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Denniston, no gold but a great time
Maverick  
Posted : Sunday, 15 January 2012 7:52:48 PM(UTC)
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I was over on the coast last week, no fossicking yet, just showing the 'olds' the beauty
of the place and we went to Denniston. They now have "The Denniston Experience" which is
a trip into the old Banbury mine. An amazing experience! It's an interactive tour, they get you
to do things that make the whole 1800's mining experience very real.
If you are ever up Westport way with 1/2 a day spare it's well worth going.

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Lammerlaw  
Posted : Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:10:13 AM(UTC)
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Great photos and an inspiration to go there and see for myself as members of my family have been there and report that it is worth seeing.
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mineforgold.co.nz  
Posted : Tuesday, 17 January 2012 2:13:16 PM(UTC)
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Looks very interesting.
My grandfather was a miner up there, my mother was born there, and I have a great grandfather buried in one of the mines near there.
It is pretty country on a fine day. I have been through the Mackley 4wd track several times - that runs from the Iron Bridge in the Buller Gorge through to Denniston.
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cabbydave  
Posted : Tuesday, 17 January 2012 3:33:26 PM(UTC)
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no gold huh? hmmmmmm
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kiwikeith  
Posted : Sunday, 22 January 2012 9:20:39 AM(UTC)
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denniston is an interesting place although ive never got gold from up there its ment to be there somewhere
that mine is well worth a visit i helped with some of the engineering on it

the mcwilliams going down to the macley from the west is well worth a dip in with the pan if you go up stream about 200m the creek runs over rock bottom
got to head into the lower macley for 6 weeks for work so will look round and report back
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Lemuel  
Posted : Tuesday, 24 January 2012 1:47:13 PM(UTC)
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That 'Denniston Experience' sounds like it would be well worth doing. I've only been up there once a long time ago on a high school geography trip and I'd really love to go back there.

To this day I recall a poem written by someone who once called the place home.

Damn Denniston
Damn the track
Damn the way, both there and back
Damn the wind and damn the weather
God damn Denniston altogether
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rgmcbrid  
Posted : Tuesday, 24 January 2012 5:12:53 PM(UTC)
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Thanks for the tip that sounds like a good tour.

I went on a tour of a silver mine in Idaho... or maybe Montana, anyway we rode ore cars way down into the mine and this crusty old miner tour guide demonstrated how to drill the holes for the dynamite with this massive drill mounted on a tripod. He explained very matter of factly that it was a good idea to learn to drill both horizontally and vertically. The reason was because after a few years of drilling one way it can get a little boring and it is nice to switch and do the other for a few years.
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overdog  
Posted : Tuesday, 24 January 2012 5:23:05 PM(UTC)
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Damn Denniston
Damn the track
Damn the way, both there and back
Damn the wind and damn the weather
God damn Denniston altogether


Now I'm not too sure but I'm picking up that this bloke didnt really like Denniston...
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