If the photo wasn't taken in the Suez Canal or on the route back to London docks in 1914, from Australiaicon, then the photo was likely taken from somewhere around the UKicon. As far as I am aware my Grandfather didn't leave the UK again until after WW2.

The photo could have been taken anywhere along the route home. I suggested the Suez Canal because looking at the original image through a magnifying glass the sloping banks look "man-made", like what is seen on canals.

As an aside on the journey out to Australia in 1911 the voyage went round the cape, the long way round, and therefore my Grandfather only made one transit of the Suez Canal on the way back to the UK.