← Back to Explore
A giant chocolate-fish confectionery decoration at the Rainbow Confectionery factory shop.
Before you stop
Park at the attraction entrance rather than at the landmark itself.
Use legitimate business access and parking; do not stop on the state highway frontage.
- Venue entrance
Private to your Passport.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Recommended arrival available
Attraction entrance
This takes you to the Big Thing itself. Do not stop at the landmark; use the recommended arrival if stopping.
A free Explorer account reveals the exact recommended arrival point.
© Stadia Maps © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors
Giant Chocolate Fish – Oamaru
This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 45.0773° S, 170.9872° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
The chocolate fish is a New Zealand institution, and there is a giant one on the side of the factory that makes them.
A chocolate fish is a slab of pink marshmallow shaped like a fish and covered in chocolate, and its cultural role is larger than its ingredients suggest: it is the standard low-stakes reward in New Zealand life, offered for a job well done, to the point that being given one is a recognised idiom. Very few countries have a confectionery item that doubles as a unit of praise.
Add a photo
PRACTICAL
Plan your stop
WHAT TO EXPECT
Current South Island Big Things coverage identifies the oversized chocolate fish on the exterior of Rainbow Confectionery at 459 Thames Highway.
ACCESS
The Giant Chocolate Fish is an exterior feature of Rainbow Confectionery at 459 Thames Highway, Oamaru. Navigate to the operating factory shop and use normal customer access; the stored coordinate is a map-checked factory-site point rather than a surveyed sculpture centroid or parking bay.
COMMUNITY
Visitor Log
WHAT'S NEXT
Find another Big Thing nearby
TRANSPARENCY
Sources & research
Something not right?
If this Big Thing has changed, moved or gone, telling us keeps the guide honest for the next traveller.