The population of Rotorua is just under 70,000 people. Around 35 percent of the population are Maori, and you will notice a number of Marae’s around Rotorua. If you are interested in culture, then you will have a treat. There are a number of activities you can take part in, including the hangi which is a traditional Maori way of cooking food under the earth. There are Maori performances, and you will see ‘poi’s’ and sticks being used in ceremonial dances. Tamaki village is located just outside the city and is one of the more popular destinations for authentic experiences.
If you decide (like so many people) that a visit is simply not enough, and that you fancy living in Rotorua, then your first thought will be to purchase a house or business in Rotorua that you can take over. The Rightmove website lists properties on their website. Rightmove have produced a guide for buying property in New Zealand. They also provide realty fact sheets on New Zealand, including information on visas. Now if you are interested in finding out how you can obtain New Zealand Citizenship, visit the New Zealand government website for Department of Internal Affairs.
For a range of opportunities or properties it is always a good idea to check out the English magazine for high society called ‘The Lady‘ that features service positions and properties abroad. A local New Zealand website that lists properties for sale and rentals is called Trademe and is a general auction site so to find properties just click on ‘properties’ or ‘rentals’. If you want to get really local, then check out New Zealand’s realty website aptly named Real Estate. In New Zealand you can purchase properties either through a real estate agent, a Solicitor, or by private sale. To see the rules governing real estate agents you should refer to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.
Before you plunge into the property market, you may instead prefer to plan a long holiday instead, in which case you may need to rent property. You will find these properties on the holiday lettings website. You might be interested in working in the tourist industry yourself, and managing and running a bed and breakfast or motel or hotel. If you look around there will be bound to be opportunities, to either run the place for free accommodation, or to buy a lease and run as your own business, or the purchase outright.
For a pictorial overview of what Rotorua has to offer, the tourism body ‘Destination Rotorua’ has produced a series of short videos.
A large number of tourists to Rotorua are from Korea.
So the tourist body have also produced videos in a number of different languages including Korean.
German lanuage video on Rotorua.
…. and in French
…. and in Spanish
… and in Chinese
… and finally, in Japanese.
For more information on sights to see and things to do in Rotorua refer to the Rotorua Visitor’s Guide that you can view or download in pdf Adobe Reader.
Alice Letts 