Currie won the race through a dogged run and ended up just over half a minute clear at the finish line.
The 30-year-old sat fifth at the end of the bike leg and took an eye-catching 33-second victory from fellow Kiwi Mike Phillips in a hard-fought tussle.
Currie said he just wanted to stay handy on the bike.
"I just had to do what I could do on the bike and know that if I could remain within striking distance on the run then I would have a chance," he said.
"I put an effort in to put 200m on Mike [Phillips] and I thought I was running well and he would be happy to sit there but he wasn’t and it was a big surprise to see him run up beside me. I took my time and then put down the hammer 5km out and knew I had to hang on."
American Meredith Kessler won the women’s race by 8sec, ahead of British athlete Laura Siddell.
With cool conditions and a stunning glass lake greeting the athletes at the start, it was Currie who established early control of the race by climbing out of Lake Taupo with fellow New Zealander Mark Bowstead.
Bowstead opened up a one-and-a-half-minute lead on the bike from a three-strong group of Phillips, American Drew Scott and Australian Lachlan Kerin. Currie had dropped back to fifth overall, more than three minutes down.
Currie, though, refused to panic.
By quarter-distance on the run he had hauled himself up to third, within 38sec of the leader, Phillips, and after hitting the front just before halfway he strode out to victory in 3hr 52min 44sec from Christchurch-based Phillips, who was 33sec back.
In the battle for the final podium spot, Scott, who held third for much of the run faded in the latter stages, giving Australia’s former Olympic rower Todd Skipworth third place in 3:56.56.
