← Back to Explore
A six-metre Friesian cow and companion calf outside Te Poi Country Tavern.
- 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.
© Stadia Maps © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors
Big Cow and Calf – Te Poi
This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 37.8718° S, 175.8418° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
The six-metre Friesian outside the Te Poi Country Tavern was made by Gordon Rose and added in 1994–95. The calf is the better story.
Rose came back in 1995 with a second, much smaller cow and positioned it deliberately so that people could sit on it and be photographed. That is not decoration; it is design intent, and thirty years later the New Zealand Herald reported that tourists were still doing exactly that on a regular basis. Somebody thought carefully about how visitors would use the object, and got it right on the first attempt.
Add a photo
PRACTICAL
Plan your stop
WHAT TO EXPECT
Big Cow and Calf is a six-metre Friesian cow sculpture with a companion calf standing outside Te Poi Country Tavern, a landmark on the route through Te Poi.
ACCESS
Route to Te Poi Country Tavern at 11 Te Poi Road, the current operating hospitality site hosting the outdoor Big Things. Use the tavern as the vehicle destination; the stored landmark geometry is not a parking instruction.
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.