NZ's Biggest Ghost Town | Waiuta, West Coast NZ

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Hope you enjoyed a bit of a different style video this week, tried to add a bit of history in there rather than just looking around 😁👍

[@michaelconnell8624]

Another great video focusing on one attraction and heaps of info about the place 👍😀.

[@craignelson-swiftyenzed7578]

Someone did their homework for this video - very informative.

[@NomadLifeKiwi]

We’ve done the west coast heaps and never been to these places. Love the leisurely pace of your travels and we’re bookmarking all these spots! Thanks for the great info.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh awesome yeh pop this spot on the list for sure! It’s great being able to travel a bit slower around the West Coast as there is so much to do and see!

[@craignelson-swiftyenzed7578]

@@AdventuresWithRosy Liking the idea of a slower trip... we kinda blasted through, but then we did do the whole South Island big loop top to bottom in three weeks - lolz.

[@robinmills5827]

A great video about a very interesting area. I'll get there one day. Thanks for your inspirational exploring.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks for watching Robin.a place to add to the list for sure 👌

[@craignelson-swiftyenzed7578]

I do like the music track you have been using lately - the light and bounciness seems to really fit the lively inquisitive nature of the kids.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks Craig, music is always a tad tricky haha, I tired all sorts of ominous moody exploring music for this video but it didn’t fit our happy talking haha

[@tleej26]

So informative and well put together, great watch😃

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks, appreciate that! Thought we would throw a bit of the history in there 👍

[@LadyJan007]

This is awesome. I have some very vague memories of this place, as my family holidayed at Reefton, every summer, when I was a child, so we would travel around the area a little, when dad wasn't gold mining with his sluicing box

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

How neat! We stayed just down the road in Nelson Creek which is an area you can still hold fossick in, pretty cool to see people still panning for gold 👍

[@RadRoadAdventures]

Mr & Mrs Attenborough, you could have your own history show! Well done, that was awesome, lots of facts. It is such an interesting place. We have visited twice and somehow missed the snowy River battery but we don't mind having to go back again one day. Cheers guys.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Good excuse to go back 😉 it’s a bit of a hike down there but enjoyable. Haha yeh Chelsea said it sounded liked I was trying to do a travel documentary 😂

[@hymertimesnz]

Very informative and enjoyable to watch. Thanks for sharing

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Cheers for swinging by and watching 😁

[@LittleCamperNZ]

Great stuff guys... love your amazing content.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks 😊

[@leopardsgowild]

What an amazing place. I never knew people pulled their houses apart and took the timber with them. Some great history there. How cool is the west coast never been to the South islands west coast.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Yeh I suppose milled timber was probably quite valuable to them back then so they took it. The West Coast is wonderful, you guys will love it down there. Loads of decent freedom camping too!

[@pumbajayden]

tiny houses before they were cool lol

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Haha yeh true!

[@changinglifeforthebetterjo8997]

That was really interesting properly one of my favorite videos to date cheers guys loved it

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Cheers Jonesy, appreciate that!

[@QualityAntics]

Loving the facts! Looks like a cool spot! 🙌

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Yeh real neat! Fun little place to explore 👌

[@studyboynz]

love this kind of history, thanks for sharing

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

You’re welcome mate, thought it might be a bit of you 😉

[@AlwaysAnAdventureWithKids]

Nice find! we love looking at historic gold mining sites.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Fun aye, the kids love exploring them too!

[@Romeo-lu7wt]

Yous never fail to deliver an excellent vid ,about history in NZ, Love the mining history, beautiful scenery, See Yous Friday , if I don't forget 😀🤠🇦🇺

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Sounds good Bevan, thanks for your kind words! Thought we would pop a bit of history in the video seeing it was such a fascinating place!

[@TomWoodwardVideos]

That's interesting, you guys had an indepth look into Waiuta.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

It’s a really interesting place huh! We really enjoy exploring it. Would love to explore some of those other mines out in the back country there

[@nikitashienkov9979]

so touching for an excellent video

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks for watching!

[@LibbyWithnall]

What an interesting place. So cool that so much is still there.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Neat huh! Had loads of fun exploring the area, apparently they had to do loads of cleanup because of all those chemicals they used to process gold 😳

[@FLSTFB103]

I used to swim in the pool which had tadpoles in it at the time when I was a kid about 50 years ago while we were holidaying in a friend's batch in Waiuta.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Did you! That’s so awesome 😊 I bet it was a hit in the summer. From memory the sign mentioned the odd eel in that pool too!

[@FLSTFB103]

I never encountered any eels but we had fun, we also used to drop stones down the mine shaft it wasn't sealed as good as it is now.@@AdventuresWithRosy

[@NZCaravanLife]

Fantastic video guys, really informative, we enjoyed learning all about this area. We have been over there a few times but was not aware this existed. Will have to check it out next time. Looks like the weather is being really kind to you all too👍.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks Chris, apologies for the delayed reply! Add it to the list for sure, it's really nice to walk around and explore.

[@amypie7178]

Thank you, i enjoyed watching this, we are due to move to Greymouth shortly so we will check this place out.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Definitely do it! Nice spot Greymouth, heaps to explore up and down the coast 👍

[@The2bengalcats]

Awesome thanks guys 👍

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Thanks for watching Rose 😊

[@CamMead]

Great video! I came looking for content after reading "Through the Eyes of a Miner: The Photography of Joseph Divis" (found in Auckland libraries). Very interesting book that documents/photographs and talks about everything from this area & mine. Look forward to exploring it someday..

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

It’s a really neat area aye! Well worth visiting, Nelson creek up the road has heaps of old mining tunnels you can explore for hours, Reefton is an interesting place too 👍

[@RollingwithTheRobsons]

Another great video. It's amazing the places you manage to get to and see with the caravan in NZ. No free spots in the UK for caravans as far as I am aware only if you are a motorhome owner which is a shame. Love all the facts while you are there adds value to the video.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh wow that is interesting that there are no free spots for caravans! Some spots here are only suitable for Motorhomes and smaller vans but most fit caravans which is nice 👍

[@rebecca6352]

So cool to actually see the town! Please be aware if you are going to the ghost town the last bit of the road is up hill on a gravel road with some tight corners, my partner and I were actually travelling up there recently but never made it because our car slid and rolled down the bank, luckily we were okay! Guttered tho we didnt make it so thank you for your in depth tour!

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh wow scary! Yeh I should have mentioned that about the road. Someone else said they took their camper an up and the top hit a tree 😳

[@bengmelea8646]

I find it interesting the extreme lengths and hardship the early settlers went to in their search for gold. Even more so that most modern NZers have largely forgotten the effort required to obtain real hard money and now largely believe in paper currencies that governments can print to infinity at the push of a button. 8:50 BTW as of the date you dropped this video the gold price per Troy ounce is about NZD$2,500 so 750,000 oz t would be valued at about NZD$1.87 billion.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Wow crazy, that is a lot of $$$! You see those photos of old timers in their suits standing in front of piles of gold, amazing. Imagine some of those places in winter or in the rain, would have been horrible working conditions too. And some of them started in the mine at 12! Imagine Harvey working in a gold mine at 12 haha 😂

[@geofflewis8599]

I currently own a 1937 Chevrolet which once belonged to George Starkiss McGallan - at one time the publican of the Waiuta hotel..

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh interesting! I would have loved to see Waiuta back in the day!

[@geofflewis8599]

@@AdventuresWithRosy ..There is a Waiuta Historical group which has many old pics, it was quite a busy place, from @1906 - 1951 when a major piece of plant broke down and the British company that owned it decided to close the operation.

[@shaunhayward7556]

That swimming pool didn't have dirty water, the water runs black there, that's why it was called Black Water (Waiuta) Been swimming in that pool a few times when we went there back in the 80's. A lot has changed there since then I see. You used to be able to go down the main mine shaft back then, there's also another hidden entrance not far from the old hospital, I think that hospital burnt down and got replaced with what's there now (If that's still the camping grounds that is) Back in the 80's there was actually an old man still living there, his hut wasn't to far from the shower and toilet block.( I actually still have a photo of that hut somewhere) One of the best things about Waiuta is the ghosts that can be seen walking up and down the main road and some times you could hear people playing down at the tennis courts. The Christchurch City Mission used to take families there for a 2 week holidays, riding in the back of old Army trucks. The track to snowy river used to always get washed out, I think DOC closed that track for a few years because of that. Sadly CCM stopped taking people there because it became unsafe. They also used to do re-enactments of what life was like there back in the day, it was always held in front of the old post office. That's about all I remember, sadly my memory isn't what it used to be.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh wow thanks for taking the time to comment! Makes sense about the water, how cool that you got to swim there. Some of the houses there looked like people may have lived in them recently. Would love to explore that mine shaft, bet it’s incredible! Someone told us they there are some wrecked cars that had been pushed down the shaft but not sure that if that was true… amazing piece of New Zealand history, thanks for sharing your memories 😊👏

[@pete3897]

3:13: can't get to it eh? Then how'd you get that shot at 2:20? ;-)

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Haha had to watch to remember myself! There are holes in the fence you can put your hands through or crawl under if you dare 😉😝 I would love to abseil down that shaft! Might have to go back haha

[@garrethtrompetter3941]

You didn’t even show the houses that are still there. You can get into most of them.

[@AdventuresWithRosy]

Oh really? The ones I saw were all boarded up and a couple said private property so we didn’t go near them haha. I think they were in the process of restoring one or two of them too