To get to Woods Creek, drive south from Greymouth until you reach the Paroa Hotel/Motel. Then turn left and drive to Shantytown, a further 5km away. From There it is 17km to Woods Creek. The road is sealed for most of the way and passes through the townships of Marsden and Dunganville.

Woods Creek was part of the 19th century New River gold diggings. The track features old workings and tunnels dug by the miners of the day and there are fine examples of New Zealand's great trees including Rimu, Totara and Kahikatia. The 1km track takes 45 minutes to walk for anyone fit enough to manage the few stairways that link the sections of the track. We recommend you take something to eat and drink, strong footwear and a reliable torch to explore the tunnels.

Woods Creek is full of insect and bird life. The most prominent insects (apart from the occasional sandflies) are the harmless long-legged Wetas that occupy mine tunnels where the main source of glitter nowdays is glow worms. Bird number tend to vary according to the seasons. At the car park you will often be visited by a flightless Weka. Fantails flit about skilfully catching insects and other bird species such as the tiny Grey Warbler, Brown Crawler, Rifleman, Native Pigeon, Bellbird and Tui can also often be seen.

Picks, Shovels and blasting powder were used to drive through sandstone to reach the gold-bearing gravel. This gravel was pushed out in small trucks and dumped in a bin to await washing to extract the gold. Large stones were cleaned and stacked inside the tunnels. The gravel was washed through a sluicebox to extract the gold. In some cases this could only be done after rain.