queenstown
Queenstown Marathon, which bills itself as the‘ world’ s most beautiful marathon’. This might well be true, but it has stiff competition from other running events held in town. The Shotover Moonlight Marathon follows sheep tracks and historic mining water races through mountainous terrain near Queenstown. Climbing more than 8,200 feet, tracking along razor-sharp ridges and sliding down scree slopes, this is one of the most demanding and spectacular mountain marathons in New Zealand. The Motatapu is another epic one-day event that offers the chance to mountain bike or trail run through high country terrain between Wanaka and Queenstown. And it’ s hard to beat the Routeburn Classic, a 20- mile adventure run through two national parks, following the Routeburn Track from Mount Aspiring National Park to Fiordland National Park.
FOOD & DRINK
New Zealand doesn’ t have a distinct cuisine, as such. Instead, it produces the finestquality ingredients; beef and lamb from sprawling high-country stations, crayfish from the wild waters of remote Fiordland and oysters from Bluff, on the southernmost coast of the South Island. Queenstown’ s fine-dining restaurants— of which there are many— focus on elevating quality ingredients from Otago and beyond.
At Amisfield, chef Vaughan Mabee presents a tasting menu that reads as a long list of ingredients, and sometimes just places, rather than dishes. Items include‘ wild hare’,‘ the whole beast’, and simply‘ rocks’. Each dish tends to highlight one flavor, and the result is sometimes provocative. Eel is served alongside its skeleton. Wild boar mortadella is shaped to look like a boar’ s snout.
Queenstown’ s finedining restaurants— of which there are many— focus on elevating quality ingredients from Otago and beyond
Clockwise from right: Private dining room at Amisfield restaurant; bouillabaisse at Gibbston Valley Winery; picking lodge vines at Gibbston Valley Winery
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