This Big Thing is causing quite a buzz! The Queen Bee – a mesmerising pastiche of scrap metal and surrealism – can be found a short flight north of the riverside village of Huonville.

‘Queenie’ is a bee-spoke creation of the un-bee-lievably talented Mick Johnson, and was installed outside The Honey Pot in November of 2019. She’s unmistakably handmade, her lavishly-decorated thorax and rusted metal legs pieced together with thoughtful, almost decadent, care.

And what about her carved wooden head? It’s simply bee-vine!

Yes, with her bulging eyes and intricately-detailed forewings – set at a roguish tilt to suggest she may take flight at any moment – Queenie’s no bee-grade roadside attraction.

At one-and-a-half metres from arousing antennae to sultry stinger, Queenie isn’t as large as the nearby Big Axe or Big Garden Fork, but she’s much larger than an actual insect, so definitely bee-longs on this website.

Alright, that’s enough bee puns for one entry. Big Things are serious bee-siness, after all!

Don’t Worry, Bee Happy

The Honey Pot is a hive of activity, and offers a fine range of lollies, jams, clothing and, of course, jars full of sticky yellow stuff – which is all produced in Tassie. The prices are quite reasonable, so you won’t have to spend much honey to get something special.

My apolo-bees for that pun – I promise it was the last one!

The locals, not surprisingly, think the shop – and the black-and-gold Big out front – are the bee’s knees. And so did the Land of the Bigs crew when we rocked up in our Bee-MW (yes, environmentalists, we made sure it was an electronic bee-hicle).

“Bee prepared, Bee-gella… oops, I mean Bigella,” I giggled, as we stepped out of the car, “for something bee-utiful.”
“Oh, bee-have yourself, Bee-gs… oops, I mean Bigs,” Bigella retorted. “But I must admit, she’s quite bee-guiling.”

Framed by the snow-kissed mountains of the Huon Valley, Queenie is a dream to take a photo with. She delights from a distance, but it’s only after descending upon the sculpture that the true extent of her majesty becomes apparent.

Each shallow dent, each scrape in her paint, tells the tale not only of her creation but, in turn, of the robust history of Tasmanian honey.

Of course, I didn’t tell Bigella that The Queen Bee and moi have a history together. That’s right – teehee! – we once matched on Bumble!