q
The big things of New Zealand are large novelty statues located in many small towns across the country which typically relate to the town and its identity. [1] Examples include the Taihape gumboot, in a town which has an annual gumboot-throwing contest; the large L&P bottle in Paeroa, the town where the drink originated, and the Big Sheep Shearer in Te Kūiti, where the national sheep-shearing competitions are held. A similar tradition is found in Australia. [2]
Name | Location | Built | Size | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Big Apple | Waitomo Caves | 7.5 m (25 ft) | The logo of the Big Apple Cafe. | ||
Giant Bikes | Taupō and Tūrangi | 2012 | 3 m (9.8 ft) | Two giant bicycles to promote the region as a cycling destination and alert vehicles to the shared road policy [3] | |
Big Bull | Bulls | 4 m (13 ft) | A large Bull, signifying the importance of bulls to Bulls. [4] | ||
Big Carrot | Ohakune | 1984 | 7.5 m (25 ft) | This big carrot is at the entrance to the town Ohakune, recognising the importance of market gardening to the local economy. [5] 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. | |
Mega Cow | Morrinsville | 2017 | 6.5 m | A large cow, to acknowledge the area's thriving dairy farming industry. | |
Big Dairy Whip | Tatuanui | A giant can of Tatua Dairy Whip at the site of the Tatua Dairy Company factory. | |||
Big Gumboot | Taihape | 2000 | A giant metal gumboot made from corrugated iron. Represents Taihape as the "Gumboot Capital of the World". [6] | ||
Jandal On The Mandel [7] | Between Kopu and Thames. | A giant jandal, alongside the Hauraki Rail Trail, on the Coromandel Peninsula. By artist Ricks Terstappen. | |||
Big Kiwi | Eketāhuna | Big Kiwi; relocated in 2016. | |||
Big Kiwifruit | Te Puke, Bay of Plenty | Part of the Kiwi360 complex. [8] | |||
Big Kiwis | Ōtorohanga | Several corrugated-iron kiwis are located around the town, the self-proclaimed capital of Kiwiana. | |||
Big Kowhai | Napier | 2014 | 4 m (13 ft) | "The Gold of the Kowhai" is a bronze gilded sculpture by artist Paul Dibble [9] | |
Big Lemon & Paeroa bottle | Paeroa, Thames Valley | 1967 | 7 m (23 ft) | A large soft drink bottle; L&P or Lemon & Paeroa. [10] | |
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. | |||
Giant Oystercatcher | Kaiaua | 23 January 2005 [11] | 3.5 m | A large oystercatcher, to represent the shorebirds of the Seabird Coast. | |
Big Parsnip, also known as Panorama Parsnip | Ohakune | 2017 [12] | The sixth vegetable added to the Ohakune Carrot Adventure Park. [12] | ||
Big Prawn | Taupō | A giant prawn, part of Huka Prawn Park | |||
Quasi (Big Hand) | Christchurch then Wellington | 2016 | Located in Christchurch (2016–2019) and then Wellington (2019–2024), then Australia. [13] | ||
Big Sheep and Sheepdog | Tīrau | 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. [14] | ||
Big Sheep Shearer | Te Kūiti | The town promotes itself as the sheep shearing capital of the world and is host to the annual New Zealand National Shearing Championships. | |||
Big Skateboard /Eke Tahi | Mangawhai | 2024 | 12 m x 3.1m | The world's largest skateboard, commissioned by the New Zealand Olympic Committee to promote awareness of skateboarding being introduced as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. [15] | |
Big Trout | Taupō | A giant metal trout |
Name | Location | Built | Size | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Big Crayfish | Kaikōura | 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 . [16] | |
The Five Clydesdales | Clinton [17] | A group of (slightly) larger-than-life-sized Clydesdale horses. | |||
Big Fruit [18] | Cromwell | 1989 | 13 m (43 ft) | An apricot, apple, pear and nectarine. | |
Harbour Mouth Molars | Dunedin | Sculpture of several molars, sometimes called the Harbour Mouth Molars, in Kitchener Street Reserve. | |||
Big Mosgiel | Mosgiel | Big letters spelling the name of the town. | |||
Big Pāua [19] | Riverton | early 1990s | Giant pāua (abalone) shell just past eastern bridge into the town on State Highway 99. Featured in 1998 in a series of postage stamps celebrating New Zealand town icons. [20] | ||
Big Salmon [21] | Rakaia | 1991 | 12 m (39 ft) | A larger than usual salmon, commonly found in the Rakaia River. | |
Big Sandfly | Pukekura [22] | A sandfly mounted outside The Bushmans Centre. | |||
Big Sausage | Tuatapere | 3 m (10 ft) | A big sausage atop a fork, awarded to the town in September 2015 by the ZM radio show Fletch, Vaughan and Megan. [23] | ||
Surfer Riding a Wave | Colac Bay | Big statue of surfer riding a wave | |||
Big Takahe | Te Anau | ~ 2.2 m (7.2 ft) | Big statue of the takahē, an endangered, flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand's South Island. | ||
Big Trout and Big Guitar | Gore | 1998 (Trout) | A brown trout. [24] Central Gore also has a giant guitar, honouring the town's status as the unofficial capital of country and western music in New Zealand. | ||
Big Wheelbarrow | Hokitika | Holds a giant inflatable wild pig during Hokitika's annual Wildfoods Festival. |
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.
The culture of New Zealand is a synthesis of indigenous Māori, colonial British, and other cultural influences. The country's earliest inhabitants brought with them customs and language from Polynesia, and during the centuries of isolation, developed their own Māori and Moriori cultures. British colonists in the 19th century brought Western culture and had a dramatic effect on the indigenous inhabitants, spreading Western religious traditions and the English language. Over time, a distinct Pākehā or New Zealand European culture emerged.
Rakiura National Park is a nature reserve park located on Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand. It is the newest national park of New Zealand and opened in 2002. The protected area covers about 85% of the island.
Bluff, previously known as Campbelltown and often referred to as "The Bluff", is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand serving as the main port of Invercargill. It is the southernmost town in mainland New Zealand and, despite Slope Point and Stewart Island being further south, Bluff is colloquially used to refer to the southern extremity of the country. According to the 2018 census, the resident population was 1,797, a decrease of 6 since 2013.
Kiwiana are certain items and icons from New Zealand's heritage, especially from around the middle of the 20th century, that are seen as representing iconic New Zealand elements. These "quirky things that contribute to a sense of nationhood" include both genuine cultural icons and kitsch.
Lemon & Paeroa, often shortened to L&P, is a sweet, lemon-flavoured soft drink manufactured in New Zealand. It is considered Kiwiana, and was traditionally made by combining lemon juice with naturally carbonated mineral water from the town of Paeroa. Today, it is manufactured by multi-national Coca-Cola. The origin date of the drink is uncertain, but the brand estimates 1908.
Te Aroha is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is 53 km (33 mi) northeast of Hamilton and 50 km (31 mi) south of Thames. It sits at the foot of 952 metres (3,123 ft) Mount Te Aroha, the highest point in the Kaimai Range.
The Manawatū Gorge is a steep-sided gorge formed by the Manawatū River in the North Island of New Zealand. At 6 km (3.7 mi) long, the Manawatū Gorge divides the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges, linking the Manawatū and Tararua Districts. It lies to the northeast of Palmerston North. Its western end is near the small town of Ashhurst and its eastern end is close to the town of Woodville.
The Thames Valley is a non-administrative region in the North Island of New Zealand. Broadly, it is the valley component of the Waihou River catchment. The lower part of the valley is more commonly known as the Hauraki Plains. Geographically the valley extends as far as the Hinuera Gap, although this is not often referred to as such. In geographical history of New Zealand, the Thames Valley was the path of the ancestral Waikato River when it discharged into the Firth of Thames over 20,000 years ago.
Postal services in New Zealand have existed since at least 1831, when the Postmaster-General of New South Wales deputed a Bay of Islands merchant to receive and return mail. Governor William Hobson issued an ordinance covering postal matters, although the British government retained control until 1848.
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island —and over 600 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.
Opo was a bottlenose dolphin who became famous throughout New Zealand during the summers of 1955 to 1956 for playing with the children of the small town of Opononi on the Hokianga harbour.
Hikutaia is a locality on the Hauraki Plains of New Zealand. It lies on State Highway 26, south east of Thames and north of Paeroa. The Hikutaia River runs from the Coromandel Range through the area to join the Waihou River.
Ngāti Whanaunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand, descended from Whanaunga, the third son of Marutūāhu.
The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Ngāti Rongoū is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand.
Big Things is the debut studio album by New Zealand music producer P-Money. It was released on 17 March 2002 through Dirty Records/Kog Transmissions. Produced entirely by P-Money, it features guest appearances from Scribe, 4 Corners, Unique, Che Fu, Deceptikonz, Patriarch, Hazaduz and Tyna.
The Big Lemon & Paeroa Bottle is a statue of a bottle of the Lemon & Paeroa soft drink. It is located in Paeroa, New Zealand, where the drink was originally made. It is one of New Zealand's most famous icons, making it one of the most photographed places in the country. It has a height of 6.8 metres (22 ft), a diameter of 1.3 metres (4.3 ft), is made from concrete rings, and is surrounded by lemon trees and lemon shaped rubbish bins in a park around the statue. It is a popular tourist site, and the statue is owned by the council, but the branding and maintenance of the bottle is done by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link)