hundreds of ocean and Earth scientists conduct research with the aid of oceanographic research vessels and shore based laboratories. Its Old Scripps Building is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The SIO is a division of the University of California San Diego (UCSD). This is La Jolla cove showing the steps leading down to the small beach. Further north is a large sand beach and to our south there are several smaller beaches as well.
These are luxury beachfront apartments at La Jolla Shores. They have a swimming pool, about twenty tennis courts and are built around a large green space behind and to the north. Prices seem to around $1,000,000 in 2022. This is Boomer Beach, a small protected beach to the south of us. A pleasant walkway is behind the beach with a park beyond that. No traffic here at least. The Coast Blvd is on the other side of the park. The California gull (Larus californicus) is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the herring gull (which is lighter in colour) but larger on average than the ring-billed gull (east coast), though it may overlap in size greatly with both. On my trip to Sydney earlier this year I could see the Sydney seagulls were different. Ours are called The silver gull and have red beaks and are grey/white; it is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull which also lives in Australia. The end of this segment