Its an old coal mining town - the West Coast has a strong mining history, both coal and gold. There is one current open coal mine there (that I know about) at Stockton, which isn't far from Denniston. There was an open cast (gold?) mine at Ross that I remember visiting with Mom when I was a kid, but I think it might have been closed now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denniston,_New_Zealand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerton,_New_Zealand Millerton is just a little bit further up the coast than Denniston, but there is a small community still living there (The article says 50 still live at Denniston, but I don't think anyone lives there). My step-mum lived at Millerton for a few years while I was at high school and we went to visit one summer - its a neat little place. We had a lot of fun exploring the plateau around there - its such an unusual landscape, mostly just bog except for a few stands of trees, and millions of insect eating plants! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross,_New_Zealand
It's a shame they closed the Denniston down, it looks like it could be useful for something, but there is a rain forest there. Maybe shipping or airport since it's coastal, but the roads are rather remote. I was thinking that one photo of the water pouring over the roadway looks like a gigantic sluice tray, wonder how much gold they could get from it if it were filtered.
The one with the water going over the road is in Arthur's Pass, one of the main passes across the Southern Alps. Its on the West Coast side of the pass, but is much further south than Denniston. The road comes out at Kumara Junction, which is just south of Greymouth, while Denniston is to the North of Westport. Though I guess, you still are right, and maybe they could get gold from it, I don't know. I've only been on that piece of road a couple of times, but its truly amazing, most of its on solid ground, but the last bit up to the top of the pass, is like in the photo, and in one place goes up the middle of the valley on a viaduct (not sure if thats the right word, but its what comes to mind).
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Nina Lrain1967 # Friday, September 24, 2010 5:20:15 AM
cheekymonkeynz # Saturday, September 25, 2010 1:31:56 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denniston,_New_Zealand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerton,_New_Zealand Millerton is just a little bit further up the coast than Denniston, but there is a small community still living there (The article says 50 still live at Denniston, but I don't think anyone lives there). My step-mum lived at Millerton for a few years while I was at high school and we went to visit one summer - its a neat little place. We had a lot of fun exploring the plateau around there - its such an unusual landscape, mostly just bog except for a few stands of trees, and millions of insect eating plants!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross,_New_Zealand
Nina Lrain1967 # Saturday, September 25, 2010 5:08:27 AM
cheekymonkeynz # Saturday, September 25, 2010 10:48:36 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Pass
http://www.odyssei.com/travel-gallery/14460.html - for a picture of the viaduct thing that isn't really a viaduct