A giant prawn stands as the unmistakable mascot of Huka Prawn Park near Taupō, turning the geothermal visitor attraction into a classic Big Things photo stop.
Venue entrance
Private to your Passport.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Recommended arrival available
Attraction entrance
This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
A free Explorer account reveals the exact recommended arrival point.
This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 38.6299° S, 176.1006° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
Freshwater prawns farmed on geothermal water beside the Waikato River, and a giant one at the gate.
Huka Prawn Park at 201 Karetoto Road near Taupō is a genuinely unusual operation: a tropical freshwater prawn farm running in the middle of the North Island, made possible by geothermal heat. Warm water is the constraint on farming Macrobrachium this far south, and Taupō sits on a field that supplies it for nothing.
The giant prawn is the park's mascot and the reason it registers as a Big Thing rather than purely as an aquaculture venture.
One honest note carried in the record. Prawn fishing at the park – the activity most visitors associate with it – was suspended while stock numbers were rebuilt, with the operator estimating twelve to eighteen months. Anyone travelling specifically to catch a prawn should confirm current availability rather than assume it.
The park remains an active visitor attraction with current Taupō tourism material confirming year-round operation, and New Zealand Big Things lists continue to identify the giant prawn.
Taupō has quietly accumulated a cluster of oversized objects – the giant bicycle, the #LOVETAUPŌ lettering on the lakefront, Boom Boom the mirror-polished sauropod unveiled in 2025 – and the prawn is the oldest-feeling of them, belonging to the era when a Big Thing was a business's mascot rather than a town's art commission.
Nothing available settles a measured size.
Photograph
This is a photograph, shown separately from the illustration artwork.
Huka Prawn Park remains an active visitor attraction at 201 Karetoto Road, with current Taupō tourism material confirming year-round operation. Contemporary New Zealand Big Things lists continue to identify the giant prawn as part of the park.
ACCESS
The Big Prawn is at Huka Prawn Park, 201 Karetoto Road, Wairakei. Navigate to the operating visitor attraction and use normal onsite access; the stored coordinate is a map-checked park-site point rather than a surveyed sculpture centroid or parking bay.
