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Location: Nambour, QLD (100km N Brisbane)

Take the Nambour exit from the Bruce Highway, you will see the Big Pineapple on your right. The Big Macadamia Nut is on the same grounds.

Date visited: 21 Dec 2002

Bigness: I wasn't expecting much when we visited the Big Macadamia Nut, since I hadn't researched it and was more looking forward to the Big Pineapple on the day. I was quite in awe of the size - you could house a wedding reception in there! It was elevated above the ground too which made it more impressive. Disappointing that it's only half a nut, but I think a whole one would be asking too much. Still, it was many Emmas tall (see: the other nut in the bottom photo) and if you want to compare the ratio of the Big Macadamia Nut to a standard macadamia nut, this would surely win hands down as the Biggest Thing ever. Unfortunately due to my awesome photo skillz of shooting into the sun, it's hard to make out the Nut clearly in the below photo but trust me, it's big. 9/10

Interest Factor: One of (well, the) reason why the nut is so big is because it houses some kind of nocturnal tour thingy. My knowledge here is hazy at best because we only poked our heads in the entrance rather than spend time to look at it properly - we were running late or something. That's pretty cool though. A giant nut with an educational and no doubt interactive tour on all things nocturnal. You never would've expected that inside a big macadamia nut! And I think that's pretty interesting. Hey, I just found out it's called Creatures of the Night. Well there you go. 7/10

Weirdness/Realism: I'm going to be honest with you - I don't think I remember ever seeing a macadamia nut with its shell on before. Given that the people who built it probably have and the fact that they grow hoards of macadamia nuts there, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. 8/10

Accessibility: The cool thing with the Big Macadamia Nut is that if you've found the Big Pineapple, you found the Nut - they're both in the same park. While the Pineapple is right on the road, the Nut is set back a little bit so there's about 30 seconds of walking to do. 9/10

Tourist Factor: Compared to the Big Pineapple, the Nut was a ghost town. This didn't make sense - would you rather learn about the life of a pineapple or be in nocturnal heaven? I thought as much, but obviously everybody else isn't as smart as you or I. Now I know I'm being a little bit hypocritical: we didn't actually go on the nocturnal tour ourselves because we spent so long at the Big Pineapple and its many attractions. Not to mention it cost money as well.. did I mention that? Perhaps everybody was too busy eating their parfaits and decided it was too far to walk. Hell they even had indoor canoe rides in the building opposite! What more could you want?! 3/10

Overall: Sadly I think the Big Macadamia Nut has been living in the shadow of the Big Pineapple for far too long. It's time the Nut took action, rose from its foundations and wandered down the road to say Maroochydore and made its home there. Then we'll see who is more popular! It's all about making the public aware. "The Big What Nut??", they're all asking - and no wonder when a googlefight between the Big Macadamia Nut and the Big Pineapple ends with a landslide victory to the Pineapple 20 to 4600. Who cares, thumbs up the Nut - I love eating them. Vote #1 Macadamia Nuts! 7/10