Firstly, You can only smell the sulphur in certain parts of town, mainly in the town centre. It is only noticeable when you first arrive, then you hardly notice it at all.
Secondly, There is lots of free things to do like visit the Redwoods, Lake front, walking tracks, biking tracks etc.......There are also lots of Rotorua attractions that are heavily discounted for locals.
Hamilton is OK for shopping or visiting but wouldn't want to live there, Same for Cambridge.
As you can probably tell we are slightly biased where Rotorua is concerned! We like it here, its working for us, and we have no intention of living anywhere else..................at the moment!