Fodor's Expert Review Shantytown Heritage Park
Greymouth
Museum Village
A hands-on reenactment of an 1880s mining town, Shantytown will show you it was all about steam in those days. Most of the buildings are reproductions, including a jail, a blacksmith shop, a railway station, and Chinatown. Gold-digging displays include a giant water cannon for blasting the gold-bearing rock and soil from the hillside, water races, and a stamper battery---powered by a 30-foot waterwheel—for crushing the ore. You can pan for gold, ride an old bush tramline, take a break in the café, or share a picnic on the lawns and then go back for more.
