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, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

('The Big Banana Fun Park') in the city of

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal 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 a ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

, featuring a large walk-through

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

. 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 ...

. Other attractions include a downhill

toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled used in snowy winter recreation. It is also a traditional form of cargo transport used by the Innu, Cree and Ojibwe of North America, sometimes part of a dog train. It is used on snow to carry one or more people (o ...

ride,

ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, 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. ...

rink, XD Theatre, Mini Golf, Giant Slide, Laser Tag, a

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) 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 ...

, the World of Bananas educational experience, and

escape rooms An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room, is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limit ...

. Plantation tours are also available. On the evening of

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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 opened by Betty and John Landi, and Stella and John Enveoldson 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 Shark Bay World Heritage Site, world heritage area lies to the south of the town an ...

. In 2011, ''

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'' 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 Giant Slide 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, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by several other names) 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 poi ...

rink, a theatre providing an educational experience, and a

ride, a

, a reptile zoo, and

Former

The park featured three scenic

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

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'') an ...

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 and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

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-eastern 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 at

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 States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Big Merino The Big Merino is a tall concrete statue of a merino ram located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It was modelled after Rambo, a stud ram that lived on a local property. The Big Merino was built near the Hume Highway The Hume High ...

(sheep) at

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

Big Pineapple The Big Pineapple is a heritage-listed tourist attraction and Big things (Australia), big thing at Nambour Connection Road, Woombye, Queensland, Woombye, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Peddle Thorp and Harv ...

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 12,145 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

References

External links