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Kiwi towns

What’s so great about Goldsborough (Waimea), West Coast

  • 1 minute

West Coast, South Island

Where to go and best things to do

Goldsborough there are plenty of things to do. A town that has disappeared physically with walks and rivers is the only tangible evidence of the lives of over 5,000 inhabitants who trudged to the remote region in search of gold. Get a taste of adventure from the comfort of your tent or motorhome, go gold fossicking and explore the water race tunnels nearby.

WHAT TO DO, HIGHLIGHTS

  • Fantasy walk through a former water race tunnel is a delight. Your imagination can visualise hobbits, former miners, sweat and toil as prospectors chipped at rock to construct the tunnel.
  • Fossick for gold in Shamrock Creek, follow DOC signs and approximately 1km from campground upstream use hand tools only, and no permit is required

 

LOCATION

Goldsborough camp grounds

Tunnel Terrace Walk is short enough for even the shortest kids legs. The light at the end of the tunnel will overcome any doubts or fears about entering the damp mossy world. The ordered piles of tailings (stones) is a great conversation piece about how the stones got there. Sluicing entire hillsides to remove rocks and stones, to wash debris in sorting conveyor belts to spy flecks of gold and the arduous task of digging and stacking rocks to enable the task of sorting to continue. The walk starts opposite the car park on Stafford Loop Rd, off SH6.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE KIDS

  • Go camping for the night, or two. The camp site is located on the site of the former Goldsborough township. By 1901 only 146 people remained in the area. Isolated mining does still occur along the Pine Ridge Track and original gold location called Callaghans.

SHORT WALKS

Boardwalk past tailings, gold minining sluiced rock remains, West Coast, Goldsborough, New Zealand
Boardwalk past tailings, gold minining sluiced rock remains
Goldsborough gold mining town, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
Goldsborough gold mining town

CAMPING

  • The sheltered and secluded campsite is the site of an old gold mining town. Explore the gold mining area and try your luck fossicking in the nearby creek. The campgrounds require forward bookings, there are flush toilets, untreated tap water and 40 non-powered sites. No fires are permitted. Book Goldsborough Campsite online, or pay cash on arrival at the self-registration stand. A service fee applies to phone, email and in-person bookings. Your booking will be for a site, which will be allocated or selected on arrival.

WHERE TO TAKE THE BEST SELFIE

  • In the tunnel with yourself backlit against the exit
  • Gold panning in the creek

WHAT TO DO NEARBY

  • Visit Kumara

POPULATION

  • NIL
Shamrock Creek gold fossicking area, Goldsborough, West Coast, New Zealand
Shamrock Creek gold fossicking area

JUDGMENT

  • One of the best short walks, evocative scenery easily transporting the imagination into the world of the nineteenth century prospector
  • Department Conservation regulations and advice on Gold fossicking

Every town adds to the richness of things to do and see. For more details about the region check Greymouth & West Coast Region nearby attractions and events.

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