Photo essay: The SmartShepherd startup adventure

As the old song goes, I've been everywhere man.

Or at least it seems that way. Here are some random photos from my phone history with something of a background to each one. Warning: image heavy and long-winded. Also in no particular order.

In between the photos was a lot of hard work, software development on the road, collaring animals, meeting people, talking about sheep. Getting SmartShepherd off the ground was a whirlwind.

Google Maps timeline

Shenzhen, Hong Kong, San Francisco (I think the LA dot was me sleeping in the airport), a large chunk of New Zealand and all the sheep parts of Australia. Except for Cairns where there are no sheep, but there was a startup competition.

Griffith, NSW: A Fairey Firefly

On the way to an event in Hay, NSW. The closest airport to Hay is Griffith. Ordinarily I would drive down there although from my home base in Armidale it's 920km. So I flew once and regretted it largely due to the cost and the hassle of taking equipment on the plane. What the Fairey Firefly is doing on a post in Griffith is beyond me, it seems a little random to have a Navy plane in the middle of NSW.

The dog on the tuckerbox, five miles from Gundagai

Reading the plaque, it seems the original story came from a dog that did something far worse than sit on the tuckerbox, but it rhymes with that.

Shenzhen

High speed train

Not going to lie, when the displayed speed in that thing said it was going over 270km/h I freaked out a little.

The beautiful beach north of Shenzhen

This place should be a pile of luxury apartments, China doesn't seem to do "beach holiday" in the same way that Australians do, there was a bit of faded glory in the form of some small shops here but it really felt like it wasn't a big destination spot, which given the untouched beauty of it is puzzling. Water was lovely and the body surfing sublime.

Shenzhen from the KK100 tower

I can see my house from here. The border between Hong Kong (new territories) can be clearly seen running along the Shenzhen river. There is a truly impressive fence there.

Crazy boat in Shenzhen

Like the plane in Griffith, in Shenzhen is a land-locked boat that functions as a kind of bar/restaurant thing. Puzzling but fun.

Lake Tekapo New Zealand

One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The colour of the water has to be seen to be believed, even though that photo is nice, it doesn't really capture the overwhelming blue.

Somewhere in The Waikato, New Zealand

The glories and glamour of international travel. I was supposed to fly directly to Napier on this particular trip, but the weather was so bad they cancelled the connecting flight. We were piled onto a bus. Naively I asked how long the bus trip was going to be only to be met by that friendly laughter that New Zealanders seem to reserve for stupid Australians. Like you are a pet or something. Anyway, at a "natural break" stop somewhere in the Waikato district I snuck out for a relaxing beverage. Only to get a little carried away by the friendly locals and had to be hauled out of there by the bus driver.

Rotorua, New Zealand

Mist enshrouded, idyllic village? Or incredibly dangerous, volcanic hotspot where steam comes up out of the road drains and the whole place smells like a morning-after fart. You decide.

Deniliquin NSW: Ute folk art

A "ute" (short for Utility) is kind of a small truck if you're not from Australia (although in South Africa they call them "bakkies"). Deniliquin is home to the yearly "Ute Muster" where ute owners from all over Australia converge on one spot to make merry. The folk art was truly impressive, a vaguely shaped like a Holden FB

The SmartShepherd Ute

A 2010 Nissan D22 single cab, two wheel drive, diesel work horse. Purchased because it was cheap and had only done 22,000km. Now over 100,000km in a few short years. Easily the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned, economical to a fault, not the most comfortable thing (has a bench seat!) but functions as a mobile office during the long-haul trips from Armidale to far flung places around Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Queensland. It's too far to drive to Western Australia even for me.

Flying home

Shot from the seat near the wing of a De Havilland Dash 8, flying back to Armidale. I think this is one of the very few times that what I saw out the window looked like the picture the camera captured.