The ironic thing about it is while Janet is quite happy to visit her bees without any protective gear, Sharon is the opposite.
"I'm terrified of bees. If I see a bee, I'd be out of here. In my suit, I'm fine."
While the two friends found a great bee community in Whanganui, it's not so in Dannevirke.
They had hoped there would be a club close by but instead belong to the Hawke's Bay Bee Club, travelling to Hastings for meetings.
Sharon tried getting in touch with like-minded locals through an ad in the paper.
"[So] we could all get together once a month and chat and share information.
"I didn't get one call."
She says it's important to belong to a bee club, and not just because you have to be registered.
"That's how you keep up your knowledge."
Sharing information is just as important especially with the challenges facing the bee population.
One such challenge is the varroa mite, which has been in New Zealand for about 20 years.
Another is the tutu plant which, according to Hawke's Bay Bee Club president Brian Cowper, is toxic to humans.
The problem with this plant is what's known as the passion vine hopper, Brian says.
"It's an Australian insect that feeds off the sap of the tutu bush and exudes a honeydew. If the bees have nothing else to eat, they will feed off the honeydew and take it back in to the honey."
Honey that has too much of the toxin has to be destroyed as it can be deadly to humans.
Then there's the food.
One thing Sharon has noticed is the lack of flowers in town.
"What I found coming to Dannevirke that really shocked me, driving around the township, there's hardly any suitable bee food. People are growing shrubs for shelter."
The one thing Dannevirke does have against it in terms of food for bees is how windy it is.
Both Janet and Sharon say that how well a plant can grow depends on the soil as well as the temperature.
Plants like camellias, for instance. But they cannot be the hybrid ones.
"The bees can't get in there," Sharon says. "You have to have the old-fashioned ones. But people don't like them because they lose their petals quickly. The tight ones, they hold their shape and they look more beautiful in the garden."
Other plants, like escallonias, teucriums, flaxes, herbs, daisy shrubs and tree lucernes are also good sources of bee food.
But it's also important to look after bumblebees, says Sharon.
"The tree lucerne which grows around Dannevirke – you require a bumblebee to bite the end of it off so the bee can get inside. So all the pollinators work together."
Bees will travel up to 10km if they're desperate enough for food, although their normal range is about 3km.
Gardens don't have to get too elaborate.
Janet and Sharon advise to keep to the basics – as long as the plants produce what they need to keep them going, especially over winter.
More information on what plants and trees are suitable for the bees can be found at https://treesforbeesnz.org/.