On Yer Bike! in Greymouth, New Zealand is also home to Little Earth, a truly unique exhibition of indoor and outdoor model villages of real West Coast towns: Reefton and Waiuta, New Zealand’s favourite ghost-town. 1930’s Waiuta is recreated at 1/12th scale with more than 250 buildings on 1 acre. Experience gold-mining history for yourself and meet some of the colourful characters – in miniature of course – that made Waiuta unique!
Waiuta was a booming gold mining town 60km east of Greymouth and is the South Island’s richest known Gold Field. It was quickly deserted in 1951 after the collapse of one of its mine shafts and is now known as a ghost town with only a few buildings left standing.
Local man Alan Hunt spent 14 years modeling the various public and private buildings that made Waiuta from photographs that still remain. Alan has painstakingly crafted the figures and accessories to bring the little town back to life! Landscaping the site took 12 months and is an excellent representation of the actual layout of Waiuta.
A miniature English Village and Nursery Rhyme Village is now also underway, and don’t forget to visit the place where gnomes and fairies abound in the make-believe village of Gnomeland – an eccentric collection of “little folk’ to amuse the young and young at heart.
An indoor model of the main streets of Reefton during the 1960’s is housed in the “Village Barn”. Reefton is a West Coast town famed for being the first place in the Southern Hemisphere to provide a public electricity supply. The model is complete with street and house lights.
We also have a really miniature model village of another wonderful model village located in Buckinghamshire, England, called Bekinscot here. (Its a model village of a model village, within a model village!)
“One man’s passion for all things tiny, and intricate and realistic modeling, has brought these West Coast towns back to life…”
Family and group rates available
Kids $6 (5-15 years) pre-schoolers are free
Adults $12
Seniors and Students $9
Family Pass $28
Group rates are available
For more information contact us here
or click here for booking options.
