Stony and Britannia Streams

This is one of seventeen areas set aside in the South Island where anyone can freely enjoy panning for gold (fossicking) without a mining permit. Fossicking is searching for and collecting materials from the land surface or by digging by hand. You can picnic and camp here. Though there is very little left of the 1888 town of Birchfield, named for one of the Coast's prominent mining families, there is still a great beach for horseriding and dog walking on the coast just near this gold panning spot.