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We've compiled the best of the best in Thames - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Take a guided experience to learn about one of the richest gold strikes in the world. The tour includes a 40-minute underground tour of an 1868 stamper battery. Wear sturdy footwear, as it can be muddy. Advanced booking is recommended.
This tiny, volunteer-run museum contains photographic displays of the 1860s gold-rush and logging industries, re-creations of period rooms from the 1800s, and information on the area's first Māori inhabitants and early European settlers. A nice feature on the grounds is the memorial garden, with period roses and other flora that settlers commonly planted; it's a lovely place to rest and reflect.
From the mid-1800s, the School of Mines was an internationally recognized institution, teaching all aspects of mining. A diploma from here guaranteed a job anywhere in the world. The museum was established in 1900 to exhibit geological samples. The school closed decades ago, but the museum's still kicking, displaying those turn-of-the-20th-century rock specimens along with scales, models of stamper batteries, and other gold-mining paraphernalia.
