Harsh shadows trail a stockman in the rugged Gascoyne River country as he guides a 400-pound [181-kilogram] bale of wool onto a truck bound for market.
Although Australia's economy no longer "rides the sheep's back" as it did a century ago, wool from the nation's 120 million sheep makes up 2.6 percent of the country's total exports.
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef—the largest structure on the planet built by living organisms—hosts a carnival of sea life. Read article excerpt and see photo gallery.
