Outdoor activities draw retirees here

Liz Stewart (left) and Bob and Diane Whyte found the perfect possie to enjoy the thundercat racing with at Tay St beach yesterday. Photo / George Novak

The thrills and spills of thundercats proved another good reason why two ex-Waikato couples chose Mount Maunganui for their retirement.

Doug and Liz Stewart and Diane and Bob Whyte set themselves up on the perfect natural grandstand overlooking the Tay St thundercats beach circuit yesterday and soaked up the atmosphere.

"Something is always happening, it's thrilling," Mr Stewart said about the spectacle of the surfcross racing around a 1km in-shore circuit.

All four have spent their summer holidays at Tauranga and the Mount since childhood, so there was really no choice when their working lives at Morrinsville came to an end.

They've joined the thousands of other Waikato people who turned their favourite holiday destination into the perfect place to retire.

Mrs Stewart, whose parents owned a bach that's still there on the corner of Bureta Rd and Kulim Ave, said they chose the Mount because of the many activities.

"If I was still in Morrinsville, what would I be doing today?" she said rhetorically.

And it was a four-seasons decision. Instead of being confined to indoors during Morrinsville's famous foggy winters, she was outside walking along the beach.

Mrs Whyte, who had been coming to the Mount for holidays since she was 7 years old, said there was plenty to do in Tauranga, such as fishing.

"There are lots of free activities for outdoor people like swimming and walking," she said.