History & heritage
Heritage & History - Reefton Gold
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Learn about the gold, timber, coal, Maori and aviation history of the West Coast at the many heritage sites on the West Coast.

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Reefton Heritage Sites
Reefton Visitor Centre
Features a mine engine and realistic ‘underground’ section.
Historic town walk
Passes buildings dating from the town’s earliest days, including the School of Mines.
Power House Walk
Recalls NZ’s first public electricity supply of 1888.
Railway Precinct
Station, locomotive shed and (in town) a Fairlie locomotive.
Cemeteries
In town and 3km south, graves of prospectors and miners.
Alborns Coal Mine
A track around remains of a small coal mining operation.
Big River Heritage Sites
Gold Mine, battery, sawmill and coal mines
A remarkable historic complex, accessible via walking tracks.
Blacks Point Heritage Sites
Blacks Point Museum
Much mining and domestic memorabilia. (Please make a donation.)
Murray Creek - Lankey Creek tracks
Link the reef mines that gave rise to Reefton.
Golden lead walks
Along a water race with a longer option to a battery.
Blackwater Heritage Sites
A Tiny School
Marks a settlement with gold rush roots. (Donation please.)
Waiuta Heritage Sites
Waiuta town and mine
Relics of the Coast’s last great gold strike.
Battery and powerhouse
Foundations linked via a raceman’s track.
Prohibition Hill
The top of NZ’s deepest mine shaft (879 metres).
Moonlight Heritage Sites
Sluice guns
Hydraulic sluicing ‘monitors’ mark the Moonlight Road turn-off.
Moonlight track
Passes tailing walls, hut sites, water race and battery.
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Reefton
See & Do

Reefton Golf Course (Glenburnie) is a 12 hole voluntary run course with 6 different tee boxes for holes 13 - 18.
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Reefton
Accommodation

Explore this valley's alpine beauty and native birds in amazing red beech forests of Lewis Pass.
$4 - $8
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Reefton
Accommodation

Close to Reefton township and a great base for exploring Victoria Forest Park walks.
$4 - $8 per night
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Reefton
Towns, Places & Info centres

Reefton, on the Lewis Pass road and near Victoria Conservation Park (NZ's largest), is well worth a stop and its claim to fame is in 1888 it was the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have electric streetlights!
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Reefton
See & Do

Premium Gins and Liquers hand crafted from local botanicals and spray free fruit.
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Reefton
Accommodation

Beautifully restored church offering an individual and interesting experience.