All tourists that were in Rotorua - they were 98% Chinese and 2% maori - spent the day in the park by the lake sunbathing or trying to pedal with the water wheel wearing a life-jacket even though the depth of the water was no more than a meter. I suppose they were instructed to pedal only along the shore as they looked so disoriented that if they were left to go wherever they wanted the possibility to get lost or drawn was huge. As there was nothing to be done we decided to go hiking and then spend the afternoon in the geyser park. The most famous hike was to the top of the 'Rainbow mountain' and it sounded really seductive with that awesome name so we did not think twice and climbed it. To be honest we saw neither rainbow nor the promised yellow-orange colors of the rocks but the view from the top was worth it. The paths were also really nice organized - if you are with a bike, then you climb up along with the hikers, but for the way down there is a one way strictly downhill route so that the possibility to run over someone is minimal :)
Next stop was the hot pools park in Rotorua. There are a few parks where you can see the geysers but as i said they were closed due to the holidays and even if they were not i doubt that we would have paid the money they charged for entrance as they seemed really a lot so we went to walk around in Kuirau (i have no idea how this name is pronounced, it was quite a struggle with the Maori names) According to the legend in early 1800s the lake in the center of the park was cooler and was known as Taokahu. One day a beautiful young woman was bathing in the water when a dragon dragged her in his lair below the lake. The gods were very angry and made the lake boil so that the dragon would be destroyed forever. Since then, the bubbling lake and the streaming land around is known as Kuirau. If you want to feel like the dragon when the water started boiling there are some free foot baths in the park where you can put your feet in the hot water, and if you do not want to get wet you can have a picnic on the picnic tables or just walk around the paths and admire the bubbling mud
We woke up really early on the next morning as we had to travel to Matamata from where the Hobbiton tour was supposed to begin. Or at least this is what we thought but after we showed our tickets to the lady she said that our tour is reserved from the farm entrance and we have about 10 min to travel 20km if we do not want to miss it. Well with the awful speed limits in New Zealand we could not get there on time, actually we were only 5 min late but the bus was already gone so we could either cancel the tour or take one from 10.30. We rescheduled for 10.30 even though the agreement with the rental company was to return the car at noon in Auckland which was definitely impossible to happen. But it was better to pay an additional day for the car rather than miss Hobbiton. After we waiting for about half an hour i decided to ask the guide for the next tour if she could take us if there are some free slots. Fortunately for us, some people did not show up so we managed to hop on the 10 o'clock tour. Why didn't i think of this earlier....But anyway, all of a sudden the fairy-tale began and we found ourselves in Tolkien's Middle Earth. It was thousand times better that watching it on a movie, it felt so real that i was expecting to see a hobbit opening some door and walking out of his hobbit hole. It was awesome and was worth it every cent
In my case - root beer