Yes dear friends, you were right, it really stinks in Rotorua!!!

After we had already heard from some acquaintances that Rotorua smells like rotten eggs, we were finally able to convince ourselves and YES, it stinks badly here.

Already when we reached Rotorua from Te Puke via the R33 and briefly opened our window, we noticed the sulfur-rich air and it was clear to us that here, in one of the most dynamic thermal areas, we would expect a lot.

Our first day in Rotorua took us directly to the city center, where we strolled through the city center from Kuirau Park (an impressive volcanic area in the middle of the city center that can be visited for free).

Of course, you should always treat yourself to something in between, so we had lunch at the Indian restaurant. In the afternoon, we also stopped by a viewpoint that was on the way to our campsite. From there, we had a wonderful view of the light blue crater lake in the Rainbow Mountains.

The next day, we visited Kerosene Creek, which was recommended to us by Susi. We wanted to get there relatively early to avoid the rush, as we had already noticed the day before that Rotorua is one of the tourist cities in New Zealand. When we arrived at the parking lot, we were pleasantly surprised to see only two other cars there.

So we made our way and walked along a small path that led to the river. Domi was immediately excited, but I was initially skeptical because I had been freezing all night and didn't feel like stepping into a river that might be cold *mimimi*. When I stuck my little toe in the water, I was delighted: the water had the perfect bathtub temperature. 

We liked it so much there that we spent the whole morning there. Soaked to the last pore, we left the river again towards the city center. In the afternoon, our path led us to one of the many lakes around Rotorua and we enjoyed one of the rare sunny days here in New Zealand.

The next morning it rained and we wanted to go to the library. On the way there, we had an incident with a young man who had taken an overdose of drugs and was lying on the floor in a cramped position, it was terrible to see and all we could do was call the emergency doctor and the police - here in New Zealand many people are addicted to drugs and it seemed to us that the emergency services were used to such incidents.

However, it shocked us so much that we talked about this incident for a long time and treated ourselves to a little relaxation in the Polynesian Spa in the afternoon (thank you again Karin - it was great!).

Now there was one last TO-DO on our list: namely the legendary Redwood Forest. The magical forest is located 3 kilometers outside of Rotorua and mighty coast redwood trees give the park its magical charm.

We chose the Pohaturoa Track for our exploration and were very lucky that we could see the 'Whaka' (a thermal park) directly from a vantage point and there we could see the eruption of a geyser.

After that little walk, we spent the day at Lake Okaro. In the evening, we left Rotorua knowing that this area is one of the most popular holiday regions in New Zealand for a reason and has a lot to offer.