The classic Australian Big Things road trip is a coastal road trip. The Big Banana watches the Pacific from a hill above Coffs Harbour. The Big Prawn looms over the Ballina coast. The Big Pineapple sits a few minutes inland from the Sunshine Coast beaches. Larry the Big Lobster guards a Southern Ocean beach. The Big Penguin literally stands in front of Tasmania's Bass Strait. Australia has 35,000km of coastline; these are the icons you'll meet while driving it.
Big Things began as roadside tourist attractions, and the most-travelled Australian roads are coastal — the Pacific Highway, the Bruce Highway, the Princes Highway, the Great Ocean Road. So most of the genre's most famous icons sit within minutes of an Australian beach.
The Pacific Highway trio: the Big Banana, the Big Prawn, the Big Pineapple. Three flagship coastal icons across two states, all within a long weekend's drive.
The original — opened 1964 on the Pacific Highway, just inland from Coffs Harbour's beaches. The first commercially successful Big Thing and still one of the most photographed icons on the east coast.
Read more16 metres tall, 10 minutes inland from the Sunshine Coast beaches. Queensland Heritage Register listed (2009) and the centrepiece of a working theme park.
Read more9 metres of NSW north coast icon, saved from demolition by Bunnings in a $400,000 restoration in 2013. The northern bookend of the Pacific Highway Big Things drive.
Read moreAustralia's coastline touches four oceans: the Pacific (east coast), the Coral Sea (north Queensland), the Indian (west coast), and the Southern (south coast and Tasmania). Each ocean has its own Big Things.
Filter by ocean or browse the lot. Each card links to a full guide where one exists, plus visiting info and what's nearby.
The east coast Pacific Highway is the obvious one. But each Australian ocean has its own coastal Big Things drive.
5–7 days, easy. Brisbane → Sunshine Coast (Big Pineapple) → Coffs Harbour (Big Banana) → Ballina (Big Prawn) → Hexham (Big Mosquito) → Sydney. The classic east-coast Big Things drive, with all four Pacific Highway hall-of-famers in a single trip.
4–5 days, moderate. Adelaide → Princes Highway → Larry the Big Lobster (Kingston SE) → cross to Tasmania → Big Penguin (Penguin, TAS) → Hobart. The Southern Ocean's two flagship coastal icons, with the Spirit of Tasmania ferry between them.
5–7 days, easy. Brisbane → Bruce Highway → Bowen (Big Mango) → Whitsundays → Mission Beach (Big Cassowary) → Cairns (Big Marlin). Four coral-coast icons plus the Great Barrier Reef in between.
Coastal Big Things are best in shoulder seasons — full beach weather without peak holiday crowds. The east coast: Sep–Nov and Apr–May. The Top End: May–Sep.
Sunshine Coast, Coffs Harbour, Cairns, Hobart, Perth — direct to your coast.
Trip Planner ↗Coastal resorts, beach apartments, B&Bs along every Big Things route.
Trip Planner ↗One-way Pacific Highway pickups (Brisbane → Sydney) are common & affordable.
Trip Planner ↗Every major coastal airport · ground transfer specialists.
Airport Shuttle Services ↗Our flagship 8-day Brisbane–Sydney Big Things tour IS the Pacific Highway coastal Big Things drive — Big Pineapple, Big Banana, Big Prawn, Big Mosquito, plus coast time between each one. The most efficient way to see the eastern coastal Big Things in one trip.
View the tour →