Thanks for the tips!
The Special K tri has now become a duathlon, which I'm definitely going for - and I'm going to bite the bullet and enter the She triathlon in April (which I think has taken over from the Special K event).

I went on my training ride early this morning and actually found myself in the middle of a triathlon along Tamaki Drive in Auckland! That was so cool, the road was closed to cars, but not bikes, so I suddenly found myself in the middle of all the excitement! I was quite disappointed I didn't know about it beforehand, as I might have trained for it (although in reality, I know I need to really work on my swimming first).

Thanks for the tip about the pool at Newmarket - it's literally a 2 minute walk from my house, and I've been building up my swimming there as the 50 metre lengths are quite a challenge; the lane-only swimming at specific speeds is fantastic - no little old ladies bobbing in front of you in twos, like little old ducks!