New Coast tour attraction

Press, 19 April 1980, Page 12

New Coast tour attraction

Greymouth reporter A new addition to the Greymouth’s tourist attractions, an audio-visual display on coal mining, gold mining, and forestry, will open in the former Tarapuhi Street, Greymouth, premises of the “Grey River Argus” on May 2. The project is aimed at the scores of tourists who “window shop” in the business area at night after dinner at their hotels. Electronic equipment valued about $20,000 is being installed and film is being prepared tracing the history of the area. Old film clips and historical photographs have been used in the production.

The visitors will tour from room to room seeing different films and explanations. A 4min film history of Greymouth from the gold rush days will be shown in one area, the projection being triggered by the pressure .of feet on the floor. A press of a button and Japanese visitors can have the commentary delivered in their own language.

Inside a replica gold mine, complete with log walls and a tin roof, a screen will show gold mining and describe the last century’s activities. Then it is down into the former printing pit of the “Grey River Argus” surrounded with simulated coal and old mine trucks for a history of mining. Another section will provide an audio-visiual description of sawmilling. The tour will end with a film on where to go and what to do in the area, including suggested tours of Shantytown and the blowholes at Punakaiki. Souvenirs will also be available. The building, which is undergoing extensive alteration on the ground floor as the new equipment is installed, will be open seven days a week under the name of “The Timber Mill,” according to its manager, Mr J. D. Huston. The project, catering as it would for people with time on their hands in the evenings, had been promised considerable support from tour outlets, he said.