"It’s not going to be open this year, but I’d like to think it will be open next summer ... I think that’s still realistic," Mr Martin told the Otago Daily Times this week.
But the design detailed in the Waitaki District Council’s 69-page Oamaru Adventure Park Market Summary & Design, published in November last year, showing a zipline "beginning high above the quarry, flying over the Oamaru Harbour and landing safely on the historic breakwater" was just one option, Mr Martin said.
"We don’t want it to be onerous in terms of consenting, we don’t want too much of a risk involved; we want to know before we submit for consent that we’ve got a good chance of getting it.
"We don’t want to be blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that’s just not worth it."
Last month, the Otago Daily Times reported BirdLife Australia’s Australasian Seabird Group and Forest & Bird had concerns a zipline could threaten a number of bird species at the harbour, including the rare Otago shag, Otago’s only endemic bird species. Mr Martin said this week that while the company believed that route would not affect the birds nesting on Sumpter Wharf, nevertheless, if it did pursue an alternative route, "it will impact them even less".
The proposed reopening of the Department of Conservation’s Graves Track, along the eastern tip of Cape Wanbrow, was now "off the agenda".
Bringing the track up to a safe standard would be expensive and could be disruptive to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony at the old quarry site.
Early this month, the company updated councillors on its plans and met the council’s property team for "initial conversations" about leasing land on Cape Wanbrow.
Council property manager Renee Julius said it had asked for more information and any proposals would involve the council’s Harbour Area Committee.
Waitaki deputy mayor Melanie Tavendale said any attraction would need to "fit in around the future of the harbour".
Oamaru Adventure Park director Alan McLay said that when he was mayor, he "looked seriously" at a bungy jumping operation over the old quarry to attract younger tourists.
"And 10 years ago, the demographics regarding tourism was just all wrong. It’s totally changed now, and I believe to make the balance, and to feed our tourism right across the wider balance, this [a zipline] would be wonderful."
