Any New Zealand Beeks here?

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pnkemp

House Bee
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
112
Reaction score
51
Location
Gloucester, Glos
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
Me and my better half are considering moving a short distance from Gloucestershire to New Zealand in the next year, COVID and visas permitting.

Any NZ beeks on here who I could tap for info on the hobby down there? Only just finished my first season here so I'm not set in my ways (and don't have too much kit or colonies to leave behind). I know it's all Langstroth (fine by me) but a gentle Google showed a lot of wood and not much poly and I wasn't able to find much on any regulations and so on.

If you are an NZ beek please DM me if you're happy to be bothered with questions on occasion.

Thanks in Advance

Cotswold.
 
There’s a NZ beekeeping forum😉
 
Me and my better half are considering moving a short distance from Gloucestershire to New Zealand in the next year, COVID and visas permitting.

Any NZ beeks on here who I could tap for info on the hobby down there? Only just finished my first season here so I'm not set in my ways (and don't have too much kit or colonies to leave behind). I know it's all Langstroth (fine by me) but a gentle Google showed a lot of wood and not much poly and I wasn't able to find much on any regulations and so on.

If you are an NZ beek please DM me if you're happy to be bothered with questions on occasion.

Thanks in Advance

Cotswold.
There is one bloke on here, "ladaok", who is up in the Bay of Plenty but he posts rarely. I'm across the Tasman but I know beekeeping is really big in NZ. New Zealanders have the highest consumption of honey per capita in the world and there are lots of beeks there. If you look at the Airbourne honey website there is all sorts of fascinating info there. It's a long country and if you are up aroud Auckland it is sort of sub-tropical but down around Dunedin, it is much cooler. I'm about the same latitude as Christchurch. Like here, (and the UK), the rain falls on the West Coast but not so much on the East. Milford Sound for instance gets nearly 7000mm of rain, but Christchurch only around 600mm. Here we get 3000mm on the West Coast and 600mm in the South East. I think England is the same when you go from the upper North West down to London in the South East. It's a beautiful country with taller mountains then here, but they don't have the amazing giant trees like we do. We don't get earthquakes like them either!
 
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Me and my better half are considering moving a short distance from Gloucestershire to New Zealand in the next year, COVID and visas permitting.

Cotswold.

One heads up...Don’t take anything bee related with you that isn’t brand new. Used bee suits, veils, gloves, or hive tools aren’t permitted. Nor can you take a jar of honey with you. They will seize them. If you get caught trying it’s a big, on the spot fine.
 
One heads up...Don’t take anything bee related with you that isn’t brand new. Used bee suits, veils, gloves, or hive tools aren’t permitted. Nor can you take a jar of honey with you. They will seize them. If you get caught trying it’s a big, on the spot fine.

Sound advice. GBKA used to have a bee auction before this pandemic might be best to move your kit on at the auction if they're having one this year. Check their website for details.

I had the chance to move there and didn't take it up. One of my life's greatest regrets.
 
Me and my better half are considering moving a short distance from Gloucestershire to New Zealand in the next year, COVID and visas permitting.
Cotswold.

Lucky you! Where are you going to settle?

In 2000 I was lucky enough to arrange a 6-month job-swap with my opposite number in the hospital in Timaru, a smallish town on the east coast of South Island half way between Christchurch and Dunedin. Swapped jobs, houses, cars, but not wives.

For beekeepers Timaru's claim to fame is that's where Cloake of split-board fame lived and kept bees, though I didn't know that at the time. Folk were very welcoming.

SWMBO and I had a truly fabulous time. We seriously thought of enquiring about staying but elderly parents etc back in Blighty decided us against.

Enjoy!
 
I worked a season on a bee farm out in the Bay of Plenty and East Cape, lovely country, great for beekeeping and trout fishing.
 
Lucky you! Where are you going to settle?

In 2000 I was lucky enough to arrange a 6-month job-swap with my opposite number in the hospital in Timaru, a smallish town on the east coast of South Island half way between Christchurch and Dunedin. Swapped jobs, houses, cars, but not wives.

For beekeepers Timaru's claim to fame is that's where Cloake of split-board fame lived and kept bees, though I didn't know that at the time. Folk were very welcoming.

SWMBO and I had a truly fabulous time. We seriously thought of enquiring about staying but elderly parents etc back in Blighty decided us against.

Enjoy!

Me and the Wife went on a month long holiday before we married a couple of years ago and loved it. We'd go North Island as that's where the work would be for me (cyber security type), probably close to Wellington or Auckland. A friend settled in Cambridge a couple of years back and it's heavenly.
 
One heads up...Don’t take anything bee related with you that isn’t brand new. Used bee suits, veils, gloves, or hive tools aren’t permitted. Nor can you take a jar of honey with you. They will seize them. If you get caught trying it’s a big, on the spot fine.
Thanks for that. I had thought to just take out my bee suit frankly as everything else is cheap enough to bin. But if I can't, I can't. Cost of a new suit not much compared to moving 12000 miles.
 
Me and my better half are considering moving a short distance from Gloucestershire to New Zealand in the next year, COVID and visas permitting.

Any NZ beeks on here who I could tap for info on the hobby down there? Only just finished my first season here so I'm not set in my ways (and don't have too much kit or colonies to leave behind). I know it's all Langstroth (fine by me) but a gentle Google showed a lot of wood and not much poly and I wasn't able to find much on any regulations and so on.

If you are an NZ beek please DM me if you're happy to be bothered with questions on occasion.

Thanks in Advance

Cotswold.
You could take a look a Trev's Bees YouTube channel, made in NZ, to get some pointers.
https://www.youtube.com/c/TrevorGillbanksTrevsBees/videos
 
Oh didn’t I catch some nice rainbows up near Rotorua. All catch and release. Missed a huge brown
Yup, the aptly named "trout pools" on the Kaituna river were a short drive from where I was staying, once the night moves to kiwi fruit orchards were done I spent many an evening catching beautiful trout there.
 
NZ beek based in the UK, so not much help. Wellington itself wouldn't be great, but 50 or 60 mile up the coast is OK and commutable.
Around Auckland you are possibly more liable to run into territory wars.
 
NZ beek based in the UK, so not much help. Wellington itself wouldn't be great, but 50 or 60 mile up the coast is OK and commutable.
Around Auckland you are possibly more liable to run into territory wars.

I know a well connected beekeeper in Wellington. He and his wife have done so much for beekeeper education in NZ. I can pm you his contact information
 
Auckland Beekeepers Club . Can I help? I am the Past President of the ABC and have been a hobby beekeeper in Auckland for the past 12 years.
As said earlier, you cannot bring any bee related equipment with you. See either Ceracell Beekeeping or Ecrotek Beekeeping for prices on equipment. Although I use an inexpensive white boiler/coverall suit and a veil and not the fancy specialized suit with all the zippers. If I can be of assistance, please contact me, Regards
Martin
 
Sound advice. GBKA used to have a bee auction before this pandemic might be best to move your kit on at the auction if they're having one this year. Check their website for details.

I had the chance to move there and didn't take it up. One of my life's greatest regrets.
ditto!!
 
Auckland Beekeepers Club . Can I help? I am the Past President of the ABC and have been a hobby beekeeper in Auckland for the past 12 years.
As said earlier, you cannot bring any bee related equipment with you. See either Ceracell Beekeeping or Ecrotek Beekeeping for prices on equipment. Although I use an inexpensive white boiler/coverall suit and a veil and not the fancy specialized suit with all the zippers. If I can be of assistance, please contact me, Regards
Martin
Thanks Martin, I probably will drop you a line once I'm more certain of when I'll be going and where I'll end up. The websites handy for working out costs. :)
 

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