We were in the midst of the Tinman Triathlon as we left Mt Maunganui this morning – literally, as the race went through and around our campground. The name is a play on words because the event follows the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, and it conforms to standards in distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike, and 10k run). They had 650 competitors for the event. We thought about entering but we didn’t bring our bikes on this trip. Bob did do some beach running when we arrived at our campground this afternoon.

We had a pleasant drive to Waihi Beach. We stopped to buy veggies and strawberries at a roadside “honesty stand” and they were delicious with our lunch, dinner and dessert.

Our campground is on a beach but it isn’t as big as Mt Maunganui’s beaches. The tide was out when we arrived so we took a nice walk on the hardpacked sand.

Our campground has a great pool/spa area surrounded by flowers. There is a little stream that runs through the park and out to the sea, and there are “pet eels” that live in the stream and wait for handouts from the campers. Some of them are quite large, so I was careful not to let them get my fingers.