Short Beaked Echidna

Location: Karatta, Australia
Address:  Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, South Coast Road
Date: May 2012
Website:  www.hansonbay.com.au

  Most people are aware that Australia is home to some of the most unusual and unique animals on the planet.  When we visited Kangaroo Island we had a private encounter with a monotreme.  We had come to the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to see their resident koalas, but as we drove up their driveway we noticed a little brown creature shuffling across the field.  We parked the car and headed across the field for a closer look.

 To our delight it was an echidna digging in the grass.  In Greek mythology, Echidna was half woman and half snake.  Echidnas are mammals yet they lay eggs like a reptile so this name is fitting.  The proper word for an egg laying mammal is montreme.  There are only 2 montremes, the echidna and the platypus.  There are four types of echidna, but our encounter was with a short beaked echidna.

  The echidna continued to go about its business and paid us no mind.  The echidna is similar to an anteater because it digs in the ground and sticks its beak into the hole and then uses its tongue to slurp up ants and other insects.

  The echidna also has spines covering its back much like a porcupine.  If threatened it will curl up into a ball like a hedgehog to protect itself.  We don't believe these spines are designed to stick into an attacker like a porcupine's quills but we think it would still be a mistake to mess with them.

   We observed the echidna while it enjoyed its lunch.  It is yet another Australian creature that seems to be made up of several different animals.  While Australia is home to some of the deadliest animals on earth, it also has many, like our little spiny friend, that are some of the cutest.  Speaking of cute Australian animals, we had to get going as there were trees full of koalas waiting for us on the other side of the sanctuary.

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Map of Our World
Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (Short Beaked Echidna)

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Post # 118

Bueller Residence

Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Address: 4160 Country Club Drive
Date: Feb 2014

  Can you guess who's house this is?  Anyone? Anyone? It is from a John Hughes film.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? It is from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   This classic movie turns 30 years old this month and is one of our all-time favourites.  While driving from Los Angeles to San Diego we took a slight detour in order to visit the Bueller residence from the film.  The movie takes place in Chicago, Illinois and the majority of it was filmed there.  The fictional Bueller home is also meant to be located in Chicago.  However, when Ferris (Matthew Broderick) runs home, he starts off on a street north of Chicago but ends up here in Long Beach, California.
  The most memorable scene filmed at this home was when Mr. Rooney goes to the house looking for Ferris in order to prove he skipped school.  Ferris has rigged the doorbell and intercom so that he appears to be answering.  Mr. Rooney figures this out and after struggling with a garden hose and a dog around the side of the house he eventually makes his way inside.  To his surprise he encounters Ferris' sister Jeannie (Jennifer Grey) and is knocked cold by a one-two-three karate kick.
  We have come to understand that they filmed both inside this home as well as the obvious exteriors.  The Bueller family never actually lived here and some real people call this place home.  We were happy just to view the home from across the road and see where some of the action took place.  The horseshoe driveway is where Mr. Rooney happily accepts some flowers for Ferris from The English Dept. and the curbside is where he parks his car in front of a fire hydrant.  Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a movie that is enjoyable on so many levels that we never grow tired of it and visiting this home will make the next time that we watch it even more special.
Save Ferris! Oh Yeah!
  

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Map of Our World
Bueller Residence

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Post # 117

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Location: Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Address: 2822 Eglinton Ave. E
Date: March 2015
Website: www.barenakedladies.com

   In 1991, The Barenaked Ladies recorded a wonderful cover version of Bruce Cockburn's Lovers in a Dangerous Time.  The music video shows the band in the back of a truck driving all over Scarborough and then holding a record signing.  We thought it would be fun to visit some of the locations seen in the video.

  The video opens with some random shots of Scarborough.  The first of these is the Faith Baptist Church (pictured at the top of this post) on Lawrence Ave. East which is wedged in between two apartment buildings.  One interesting thing we noticed is that the church has a steeple in the video, but when we took our pictures the steeple is now missing.  We are not sure how the church came to be "de-steepled".
 

Another shot is of Club Bingo further west on Lawrence Ave. East near Brimley Road.  This bingo hall has now become a Top Food Fresh Mart.

  The lyrics begin with Barenaked Lady, Ed Robertson, singing on the back of a pick-up truck that is driving through the parking lot of Eastown Centre.  Eastown Centre is not a typo of East Town Centre but is really the plaza's name.  The truck drives along headed towards the dollar store (below) which used to be a Woolworths.

 
  Next the Ladies are on the opposite side of Lawrence Ave in Knob Hill Plaza and headed east again.  You can see the Opticians and a teak furniture store behind them in the video.  The Opticians was still there, but the furniture store and old signage is slowly being consumed by various small businesses.  You can only see the LLERY left of what we believe once read TEAK GALLERY.

  The Barenaked Ladies drive along several Scarborough residential streets and even drive through a street hockey game. "Car!"  There are also some scenes where two girls are running  from their apartment and through a hydro field.  Scarborough has a large hydro field corridor that cuts diagonally through the entire district.  We are not sure exactly where the girls run into the street as the Barenaked Ladies pick-up drives past.  We took our photo below where Brimorton Road crosses the hydro corridor.  This is right across from Churchill Heights Public School where Ed Robertson and Steven Page attended school.

  If you follow Brimorton Drive westward you will get to the corner where it intersects with Markham Road.  Here you will find The Real McCoy restaurant which has been in business at this location for almost 50 years.  The Barenaked Ladies drove their pickup through this plaza and we can only assume that they also enjoyed a few burgers here as well.  The Ladies are also seen playing their instruments near the very eastern end of Lawrence Ave. East where it becomes Rouge Beach.  They are on a hill near Ridgewood Road and the camera turns to show the train tracks running along the edge of Lake Ontario.

 

  The video ends with the Barenaked Ladies holding a record signing at an A&A record store.  This store was located in a field between Trudelle Street and Eglinton Ave. East.  It used to sit all alone in the middle of that field.  It is now an automotive repair centre and has residential houses built beside it.  The last time we visited, the field was being torn up to make way for a French school.

  The crowds rush into the record store and across the road behind them you can see the blue Speedy Muffler shop which still stands today.

  The crowds rush in and head to the Rap Dance section of the store.  Only the two girls who had been running throughout the video stop to ask the Ladies for autographs.  The video ends with an impromptu performance in the field next to the store.  The Barenaked Ladies had their first hit with Lovers in a Dangerous Time and they would go on to greater success.  This video is a nice little time capsule and homage to their Scarborough beginnings.

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Map of Our World
Eastown Centre , Knob Hill Plaza , A&A Records Scarborough
Scarborough Hydro Corridor , Faith Reformed Baptist Church
Club Bingo , The Real McCoy
Rouge Beach

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Post # 116