Shantytown Heritage Park

Shantytown is not a preserved town but an assembled one: about thirty buildings, some genuinely relocated from West Coast settlements and some reconstructed, arranged as a gold-rush street with a church, a pub, a printer, a hospital, a bank and a sawmill. The West Coast rushes of the 1860s were real and brief and left few standing towns, so this is a reconstruction of something that mostly vanished. Two things lift it above a static display. The bush tramway runs a steam locomotive on original-gauge track through regenerating rainforest to a sawmill site, and it is a working steam operation. And the gold panning is real - the claim is salted with actual gold and visitors keep what they find, which is usually a few flecks in a vial. Family-focused; adults without children get through it faster.

History

Local enthusiasts formed the West Coast Historical and Mechanical Society in 1968 to preserve the region's gold-mining history, and the heritage park opened on 23 January 1971, built largely by volunteers. Its collection of thousands of artefacts, from gold-mining gear to settlers' furniture and clothing, was given by local people and businesses (Wikipedia, Shantytown Heritage Park).

What to look for

• The assembled town - about thirty relocated and rebuilt buildings.
• The steam tramway - a working bush locomotive through the rainforest.
• The gold panning - real gold, and you keep what you pan.
• The sawmill - the tramway's original destination.

When to go

Any season, though the West Coast is wet and much of the site is outdoors. The train runs to a timetable - check departure times on arrival.

Before you go

A reconstruction rather than a historic town, which some visitors mind. Aimed at families. Rain is likely; the outdoor parts are less pleasant in it. Panning yields flecks, not nuggets.

Nearby

Greymouth is ten kilometres north; Hokitika is south.