Crud, I didn't see the local posts thrown up later. Nonetheless, I went to Perth (spent a lot of time at Kings park, beautiful!, and ate at Little Creatures brewery), Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Townsville ending up in Auckland, NZ. I bought a bunch of varietal Australian and NZ honeys that I am now enjoying. The traveling was all business (non-beekeeping) but I had a great time with great people, food and beverages (XXXX Bitter served on wood at the Breakfast Creek Hotel, ... absolutely awesome stuff) I was dumbfounded at what I saw Manuka going for going for in NZ. $164 for just over 2 pounds.
Catching flack for my $12 per 2# seems absolutely laughable.