Heart of the Nation: Melbourne, 3000

YOU'D think bees would have a hard time gathering nectar and pollen in the big smoke.

Beekeeper

FROM the vantage point of a rooftop high above Melbourne's CBD, Mat Lumalasi looks down on a world of busy, busy people with places to go, things to do.

The industrious hum of the city - cars, sirens, trams, roadworks - rises up to him, where it meets a sweet, organic counterpoint: the sound of European honey bees leaving their hives to forage.

You'd think bees would have a hard time gathering nectar and pollen in the big smoke; in fact, with all the municipal gardens, the thousands of window-boxes and flowerbeds, they eat very well indeed. "They're thriving," says Lumalasi, 34, who left a well-paid job in IT two years ago to launch Melbourne City Rooftop Honey with his wife Vanessa.

What started as a "hobby project" has expanded fast: they now look after 73 hives on top of hotels, restaurants and apartment blocks all the way to the suburbs. They have 10 hives on the landmark Alfred Deakin Building in Federation Square; they even have one on a BMW dealership.

Each hive produces 30kg of honey a year, and has a unique terroir, says Lumalasi. "Bourke Street, for instance, is a dark, robust honey because those bees feed on blue gum in the Botanic Gardens. A couple of blocks away, Federation Square honey is totally different, with a big lemon streak running through it from some sort of native plant. Carlton North has leatherwood notes, and Alphington is golden and creamy."

The honey, he stresses, is a by-product of their endeavours; he and Vanessa, who wed last year, really want to spread the word about the importance of bees - a key pollinator - to our agricultural food supply. It's a good mission, but there's little money in it. "We've had to give up our 'wants', and live very basically," he says, "but we've never been happier."

Working in the blazing summer heat while dressed up like a shonky astronaut can be a challenge, too. Occasionally Lumalasi will cut corners. "I got stung quite badly on the foot the other day," he says. How did that happen? He replies sheepishly: "I was wearing thongs."