After facing demolition in 2010, Ballina's 33t colossal crustacean was relocated from the facade of a service station to a hardware store, where it now looms large over surrounding suburban street.
I CURSE, SLAMMING my car door as I step out into the frigid Snowy Mountains air. “What? It’s gone!” I’ve just driven two hours on teeth-rattling back roads from Canberra to photograph Adaminaby’s Big Trout. Weighing in at 2.5 tonnes and measuring 10m in height, it’s not only one of Australia’s better-known “Big Things” (BTs), it also holds the lofty title of the world’s biggest trout.
However, where the colourful rainbow trout – which has welcomed shivering visitors to the village’s main street for the past four decades – should be, there is instead a metal tower, draped in blue plastic, which is billowing in the stiff southerly. It’s also ringed by metal fencing. But for a lack of police tape, you could be excused for thinking it was a crime scene.
Brothers Attila and Louis Mokany where the masterminds behind Goulburn's Big Merino –built in 1985 to encourage motorists to stop at their service station.
Has Adaminaby’s pride and joy been trout-napped? Surely not.
Where would you hide a fish that big? Maybe she just got sick of camera-toting tourists jumping on her tail and she wriggled her way to one of the nearby streams laden with her (much smaller) name sakes?
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January-February 2024 من Australian Geographic Magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January-February 2024 من Australian Geographic Magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
SULAWESI SENSATIONS
There are worlds within worlds and marvels untold waiting to be experienced on Indonesia's remote islands.
SEARCHING FOR AUSSIE DINOSAURS
Our understanding of where to find ancient life in Australia has been turned on its head by a new appreciation of the country's geology. Now the world is looking to our vast outback as the latest hotspot to locate fossils.
THE HARDEST NIGHT
The first Australian ascent of Mt Everest in 1984 is one of the great feats of mountaineering. Climbed by a small team semi-alpine style, with no bottled oxygen, via the Great (Norton) Couloir, it remains unrepeated 40 years later.
WEDGE-TAILED WONDER
The chance discovery of an eagle nest leads to an extended vigil observing normally hidden behaviours of one of nature's supreme winged marvels.
BURDENED BY BEAUTY
Northern Australia's Gouldian finch survives in huge numbers in cages around the world, but its wild population continues to struggle.
A TELESCOPE FOR A GOLDEN AGE
After a stellar 50 years as one of the country's major scientific assets, the AAT continues to play a major role in keeping Australian astronomy on the world stage.
COCKY WHISPERING AT COOMALLO CREEK
This patch of remnant bush on the edge of the West Australian wheatbelt is a place loved by one of Australia's rarest bird species and the man who has studied the site for more than 50 years.
A PIONEERING PAIR
Louisa Atkinson and her mother, Charlotte, were among Australia's earliest authors, and pioneers in women's rights.
THE LONGEST WALK
Lucy Barnard is walking from Argentina to Alaska -the length of the Americas - on an extraordinary journey of endurance and adventure.
SECLUDED, BUT NOT ALONE
In an era of heightened social isolation, where many of us lead lonely lives, Dangar Island offers the chance to be part of a supportive, connected community.
