The Antarctic Heritage Trust will spend an estimated $NZ18 million over the next six years restoring the hut at Cape Evans erected by Captain Robert Falcon Scott in 1910, along with the 9000 items still inside.
It was a popular misconception the hut and its contents had been frozen in time, Christchurch-based trust executive director Nigel Watson said in Dunedin yesterday.
So far, conservators had encountered floods, snow drifts and something unexpected in the driest continent in the world - high humidity - caused by 40 cu m of ice freezing and thawing below the hut's floor.
The ice has now been removed.
Mr Watson said he was in awe of the "stunningly clever" results conservators were achieving, including rebuilding broken bottles and jars, repairing torn paper labels and drying out wooden storage crates.
"I am amazed at their skills . . . and their passion and enthusiasm for what they are doing in a logistically challenging environment."
Mr Watson was in Dunedin to update the 2008 Antarctic Conference on the trust's work.
The trust was established in 1987 to conserve Carsten Borchgrevink's hut at Cape Adare, Scott's huts at Hut Point and Cape Evans and Ernest Shackelton's hut at Cape Royds.
By the early 2000s, the trust realised it was losing the battle, he said.
"The rate of decay was exceeding the rate of conservation."
An intensive conservation project was launched by Princess Anne in 2002 and, since then, the restoration of Shackelton's hut and 4500 individual items had been completed.
The project had attracted contributions from many governments, corporations and individuals, Mr Watson said.
"The unique history of the huts resonates with people. "These are international heritage sites but that brings with it international responsibilities."
The huts were not owned by any person or any country, but the New Zealand Government issued permits and keys to tourists and scientists wishing to inspect them, he said.
About 30,000 tourists visited the Antarctic annually, but fewer than 1000 visited the Ross Sea area.
However, the Internet had brought a new generation of "virtual visitors" for the huts, and renewed interest in the conservation project, he said.
