Hamish and Andy's Caravan of courage in Far North goes on air
Daring duo: Andy Lee wears a honey bee beard and suit at the Honey House Kuranda with Hamish Blake looking on.
DON'T try this at home is the tagline on at least one of Hamish and Andy's dastardly deeds when the north Queensland leg of their Caravan of Courage tour airs on Sunday.
Think 6000 honey bees on your face (to make a beard) and body for 45 minutes while you try to stay still and calm and show not an ounce of fear in case they sting, and you'll have an idea of what Andy Lee went through in Kuranda in early October in what might otherwise have been a horror movie audition.
"He was very brave," said Tricia Green, the owner of Honey House Kuranda, where the segment was filmed.
"They were joking around when they were looking at the hive but when it got down to business they were quiet."
"Andy was a bit scared and I was talking to him about being calm because the bees can detect your pheromones. We had a signal in case he started to freak out, so there was an escape clause."
Andy managed to survive with just one bee sting to his elbow, but no thanks to Hamish Blake, who kept trying to make him laugh.
"The big thing was when we told Andy he was the first ever to have a bee beard," Ms Green said. "He didn't know we hadn't done it before."
Honey House had planned a bee beard competition at the Kuranda Day Festival on October 21, but the bee-keeper who taught them how to create bee beards safely became sick, and the event was cancelled.
The bees are specially bred so they behave in a certain manner and Ms Green said it's a trade secret.
Hamish and Andy's adventure shown on two 90-minute specials on WIN (the second airs this Sunday) is aimed at comparing Australia and New Zealand according to their best "cultural experiences".
In the Far North the duo have been to Cooktown, where they have been rodeo clowns and re-enacted Captain Cook's first landing, to Tully, where they did cane crushing (and made a human lamington) and attempted banana farming, and to Kuranda, where they survived a bee beard.
"Between the raw beauty of the New Zealand countryside, the untouched grandeur of the Australian desert and the unthinkable depths of Hamish's stomach, this is one of the most memorable trips we've been on yet," Andy said.
Other experiences on the show have been the world's steepest street, a nude rugby club, sheep racing and a very troublesome homemade hovercraft.
Watch Hamish and Andy's Caravan of Courage on Sunday at 6.30pm on WIN. To learn more about Honey House Kuranda visit honeyhousekuranda.com
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