Some people are content with a simple life, spending all their years living in the towns they were born.
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The familiar is often easy and comfortable.
Itzul Parra was living in Mexico, surrounded by an affectionate and loving family and running her own cosmetic company, doing what she loved.
There was no reason to leave the comfort when life was so sweet.
But an online romance reaching all the way across the Pacific Ocean to Australia blossomed when she met John Hill, a Shepparton man, making her yearn for something sweeter.
Itzul was quite active on Instagram, promoting her company’s bee-based products.
John was following her page and when she noticed he would watch all her stories, she followed his page back and discovered that he was a beekeeper like her father.
“One day, he responded to a story where I was in the video,” Itzul said.
“We started chatting and it quickly became evident there was a real connection between us.”
With travel limited, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the pair from meeting in person for some time, but after almost a year of communicating online, keeping the buzz alive, John was finally able to make the journey to Mexico when borders re-opened.
“He booked a ticket in April, 2022; as soon as he was able to,” Itzul said.
And delivering himself like a gift, he arrived on Itzul’s birthday, on May 3, 2022.
The pair had spoken on FaceTime many times, so they had seen the animated versions of each other; however, Itzul still wanted to do some reconnaissance in the airport before coming face to face with him for the first time.
“I had this idea to hide and watch him from afar for a little while,” she said.
“We were texting when he landed, so I knew he had arrived and he knew I was at the airport.”
John’s journey had taken 26 hours, from Melbourne, via Sydney, Dallas and Mexico City, before finally arriving at Itzul’s home ‘town’, Mexico’s second largest city: Guadalajara.
He stayed for a month, during which time Itzul fell pregnant and the pair had to make some decisions.
“My feelings were mixed,” Itzul said.
“There was fear and excitement about our pregnancy.”
Five months later, in October 2022, Itzul made her own long journey from Guadalajara to a new life with John in Australia.
They decided to settle in Australia rather than Mexico because John had a more innovative system set up here, compared to the “rustic” less-efficient system Itzul’s father ran in Mexico.
“My head was filled with anxiety,” Itzul said.
“But life is filled with challenges and obstacles, and when you’re an adult, you accept this.”
Itzul said her first impressions of Australia were that it was a beautiful country and “massive when it comes to land”.
“Being surrounded by nature helps calm my nervous system,” Itzul said.
“We were excited about our new life together, looking at the good side of things, following our shared dreams.
“We both love what we do, we love bees, we love honey.”
She said the downside of following your dreams — or your dream man — was that it was full of sacrifices.
“It’s easier to stay in your comfort zone and just get a job,” she said.
“To follow your dreams is harder but more rewarding.
“My sacrifice has taught me to be grateful for everything I have.”
In February, 2023, the couple was given another gift to be grateful for when their baby Ezael (meaning gift of God) was born.
He was a product of their love and the catalyst for his mother’s (and big sister 13-year-old Amenye’s) move across continents.
Babies, while the ultimate gift, require a lot of time and attention, so it’s understandable Itzul had to take a slight step back from long, hands-on hours in the business to nurture their growing family.
The environment-loving beekeepers once had 400 hives but currently keep about 200.
John works hard to monitor the hives, which are moved regularly to various positions in the Goulburn Valley.
“Locations are not always about making the most honey you can; they can also be about nurturing your bees,” Itzul said.
“It’s about helping keep them strong and healthy with the right nectars and pollens to give them the protein and strength they need.”
A good season is about three honey harvests a year, but as with all farming disciplines, several factors come into play.
“Beekeepers are very tuned in to nature, seasons, environmental patterns,” Itzul said.
“They look for the flowering natives for the best places to position their hives.”
Itzul said farming in general was non-stop work and farmers often got “paid peanuts for it”.
And with the sticky nature of the honey business, the work doesn’t stop there.
“It’s not just keeping bees and harvesting the honey — there’s bottling, labelling, marketing, selling at markets,” Itzul said.
John also pays an unusual tax for his work.
“I get stung on the daily,” he said.
“I don’t wear gloves because they’re heavy and they get sticky and it makes it hard to lift the boxes.”
Thankfully, he’s not allergic.
And despite the pain, bee sting therapy has been used in ancient medicine for centuries.
“People used to come to John and ask him for a cup of live bees so they could attempt to fix their ailments,” Itzul said.
“Nature is wise; we as humans need to reconnect.”
The couple, who own local honey company Te Amo Honey — which means “I love you, honey” and tells as much of a story about the couple’s feelings towards bees and honey as it does to each other — sells its honey and honey-based products at regular farmers’ markets in Nagambie and Echuca.
They also sell their products at cellar doors and farm-gate produce stores, with some locations regularly selling out to customers who visit specifically to buy their honey.
“They give us the motivation to carry on doing what we’re doing,” Itzul said.
The pair’s future dream is to open a tourist attraction somewhere in Victoria, a retreat of sorts, potentially including bee education, bee-themed accommodation, a honey-centred restaurant and a gift shop with bee and honey products.
In the meantime, it could take up to five years to process a permanent residency visa for both Itzul and her daughter Amenye, but the family will stick together keeping bees and looking forward.
“We are both happy and full of dreams,” Itzul said.
“I tell my family all the time: ‘There’s always a master plan, a reason why we’re all here.’
“It’s why John didn’t come to Mexico, even though it’s a magical country, too.”
To learn more of Itzul and John’s love story that they share regularly, you can follow te.amo.honey on Instagram.
Senior journalist