The Big Banana is a tourist attraction and

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

in the city of

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

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, Australia. The grounds of the park are set amongst a banana

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, featuring a large walk-through

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

. Built in 1964, it was one of Australia's first

Big Things ''Big Things'' was a large-scale steel sculpture exhibition series organized by the North Edmonton Sculpture Workshop for the Royal Alberta Museum's outdoor South Terrace.Gilbert Bouchard, "Come to Expect 'Big Things'", Edmonton Journal, July 1 ...

. Other attractions include a downhill

toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill o ...

ride,

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

rink, a

water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...

and the World of Bananas educational experience. Plantation tours are also available. On the evening of

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port Ja ...

2014, a disused scenic lookout attraction was destroyed by fire. In keeping with the plantation theme, banana-related products are shown or sold in the park which also has a souvenir shop and restaurant. In January 2014, during the peak tourist season the Big Banana received close to 150,000 visitors. The Big Banana has been a family owned business since it was open by Patrick Hughes in 1964. The original Big Banana has been copied by the Big Bananas at

Carnarvon, Western Australia Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately north of Perth, in Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo Re ...

. In 2011, ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' included the Big Banana in their list of the "Top 10 Pieces of Folly Architecture."

Attractions

Current

Along with the Big Banana which is 15m long, featuring the Racer 82m slide, the site includes

laser tag Laser tag is a recreational shooting sport where participants use infrared-emitting light guns to tag designated targets. Infrared-sensitive signaling devices are commonly worn by each player to register hits and are sometimes integrated wit ...

mini golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...

rink, a theatre providing an educational experience, and a

ride, a

and a reptile zoo.

Former

The park featured three scenic

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

sets driven on a two beam track. The monorail's track linked display buildings and transported visitors up the steep slope of the plantation. In 2005, a broken down set was being pushed by one of the two other sets to a maintenance shed for repairs when the coupling system failed and the broken down set ploughed into the lagoon within the park. The track passed by a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

that featured an animatronic

bunyip The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia ...

, which was shut off in 2005 due to budget constraints. Much of the track remains throughout the park and plantations while the two car sets that remained have been left unattended on tracks each near a disused buildings. File:Big Banana Train 1.jpg, alt=Big Banana Train Set, Carriages belonging to one of the two remaining train sets now out of service, next to an unused green house. File:Big Banana Train 2.png, alt=Big Banana Train Set, One of the two remaining train sets now out of service with a driver car and carriage belonging to the other set in the foreground.

Postage stamps

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

issued a set of 50c postage stamps in 2007 commemorating big things, including the Big Banana. The other big thing stamps were: * (Big) Golden Guitar at

Tamworth, New South Wales Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Peel River (New South Wales), Peel River within the local government area of the Tamworth Regional Council, it is the largest ...

Big Lobster The ''Big Lobster'' is a tourist attraction located in the town of Kingston SE, South Australia. Known locally as ''Larry the Lobster'', the sculpture of a spiny lobster stands 17 metres tall, and is regarded as one of the most impressive of Aust ...

Kingston SE Kingston SE (Kingston South East to distinguish it from Kingston-on-Murray) formerly Kingston is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's south-east coastline on the shores of Lacepede Bay. It is located about ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Big Merino The Big Merino is a tall concrete merino ram, located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. Nicknamed "Rambo" by locals, the Big Merino contains a gift shop on the ground floor and a wool display on the second floor. Visitors can climb to th ...

(sheep) at

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

Big Pineapple The Big Pineapple is a heritage-listed tourist attraction at Nambour Connection Road, Woombye, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Peddle Thorp and Harvey, Paul Luff, and Gary Smallcombe and Associates. It i ...

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

References

External links