John and Judy Dobson operate Beeline Limited from Kereru in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Kereru is a small farming district 60 km's southwest from Napier/Hastings on the East Coast of the North Island at an altitude of 400 metres and on the North Eastern slopes of the Whakarara mountain range. The business has operated successfully for 37 years producing queen cells, queen bees, nucleus colonies, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis for sale.  Carricell and Queen Cell incubating equipment has been and still is a large part of our work. 

 

However, change is inevitable, so four years ago the supply of bees to NZ customers has been passed on to the younger generation.  Kereru Queen Bees Ltd was established by our 3 daughters & their husbands to follow on in our footsteps.  A huge thank you goes to all our NZ customers for supporting the new business & helping it to succeed.

 

Carricell & Queen Cell Incubation Equipment has been produced and supplied by us for a number of years and will continue for a few more years yet, until such time as we arrange for someone else to take over the manufacturing.

 

Another side to the business is the operation of four school buses servicing two rural schools in the area. The current contracts are in their thirteenth year & will finish at the end of 2021.

 

As you can see, we are slowly reducing our workload as we get older, but still appear to be very busy…  We have travelled nearly 50,000 kilometres in our campervan which we purchased new in 2015, so next year, without the school buses to keep us busy, we hope to travel more in NZ using our e-bikes, kayaks & motorcycles etc.

 

Judy is a keen gardener, tree planter & motorcyclist, who looks after me and drives a school bus occasionally. John enjoys motorcycling, inventing, organising holidays, and helping Judy. The seven children in our blended family range from age thirty five through to forty four.  John has eight grandchildren & Judy has five, with two great grandsons.