You’ll never guess what the next ‘big’ thing is in Australia!
Aussies love big things, according to data from Wotif. 40 per cent of us want to see more big things while we’re travelling. We’ve already got the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, NSW and the Big Mango in Queensland – and there’s more than 150 to choose from across the nation.
However, this clearly isn’t enough for Aussies. With 90 per cent of Australians having visited a ‘big thing’ in their lifetime and 39 per cent of people going out of their way to see a big thing, it’s clear that Aussies are surprisingly sentimental about largely shaped foods, vegetables, fruits and animals.
It appears that the love has spread to the small town of Chinchilla. The town is only 300km west from Brisbane, Queensland and that’s the new home of the Big Melon.
The Big Melon is nothing to sneeze at. It’s almost 9 metres wide, 3 metres tall and weighs four tonnes. You can’t miss it.
The Big Melon is an idea put forward by Australians who participated in the Wotif campaign, where the company was searching for the ‘Next Big Thing’ to celebrate its 18th birthday.
Wotif managing director Daniel Finch was surprised by the amount of responses from participants, with final voting equating to 70 per cent of the Australian population.
“It goes to show the significance of big things in Australia and how sentimental Aussies are about them,” Finch explained.
“We know from our research that 40 per cent of Australians wish there were more big things to visit,” he says.
“We are excited to be able to put not just the big cities, but also regional areas on the map, to create excitement within these communities and a new reason to visit, helping to boost local economies,” Finch added.
“With the town now officially on the Aussie Big Things tourist map, we hope the Big Melon provides travellers with fruitful experiences for years to come, and we encourage all Aussies to consider a road trip to the region.”
Scroll through the gallery to see some of the other ‘big things' within Australia.
Are you going to see the Big Melon? Let us know in the comments.