List of New Zealand's big things

The big things of New Zealand are a loosely related set of large structures or sculptures.^[1] Related in concept to the big things of neighbouring Australia, New Zealand's sculptures are fewer in number.^[2]

List of big things

North Island

Name	Location	Built	Size	Notes	Image
Big Apple	Waitomo Caves			The logo of the Big Apple Cafe.
Big Bicycle	Taupo	2012	3 m (9.8 ft)	A 3m high bicycle erected in September 2012 to encourage road safety to cyclists
Big Bull	Bulls		4 m (13 ft)	A large Bull, signifying the importance of bulls to Bulls.[3]
Big Carrot	Ohakune	1984		Erected at the entrance to the town, recognising the importance of market gardening to the local economy.[4] The carrot was originally a fibreglass prop used in an ANZ Bank commercial that was acquired by the town and officially unveiled by the Prime Minister in 1984.
Big Gumboot	Taihape			A giant metal gumboot made from corrugated iron. Represents Taihape as the "Gumboot Capital of the World".[5]
Big Kiwifruit	Te Puke, Bay of Plenty			Part of the Kiwi360 complex.[6]
Big Kiwis	Otorohanga			Several corrugated-iron kiwis are located around the town, the self-proclaimed capital of Kiwiana.
Big Lemon and Paeroa Bottle	Paeroa, Thames Valley	1967	7 m (23 ft)	A large soft drink bottle; L&P or Lemon & Paeroa.[7]
Big Loaf	Manaia			The town is 'New Zealand's Bread Capital' - Yarrows Family Bakers, one of the last and largest remaining independently owned bakeries, is in Manaia.
Big Sheep and Sheepdog	Tirau	1994		Made from corrugated iron, the town's information centre is shaped like a giant dog, with 'the big sheep' housing a large wool outlet.[8]
Big Sheep Shearer	Te Kuiti			The town promotes itself as the sheep shearing capital of the world and is host to the annual New Zealand National Shearing Championships.
Big Trout	Taupo			A giant metal trout
Big Prawn	Taupo			A giant prawn, part of Huka Prawn Park	Giant Prawn at Huka Prawn Park

South Island

Name	Location	Built	Size	Notes	Image
Big Clock	Alexandra			A large clock on the hill overlooking the town.
Big Crayfish	Kaikoura			The logo of the Lobster Inn Motel.
Big Doughnut	Springfield	2007	3.5 m (11 ft)	A doughnut set up to promote The Simpsons Movie.[9]
The Five Clydesdales	Clinton[10]			A group of (slightly) larger-than-life-sized Clydesdale horses.
Big Fruit[11]	Cromwell	1989	13 m (43 ft)	An apricot, apple, pear and nectarine.
Big Paua (abalone) [12]	Riverton			Giant Paua Shell just past eastern bridge into the town.
Big Salmon[13]	Rakaia
Big Sandfly	Pukekura[14]			A sandfly mounted outside The Bushmans Centre.
Big Sausage	Tuatapere			A big sausage atop a fork, awarded to the town in September 2015 by the ZM radio show Fletch, Vaughan and Megan.[15]
Surfer Riding a Wave	Colac Bay			Big statue of surfer riding a wave	Big Surfer riding a wave Colac Bay
Big Trout and Big guitar	Gore			A brown trout.[16] Central Gore also has a giant guitar, honouring the town's status as the unofficial capital of country and western music in New Zealand.	The Big Guitar in Gore

See also

• Australia's big things
• List of World's Largest Roadside Attractions
• Novelty architecture

References

1. Cunningham, Matthew (17 May 2010). "Small towns have big things". Salient.
2. Phillips, Jock (14 November 2012). "Country towns - New developments, 1990 onward". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
3. "Bulls puns – Country towns – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
4. "Ohakune's big carrot turns twenty next month". Wanganui Chronicle. 21 September 2004. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
5. "World’s Biggest Carrot and Gumboot are in New Zealand". Vagabond Quest. 24 August 2010. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
6. "Another big reason to visit NZ". The Dominion Post. 1 November 2007. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
7. "The L and P Bottle". Positive Paeroa. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
8. "Signs of ingenuity". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 November 2005.
9. Eleven, Beck (2009-09-28). "D'oh! Springfield's giant Simpsons doughnut gets toasted". The Press. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
10. "Clydesdale statue – Horses – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
11. "State Highway 6". Cromwell District Promotion Group. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
12. "Big Paua : Image". Images.travelpod.com. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
13. "Town builds on its fishy reputation". One News. 27 June 2010.
14. Archived December 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
15. Nichol, Tess (18 September 2015). "Radio hosts unveil big sausage in Tuatapere". New Zealand Herald.
16. "Gore Town Trout Sculpture With Welcome Sign Southland New Zealand". New Zealand Pictures.

External links

• "NZ's big statues and signs" – photographs of ten Big Things.