Trip to Australia and New Zealand from Jan 31 through Feb 19, 2010. Work took me to both countries, but the last week was vacation in New Zealand.

1. Australia 1

2. An old mangrove tree in Brisbane

3. 3 An eel in a park in Brisbane

4. 4 One of the first stops was at a coworker’s farm near Moree, New South Wales. He took us out for a kangaroo shoot. Above is the hunting party (minus the photographer) as we were preparing to shoot some roos. These are typical farm trucks, or “utes.” from left: Andrew, my Australian co-worker Jeremy, my American co-worker and -traveler Broughton, the Australian engineer whose farm we are visiting

5. 5 While we were kangaroo hunting we saw this goanna, a carrion-eating lizard that is native to Australia. This one was about 4’ long.

6. 6 My first roo, with Broughton’s .243 at 150 yards (or was it meters?) Kangaroos are overpopulated here and are hunted to thin the population.

7. 7 I did work while I was there. This farmer is making “hills” (beds).

8. 8 I saw this road sign in a neighboring town, but I didn’t get to visit Texas, Queensland, Australia. The sign is pointing toward the state of Texas, too, but El Paso is 7,900 miles beyond Texas, QLD.

9. 9 Andrew’s anhydrous application rig on his farm in Queensland. The “bloke” behind the tractor is a dealer technician who is helping out.

10. 10 Andrew’s farmstead. His farm house resemblesfarm houses in central Texas built at the same time.

11. 11 Andrew’s herd of South American alpacas. He keeps them to guard his sheep, and he also shears them and sells the fleece.

12. 12 Andrew, Jeremy, and I took a few minutes to hike into a rain forest in the mountains of the Main Range.

13. 13 View from the Main Range overlooking the Fassifern Valley in Queensland

14. 14 Weekend on the beach at Gold Coast.My favorite souvenir from this trip was the tan I picked up here— those are hard to get in Iowa during February.

15. 15 A breaker at Gold Coast

16. 16 Sunset over the city of Perth and the Swan River

17. 17 A drive through the bush in Western Australia. Our driver seemed in a hurry so I didn’t ask to stop for better pics.

18. 18 A drive on a beach at Esperance—NOBODY IS HERE! I think SW Australia is a well-kept secret. Too bad this day was overcast.

19. 19 These people are watching a sea lion under the jetty.

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21. 21 Vista from a high point near Esperance

22. 22 Two guys fishing from the beach at Esperance. Does it really matter if they’re biting here?

23. 23 A cargo vessel for shipping live sheep…to somewhere.It’s built like an oversized chicken truck. This is something I had never seen before I stumbled across this one in the harbor at Perth.

24. New zealand 24

25. 25 Hay meadow near some foothills on my drive from Christchurch to the west coast

26. 26 Castle Hill. I haven’t seen the movies, but this looks like somewhere they might’ve filmed LOTR.Notice the people walking in the center of the pic. Castle Hill in NZ. I haven’t seen the movies, but it looks like somewhere they may have filmed LOTR.

27. 27 An overlook from Castle Hill. A couple more steps and it’s a quick trip straight down to the grass below.

28. 28 Kea birds live at high altitudes and eat bicycles.

29. 29 For reference, US interstates are limited to a max grade of 6%.

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32. 32 I rode in this chopper up to the Franz Josef glacier. Here it is boarding the previous group for their ride back down.

33. 33 My tour group with our guide, Johnny. He grew up on a potato farm in Delaware driving Deere tractors—a 4230, a 4020, and a 70.

34. 34 Crawling through an ice tunnel

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36. 36 Another group on the far side of the glacier

37. 37 The glacier melts throughout the summer, and this stream runs across the surface until it finds a hole or makes its own, then it runs beneath the ice.

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41. 41 Keep your eye on the cabin as you go to the next two slides…

42. 42 Still see it? (dead center)

43. 43 The cabin (arrow) is used by climbers, skiers, and researchers on their way up or down the mountain. Earlier in the day we could see that the mountain extends high above this day’s cloud line. There is a helicopter in this pic, too (circle).

44. 44 Bluffs on the beach at Okarito (west coast)The next six pics were taken during a hike on this bluff.

45. 45 View from the top of the bluff

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47. 47 Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealandas seen from a ridge 500’ above the beach

48. 48 A closer look at Mount Cook

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50. 50 A couple parked their old Land Cruiseron Okarito beach to watch the sun set.

51. 51 Some green mountains near the west coast of New Zealand

52. 52 I took this train from the west coast back to Christchurch.

53. 53 On the train Good photos are hard to come by when there’s a glare on the window and an Asian tourist with a zoom lens in front of you

54. 54 I didn’t get to take pics of every Deere machine I saw, but I’m glad I got this one from the train. Notice the tall “hedgerows” in the background—they border most “paddocks” in New Zealand.

55. 55 These machines are not the right colors, but made a good pic anyway.

56. 56 At Kaikoura, kayaking around some rocks with fur seals

57. 57 A New Zealand Fur Seal resting on the rocks

58. 58 That’s all!