blackwater international coal centre

Not impressed - it is shut on weekends (seems strange for a tourist venue). The Japanese Gardens were fenced off and locked so we could not access them. A big disappointment because we were looking forward to this.

They do a tour to the actual Mine on Wednesdays 10am and 1pm and on Fridays at 10am (weather permitting). $25/adult, $15/child, $19/snr cit. You spend an hour at the Mine on a viewing platform.The Centre is very interesting and has models, pictures and film clips throughout. The 2 ladies who run it are so, so very nice and make the whole thing a very pleasant experience. Because we were doing the Mine Tour, I'm not sure if you have to pay to look at all the exhibits at the Centre but I would imagine so.There is a Subway at the Centre too for those that are hungry.Was well worth a visit.

This is interesting for those who visit the area and want to know about the coal mining industry and the history

This facility is a multipurpose facility with a nice little cafe, cinema, very large and equiped meeting room, and local history/coal history walkthrough tour. I would recommend, if you have the time, purchasing the double ticket for the local history/coal history tour at the facility and the tour of an actual mine site. I would arrive mid morning and do the walk through local history/coal history tour (takes about 2 hours), have lunch at the cafe, and take the actual mine site tour in the afternoon (takes about 3 to 4 hours). Another tip, if you can go through the week rather than the weekend as the mine site is a more active! The tour guides are very knowledgable, enthusuastic, and fun. If you are lucky, and there is time, the tour bus driver will take you for a tour around town too. Finally, no drinking before doing this one because they do random breath tests before entering the mine site. Bring some closed in shoes (mandatory) and a hat for when out in the sun. In all, it is a 3/4 of a day activity.