Oxbow Adventure Co will offer rides in jetsprint boats, 4WD off-road buggies and claybird shooting on a site next to State Highway 6 on Mt Rosa Station, between Queenstown and Cromwell.
Earthworks on the 17ha site, mainly for the formation of a jetsprint pond and islands, have been completed, business partner Darb Richmond says.
"It’s all gone pretty smoothly; we were lucky with the weather in winter, so we got the bulk of the earthworks smashed out."
The area had been sown with grass, and the first stage of a landscaping project that will include the planting of about 15,000 natives — would begin this month.
A workshop would be finished by the end of the month, and the park’s main reception building was expected to be completed by the end of March, Mr Richmond said.
The 1ha, man-made pond has five islands, which the jetsprint boats will weave around. The park will also have 4WD tracks and a claybird shooting station.
Three jetsprint boats, designed and built by seven-time world jetsprint champion Peter Caughey, will take their passengers from 0 to 100kmh in two seconds.
The four-seater off-road buggies, designed by national off-road champion Dan Cowper, are expected to be finished next month.
Mr Richmond said 15 people would be employed to run the day-to-day operation, and driver training for the jet-boats and buggies would begin in March.
His business partners are Tim Bayliss and Lloyd Ferguson, both of Wanaka.
Mr Ferguson, who is Mr Richmond's father-in-law, founded Oxbow on his Wanaka property, operating there for five years until 2017, when the decision was made to relocate nearer to Queenstown to capture a larger slice of the tourist market.
