Clifford's Honey Farm on KI: Lisa a taste or two on Kangaroo Island - South Australia

One of the great compensations of being a beekeeper is that you get to explore many of the hidden places and tranquil spots where the bees go about their magic.

That's certainly the case for David Clifford of Clifford's Honey Farm on Kangaroo Island. We caught up with David as he was suited up in protective clothing tending his hives. The puffer's an essential tool of the apiarist's trade. The smoke soothes the bees, which are prone to get a little annoyed at David's tampering. After all, their life's work is all about filling the racks with glorious honey.

They travel staggering distances in search of nectar and pollen from canola fields, flowering mallee trees, stringy barks and sugar gums. But the story of these particular bees extends even further - in fact, half way across the world.

In 1884, Arthur Bonney, the Secretary of the South Australian beekeeper's association introduced the first ligurian honeybees to Kangaroo Island. They came from the region of Liguria in Italy. The following year KI was declared a bee sanctuary for this variety, which means these bees are the only pure strain of Ligurian bees left in the world.

The bees have adapted well to Kangaroo Island's Mediterranean climate and they've also taken to the Aussie bush.

"You get different flavoured honey from different areas," explained David. "You get a really strong flavoured honey from stringy bark, tea tree and the banksia.

"Some honey is even good for putting on sores and burns and things like that. So you can use honey to cure things."

But back at the Honey Farm shop, most use it to cure their hunger pangs. How about a serving of honey icecream? It's made to a secret recipe David's wife, Jenny keeps close to her chest.

"It's very popular. I hadn't made this ice cream before we opened up 12 years ago," said Jenny. "I came across a recipe in a honey cookbook. I now sell thousands of them."

There's a swarm of other honey-related product on sale at the shop too - from sugar gum honey to buckets of marvellous mallee goodness. It pours so easily and yet the bees have put in a staggering effort to create enough honey for just one 500-gram jar.

"They'd have to visit two million flowers and fly a hundred thousand kilometres," said David.

These amazing creatures put on a daily show in David's specially built perspex hive. It's all part of the Clifford's Honey Farm experience which includes regular tours and the retail outlet. It's located on Elsegood Road, Mac Gillivray and is open from 9am until five daily. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Clifford's Honey Farm
Elsegood Road
Mac Gillivray
Kangaroo Island
Open daily 9am to 5pm

Published 22nd October 2006