Australia has voted, and Chinchilla has officially won the bid for Australia’s ‘Next Big Thing’, a competition run by online travel site Wotif, with the unveiling of a giant melon on Wednesday 14 November. Wotif ran the national campaign to gift the nation a new tourist attraction in celebration of the company’s 18th birthday.

As Australia’s melon capital and home to the world’s largest melon festival, Chinchilla has been gifted a nine-metre-wide melon structure which has become a ‘must see’ tourist attraction. Chinchilla’s Big Melon pitch outbid applications from around the country, including three other finalists from Kingaroy, Mittagong and Glen Innes. The new structure will be a major draw card during the Chinchilla Melon Festival held from February 14 to 17, 2019. The West Queensland town will transform into a sea of pink and green to celebrate.

More than 15,000 visitors from around the globe visit the biannual Chinchilla Melon Festival to try their hand at a range of fun and quirky melon-related experiences. Some of these include pip-spitting, melon skiing, melon hat wearing, farm tours and a street parade.

The upcoming festival will mark 25 years since the Melon Festival began. Festival Committee member Tania Thornton says bringing a ‘big melon’ to the town has been a goal for the committee since the festival started. “Every two years, Chinchilla transforms into a melon mecca drawing local, national and international crowds to experience one of the country’s most distinctive festivals. The Big Melon has been our dream since the beginning and we are so proud to be able to cement our status as Australia’s Melon Capital,” she said.

Wotif Managing Director Daniel Finch is excited to bring Chinchilla its newest attraction as a way to support the domestic tourism industry and help drive money back in to the local economy.

“The Big Melon confirms Chinchilla’s status as the sweetest destination on the Aussie ‘Big Things’ tourist map and we encourage Aussies to explore more of their own backyard, starting with Chinchilla. We hope The Big Melon provides locals and travellers alike with fruitful experiences for years to come,” he said.

Situated less than 300 kilometres from Brisbane, the small, thriving community is in an ideal location for those looking to visit the must-see Melon Festival.

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