Waitomo Caves is a New Zealand tourist attraction, and the Big Apple Cafe & Event Centre is located there. The Big Apple Cafe opened in 1995 features a “Big Apple” sculpture, 7.5 meters tall.
 
Similar “Big Apple” roadside attractions include a “Big Red Apple” in Cornelia, Georgia (1926-present), a “Big Apple” that was in Wathena, Kansas (1928-1940), a “Big Apple” kiosk in Mumbles, Swansea Bay, Wales (1930s-present), a “Big Apple” at Robinette’s Apple Haus in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1973-present), a “Big Apple” tourist information booth in Meaford, Ontario, Canada (1974-present), a “Big Apple” in Thulimbah, Queensland, Australia (1978-present), a “Big Apple” in Colborne, Ontario, Canada (1987-present), a “Big Apple” in Medina, New York (2000-present), a “Big Apple” at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan (2008-present), “La Mela Reintegrata” or “The Apple Made Whole Again” at Central Station in Milan, Italy (2015-present) and the “Big Apple of New England” at the Johnny Appleseed Visitors Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts (2019-present).
 
   
Wikipedia: Waitomo
Waitomo Caves is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand’s North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in the village to serve visiting tourists.
 
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Big Apple Cafe & Event Centre
@bigapplecafenz · Cafe
       
12 December 2009, Waikato Times (Hamilton, NZ), “Apple icon up for sale” by Greg Stack, pg. F1:
The Big Apple restaurant s for sale. The Waitomo restaurant, known for its 7.5-metre apple sign, sits on State Highway 3, between Otorohanga and Te Kuiti, and is on the market for $3.9 million.
 
Co-owner and operator Arnold van Straalen said he had owned the property with his wife Kim for six years and now they wanted to experience tourism as tourists.
 
“The property has been in my family for a long time, the orchids have been here for about 37 years,” he said. “My parents opened the restaurant in 1995 and we bought it off them about six years ago.
 
stuff (New Zealand)
Tourism Holdings Limited buys Waitomo’s Big Apple
Stacey Oliver
14:07, Sep 29 2015
Waitomo’s Big Apple is getting a makeover. The well-known restaurant, cafe and conference facility has changed hands and the new owners intend to create a “high-class” tourism destination.
 
Tourism Holding Limited (thl) bought the retail, food and beverage centre. It is known for its 7.5 metre apple sign and sits on State Highway 3, between Otorohanga and Te Kuiti.
(...)
The restaurant was opened in 1995 by Pieter and Betsy van Straalen, who bought the orchard in 1963. As the orchid grew, so did the couple’s family, which included five sons and one daughter. In 2003, their eldest son Arnold and his wife Kim bought the restaurant and business.
     
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MashedThoughts
@mashedthoughts
We passed by a big apple on our way from Waitomo to Otorohanga so of course we stopped to … http://ift.tt/2fapqZA
2:32 PM · Nov 1, 2016·IFTTT
 
New Zealand Herald
Sh*t Towns of New Zealand: New Zealand’s Worst ‘Big Things’
27 Oct, 2018 04:39 PM
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Waitomo’s Big Apple
New York is one of the world’s great cities, known as the Big Apple. Waitomo is a King Country flyspeck known for having a big hole with some glow-in-the-dark grubs stuck to the ceiling. It’s not clear why New Zealand’s premier underground tourism attraction pinched New York’s shtick, but it’s probably because a giant glow-worm would have scared the piss out of passing backpackers.
   
The Spinoff
JUNE 25, 2019
Power-ranking New Zealand’s biggest, stupidest monuments
Tara Ward | Contributing writer
(...)
17) Waitomo’s Big Apple
How you like them apples? The Waikato likes them big and round and red, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
 
Twitter
Chris Webb
@chrisporkerwebb
Replying to @chrisporkerwebb
#BigThingsInNewZealand
The Big Apple, Waitomo, Waikato
Size: 7.5m
(pic: Iain McGregor/Fairfax NZ)
3:29 AM · Aug 24, 2020·Twitter for Android