Purple Flowers of Paterson's Curse in Full Bloom.

The next apiary I visited is owned by Grant and Vicki Lockwood, apiculturists living in Bathurst. Bathurst is located 300 kilometers west of Sidney, and it takes roughly 3 hours by car one way. It is world-famous as the hosting city for the mud racing. Mr. Lockwood is a branch manager of New South Wales Apiaries Association. On the way to Bathurst, I was taken by the views as they changed from the suburban area of big cities to more pastoral area. It was the scenery of Australia, no place else, where there is nothing to stop your view for 360 degrees but the graze land. It was just in the middle of the season for Paterson's curse plants, racing to show off their purple flowers. The entire graze land was a purple carpet of flowers, a very bright sight. In this part of Australia, there are no high mountains, only small hills which are all used as pastures, presenting a low and gentle skyline. The pastureland that continues on beyond the horizon is mostly covered with brownish color grass, which is a very distant notion for Japanese people, who are used to thinking that pastures are filled with green. It may be the kind that grows on relatively dry land, unlike Japan where humidity is very high. I heard that various kinds of plants grow in a very wide range, again unlike Japan. In Mr. Lockwood's apiary, for instance, dandelion flowers can be seen in September, Paterson's curse blooms in October and November, and thistles and alfalfa start their flowers in December and February, respectively.

1,500 to 2,000 Hives, a Mind-Boggling Apiary Size.

While apiculturists Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood showed me their apiary, Mr. Lockwood said "we are having a very productive year with Paterson's curse flowers, and we have had plenty of good-tasting honey made from them." The fresh honey that I tasted was mild and delicious. Having seen these flowers, I could really appreciate the honey from them. The husband and wife keep 1,500 to 2,000 hives of honeybees with the help of only three other beekeepers, and produce as much as 150 tons of honey a year, an amazing feat. Without much human intervention in this natural environment, where pastures are huge and flowers are in abundance, the land itself is the ideal, natural beekeeper for the honeybees. I found in Australia, with its gifts of nature, best-suited conditions for apiculture. I felt an urge to introduce to people of Japan the high-quality honey from Australia. The trip, with what it had shown me, brought me a step closer toward realizing a dream where my company collaborates with Australian apiculturists, offering transfer of our technology. Finally I want to add, my images of Australia were never the same after my visit.