Fireside Chat With Andrew Daddo About The Lucky Country

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Australia.

Our home.

The Lucky Country.

And what a beautiful country it is.

One worthy of exploration, top to bottom.

If you are Australian you have no doubt heard of Andrew Daddo, the much-loved TV presenter of The Great Outdoors, Kids Say The Darndest Things and many other shows.

Well how lucky are we? We heard that Andrew Daddo’s new TV show, The Lucky Country, is premiering and grabbed the opportunity to sit down and interview the man himself.


1. Tell us about your first road trip growing up?

I don’t recall the first as lots morphed into one long one… we would drive from Melbourne to Yamba in Northern NSW.  We’d leave in the dark before dawn and arrive two afternoons later.  I still can’t eat egg and bacon pie!  Those trips are the source of such happiness and dinner table fodder when we all get together.

2. What are the highlights from the first road trip you took your own children on?

Can you call those first road trip moments highlights?  We stopped a lot for feeding, I remember.  Generally, I’m not a stopper, but a get there type.  It was fun, we talked a lot, had audio books and very rarely in car movies on the laptop, but the more we drove, the more we realised that the best bits were the talking.  Singing, car games, crapping on, it’s what good road trips are all about.

3. Did Spud (the family dog) or Spite (the chicken) come with you? How do your friends react to having a family pet chicken?

Spud, and her predecessor Flog have been on those long drives from Sydney to Melbourne and back.  Not the chicken, though.  Her name was Sprite, because she was white.  The black one was Coke, the orange one was Fanta – it’s the kind of thing that happens when you let the kids name the animals.  Why Spud?  She looks like a potato!


4. You have one of the most recognisable faces in Australia. What is the funniest thing a fan has ever asked you?

People are generally very nice and very generous. The most common thing people say is, ‘Boy you’re taller than I’d thought,’ or, ‘you look shorter on TV.’  

Andrew with Damien Leith - 1st Episode of The Lucky Country


5. You’ve starred in several travel shows across the years. What inspired your love for travel?

To be honest, I kind of fell into the travel genre, and fell for it in a major way.  It started with The Lonely Planet.  How good was that?

6. What was your most embarrassing or worst travel moment?

It was in India, I was sick for about a week and a half and lost about 8 kilos from both ends… horrible, but my girlfriend did think I looked better when I got home.

7. What has been your most memorable travel moment so far?

It’s too hard to choose, although riding across America and Australia on motorcycles will always be tough to beat. 

8. What is the new TV series, The Lucky Country? And how did it come about?

It’s a travel show that’s not meant to look like a travel show, I suppose.  It’s a road trip, a chance to explore a destination, but the person you going there with as well.  In a way it buys into that whole – what’s better, the journey or the destination?  Only with the Lucky Country, you get both, and I think that’s what’s so exciting about it.

9. Can we star in your next episode? ;)

Yes!

Abseiling at Mount York: 'Couldn't they have given us instructions before we stepped off the ledge?'

The Lucky Country premieres Saturday 4th July at 5:30pm (Sydney time) on Channel 7. Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth can watch at 5pm, Brisbane at 4:30pm.

It’s a four-part TV road trip discovering interesting people, fascinating places and unique events that make Australia the lucky country that it is.

"It’s not often we get the opportunity to experience the best parts of Australia with truly memorable Australians; lucky for us, this is one of them. All of the characters we’ve lined up for The Lucky Country have great stories to share, whether they be career, family or life’s odder moments. By coupling those with iconic Australian settings, we’ve managed to find something truly special in The Lucky Country."

Andrew Daddo

In each episode Andrew and a celebrity guest share a little part of Australia. The first kicks off with Andrew and singer Damien Leith heading to the Blue Moutnains for Ugg boots, segways, abseiling, UFO’s and Big Foot stories.

Subsequent episodes feature hypnotist Peter Powers in The Whitsundays and checking out The World’s Most Beautiful Scarecrows. Rob Carlton in Hunter Valley and Townsville local Adam Brand hugging wombats and competing in a pizza cook-off.

If you haven’t explored Australia yet, then this is a great taster to get you hooked for more.

Reader Comments...

"I respond to every comment by direct private email. I look forward to your feedback" -

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Karin Jul 3rd, 2015

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Mary Smith Apr 13th, 2020

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