The Big Banana

No visit to Coffs Harbour can be undertaken without visiting the Big Banana.

It is not just one of Australia’s Big Icons. The Big Banana is a whole park that has a water park, an ice-rink, toboggan slope, movie theatre, laser tag and putt-putt course (mini golf).

The Big Banana has been open since December 1964

You could probably spend all day at the Big Banana with everything they have on offer, unfortunately we only had an hour to spend there before we left Coffs Harbour.

Where is the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour

Location and Address

The Big Banana is on the main road that runs through Coffs Harbour. Its on the same road that you drive from Sydney to Brisbane). So if you stay on the same road that you enter Coffs Harbour on then you should be able to find it.

Big Banana’s address is 351 Pacific Highway, Coffs Harbour. It’s easy peasy to find so I’m not going to include a map like I usually do.

There is plenty of parking onsite so you should be able to find a parking easily enough.

Big Banana Features

You can grab a photo and have a bite to eat or have a shop for curios without having to pay an admission fee. However, if you’re interested in any of the activities you will have to pay for each of those activities.

The Big Banana

You have to walk through the big banana and have the obligatory photo in front of it. This exercise should take you about 10 minutes maximum.

The Big Banana has been around since 1964 and was constructed by John Landi to make travellers stop at his roadside banana stall. Given the history of bananas in the area and the Big Banana itself you have got to pay it a visit.

Tobogganing

Not to escape all the other features of the Big Banana Theme park we had to try the Toboggan slope.

The Toboggan slope is a 600m steel half-pipe that winds down the slope. You start at the bottom (of course) and sit on a wooden and steel deck with a “joy stick”. The Toboggan doesn’t really have sides so it does make things a little scarier, it is a nerve-wrecking experience but so much fun.

It is a nerve wrecking experience but so much fun.

Kids are allowed to go down the hill over the age of 8, between 3 and 8 they have to have an adult go with them. My husband and I decided we would let our 4 year old down the hill and we would each take a turn going with him- the total cost for these two rides was $10. The only problem was our son crying when we left because he wanted to do it “again and again”.

The Cafe

Once you’ve tried out all that is on offer you have to go visit the Cafe and try the famous frozen banana covered in chocolate and sprinkles… I went with the Macadamia Nut ice-cream in a waffle cone and it was amazing. I am now looking for Macadamia Nut ice cream in every store we go to, the kids of course had the frozen bananas. They weren’t really fans of them but I think they were too interested in all the activities on offer.

The Cheese Factory

If you stop by the Cheese Factory you have to get some Jalapeño cheese. It is so good without being added to anything or having anything added to it.

If you’re interested in cheese making, there are 1 hour cheese making workshops on at the Cheese Factory where you can learn to make ricotta and ricotta salta or yoghurt, lane, quark and mascarpone.

A Water Park

There are:

four big slides
three smaller slides for kids
a kids play area
an interactive water jet area.

It wasn’t open on the day that we visited but according to the Big Banana website it is the biggest Water Park between Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Laser Tag

I have no idea about laser tag because my kids are still little enough to not be interested in it.

Mini Golf

We didn’t get to play mini-golf because of our time restrictions but it does look like a smart and neat course.

Theatre and Plantation Tour

This is a combination ticket. From what I understand from the website there is a movie or short clip which is about the history of the bananas, followed by a holographic screening of the use and value of bananas and then a tour of the packing shed. The there and plantation tours operate daily between 10am and 3pm.

Each activity is open at different times so be sure to check out the website for up to date information.

Tickets

The Ticket Office is around the back of the Gift Shop.

Individual tickets are available or you can “build your own” combo which is only available at our main Ticket Office. There are certain ticket combination available on the Big Banana Website .