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Shantytown
Website: http://www.shantytown.co.nz
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Price Guide: 
(Average price per person: $10 - $29)
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Shantytown, just 10 kilometres south of Greymouth, is a faithfully restored replica of an 1860’s West Coast gold mining town. A living monument to the hardy pioneers who forded the wildly exotic rivers and streams, and scrambled through the rugged subtropical rainforest in search of their fortunes.
At the peak of the Gold Rush in the 1860’s the area in and around Shantytown was home to some 5,000 prospectors and their families. The gaunt heaps of stones that the miners called tailings are now kindly masked by the encroaching native bush, but at one time the area was alive with Chinese diggers and wild colonial boys tearing into the land with their gold dredges and sluicing claims to prise its glittering rewards.
Whether you choose to arrive at the Claim by Steam Train or via a short walk up an exquisite bush pathway, this is one experience that you must do. Our New Zealand and Australasian Gold Panning Champ and his team will guide you through the entire panning process where you’ll be assured of winning a small ‘colour’.
Steam power was at the heart of the West Coast’s early development. Shantytown affords this time encapsulated experience to new generations of travellers via a short trip by Steam Train. All entrance to Shantytown includes a ride on one of our 3 vintage steam trains. Open from 8:30am, our first train departs at 9:45am and then at regular intervals right throughout the day until 4pm. On either the 1877 L-Class, 1896 improved F-Class Kaitangata or 1913 Climax, you will take a short trip through lush native rain forest along a line which follows an original sawmill tram track of the 1800’s.
Amongst the eclectic collection of Pioneer relics and Kiwiana that has come to comprise Shantytown’s unique and valuable collection are some true gems. This vast and significant collection is housed in over 30 historic buildings, enabling the visitor to wend their way through the town as interlopers into a bygone era. Of particular interest to some will be the buildings themselves. You will step back in time as you visit the Barbers Shop, Fire Station, Livery and Bait Stables, Blacksmith, Hospital, Gaol, Jewellers, Gem and Mineral Hall, Masonic Lodge, Ross Hall, Stables, Stamper Battery, Water Wheel, Railway Station, Groom Brothers Butchery and Banks.
Wonderful ‘true’ stories and engaging, interactive activities make Shantytown one of New Zealand’s premier cultural and heritage experiences. The perfect location to be both an observer and a participant in the history that helped form the heart of the nation.
Open until 5pm, 7 days a week.
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