Tinto, I’m afraid Iain’s neck is still safe so you can put your axe back in the shed.
Among the badges in my previous post I also included a NZ Expeditionary collar badge and an Onward collar badge.
I believe the photo of Sapper Astley does show enough detail around the bottom scroll area, and that his collar badge conforms more to the Onward collar badge than the NZ Expeditionary collar badge.
It is also worth considering that the “NZ Expeditionary Force badges” were typically worn post 33rd Reinforcements, and they were really just another reinforcement badge that was discarded in England.
IMO, I believe the previous photo of Sapper Eric Henry Astley was taken in London shortly after Astley enlisted with the British Section of the NZEF in October 1914. (Transferred to the New Zealand Engineers on the 28th December 1914)
Eric Astley died of wounds on Gallipoli on the 23rd June 1915, so the badges he is wearing could only be NZ Onward badges.