Cool New Attraction

NZ is making another quality addition to its roll call of tourist attractions with the development of a state-of-the-art glacier museum on the South Island’s west coast. The NZ$6.5 million Hukawai Franz Josef Glacier Centre will feature a 200 sqm 10m high ice-climbing wall and a walk-through glacier exhibit designed and built by Wellington company 3-D Creative. The climbing wall will be the just fifth of its kind in the world and the first in the southern hemisphere. “Most income will come from the walk-through exhibit, but the real interest is in the ice-climbing wall,” said Hukawai general manager Steve Henery in Stuff. “We’ll be tapping into a novice ice-climbing market, and a big part of the experience will be instruction by trained guides before any climb.”