Rotorua

The Rotorua region enjoys a mild temperate climate. Rotorua is situated inland from the coast and is sheltered by high country to the south and east of the city, resulting in less wind than many other places in New Zealand. During the winter months June – August temperatures can drop below 0 °C. Frost is common in Rotorua during its winter months, with an average of 57 ground frosts annually, and 20 nights per year below 0 °C. Snowfall in Rotorua is rare and since the 1970s has only been recorded twice. On 15 August 2011 and 13 July 2017 snowflakes fell in the town centre, and during the July 2017 snowfall, snow accumulated in the nearby Mamaku ranges and in the outer reaches of the district, where snowfall occurs on average once every three years.

Inner suburbs

Outer suburbs

Mud pool, Tikitere ("Hell's Gate"), Rotorua.

The Prince of Wales Feathers thermal spring erupting

Thermal activity is at the heart of much of Rotorua's tourist appeal. Geysers and bubbling mud pools, hot thermal springs and Te Wairoa ("The Buried Village") — so named after it was buried by the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption— are within easy reach of Rotorua.

In Kuirau Park, to the west end of Rotorua, hot bubbling mud pools dot the park.[12] Visitors can soak their feet in hot pools.

A common nickname for Rotorua is "Sulphur City" due to the hydrogen sulphide emissions, which gives the city a smell similar to "rotten eggs",[1] as well as "Rotten-rua" combining its legitimate name and the rotten smell prevalent. Another common nickname is "Roto-Vegas", likening the city's own strip of road flanked by businesses and restaurants to that of Las Vegas.

The especially pungent smell in the central-east 'Te Ngae' area is due to the dense sulphur deposits located next to the southern boundary of the Government Gardens, in the area known as 'Sulphur Point'.

The Rotorua region has 17 lakes, known collectively as the Lakes of Rotorua. Fishing, waterskiing, swimming and other water activities are popular in summer. The lakes are also used for event venues; Rotorua hosted the 2007 World Waterski Championships and Lake Rotorua was the venue for the World Blind Sailing Championships in March 2009.[13] Lake Rotorua is also used as a departure and landing point for float planes.

Rotorua is also home to botanical gardens and historic architecture. Known as a spa town and major tourist resort since the 1800s, many of its buildings hint at this history. Government Gardens, close to the lake-shore at the eastern edge of the town, are a particular point of pride. The Rotorua Museum of Art and History is housed in the large Tudor-style bath house building while the Art Deco style Blue Baths, noted for their embrace of mixed sex bathing in the 1930s, remain open today.

Another of Rotorua's attractions is mountain biking. Whakarewarewa Forest was listed as one of the Top 8 locations globally by Red Bull Magazine in 2012. The forest includes over 100 km of mountain bike trails and in August 2006 was a host of the UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships. In 2015 Rotorua hosted the Southern Hemisphere leg of the Crankworx mountain bike event.

The Rotorua Pistol club is among the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and hosted the 2013 Australasian IPSC Handgun Championship.

The Kaituna River, 15 minutes drive north east of the CBD provides class 5 whitewater kayaking and rafting through a spectacular tree lined gorge.

The region is home to 16 lakes. These are popular for recreation such as boating and fishing. Several of the lakes are stocked for sports fishing with trout from the Fish and Game New Zealand hatchery at Ngongotahā.

Rotorua is served by state highways 5, 30, and 30A, and the Thermal Explorer Highway touring route, with state highways 33 and 36 terminating on the outskirts of the town.

State Highway 5, running concurrently with the Thermal Explorer Highway, is the main north–south route through Rotorua, bypassing the town centre to the west. North of the town at Ngongotahā, State Highway 36 splits off to provide a route to Tauranga via Pyes Pa, while State Highway 5 turns westward, connecting to State Highway 1 at Tīrau and providing the main route into Rotorua from Hamilton and Auckland. To the south, State Highway 5 provides the main route from Taupō, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and Wellington.

State Highway 30 runs southwest to northeast through the town. It enters the town in the southwest (running concurrently with SH 5), before crossing the southern suburbs to the shore of Lake Rotorua east of the town centre. It then runs through the suburb of Te Ngae, before splitting off SH 33 to continue eastwards.

State Highway 30A runs northwest to southeast, connecting State Highways 5 and 30 with each other via the town centre.

Rotorua has a local bus service,[15] with 11 routes under the Baybus brand, serving the urban area, mostly at half hourly intervals,[16] operated by Reesby Buses.[17] Bike racks were introduced in 2017[18] and Bee cards for fares on 27 July 2020.[19] The city is also served by InterCity[20] and Skip buses to many parts of North Island[21] and services to local tourist sites.[22]

Edwin Robertson, who died aged 74 in 1931,[23] started with pack horses in 1869 and ran coaches from 1873.[24] In 1902 the Tauranga route was sold and became Robertson & Co,[25] then, about 1903, Rotorua Motor Coaching Co. Ltd.[26] In 1904 Hot Lakes Transport, which ran trips to Taupo,[27] Waiotapu and all the lakes,[28] and Rotorua Motor Coaching added motor cars to their fleets of coaches.[29] In 1905 E. Robertson & Co moved from Ohinemutu to the new town, close to the new railway station,[24] which remained the main stop until InterCity moved to their stop from Hinemoa / Fenton Street[30] to the Tourism Office in 1995.[31] The last coach ran in 1919.[32] When Hot Lakes Transport's assets were sold in 1920, they had 10 coaches and 3 motor cars.[33] In September of 1920 Rotorua Motor Transport Co. was formed and took over Hot Lakes Transport Co. and Rotorua Motor Coaching Co,[34] continuing with similar services.[35] In 1926 a consortium of local operators formed Rotorua Bus Co.[36] During 1922 Kusab's transport company became K Motors,[32] which was taken over by the railways in 1938.[37] Rotorua Motor Transport and Rotorua Bus Co followed in 1940[38] and all became part of New Zealand Railways Road Services.[26]

Rotorua Regional Airport is located 9 km (6 mi) northeast of the city centre, off State Highway 30. Air New Zealand provides daily turbo-prop flights between Rotorua and Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch airports. Previously Qantas also operated Boeing 737 aircraft from Christchurch, but upon their departure from domestic flights in New Zealand this was discontinued.

Scenic and chartered flights in both helicopters and float planes are operated by Volcanic Air who are based on Rotorua's lake front.

From 2009 to 2015 there was also an international link, with direct Sydney to Rotorua flights.[39]

Rotorua is connected to the rail network by the Rotorua Branch line from Putaruru. Up until 2001, passenger trains ran from Auckland to Rotorua via Hamilton daily using Silver Fern railcars, terminating north of the town centre at Koutu (the original station on Amohau Street was closed and relocated to Koutu in 1989). However, owing to poor advertising of the service and the location of the station being a 15-minute walk from the town centre in an industrial area, passenger services stopped in October 2001. Freight services on the line declined over the decades up until the nightly freight service stopped in 2000, largely due to a continual move of freight and passengers onto road transport using ever-improving highways in the region. The line is currently disused.

Rotorua is home to the central campus of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, which provides a range of Certificate, Diploma and a limited number of degree-level programmes. The largest programmes on offer are Te Reo Māori (Māori language), nursing, forestry, business, computing, tourism and hospitality. Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology is the 3rd largest tertiary education institution in New Zealand with campuses throughout the Bay of Plenty region.

Rotorua has five secondary schools:

• John Paul College, a co-educational, state-integrated Catholic school for Years 7–13 with about 1200 students[40]
• Rotorua Boys' High School, a state boys school for Years 9–13 with about 1000 students[41]
• Rotorua Girls' High School, a state girls school for Years 9–13 with about 600 students[42]
• Rotorua Lakes High School serving the eastern suburbs. A co-educational state school for Years 9–13 with about 700 students[43]
• Western Heights High School serving the western suburbs. A co-educational state school for Years 9–13 with about 1200 students[44]

Students can also attend Te Rangihakahaka Centre for Science and Techbnology, a Māori- and English-medium special character school from Years 1-10.[45] It currently has around 100 students.[46] Students here need to attend a mainstream secondary school or Kura Kaupapa Māori for their senior secondary schooling.

Rotorua has four Kura Kaupapa Māori:

• Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai years 0-13 with about 115 students in eastern Rotorua[47]
• Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Koutu years 0–13 with about 240 students in western Rotorua[48]
• Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Ruamata years 0–13 with about 240 students in semi-rural eastern Rotorua[49]
• Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Hurungaterangi years 0–8 with about 80 students in central Rotorua[50]