{"id":256681,"date":"2026-01-28T23:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256681\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:41:20","slug":"ive-loved-our-mt-maunganui-camping-trips-but-this-years-will-haunt-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/256681\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve loved our Mt Maunganui camping trips, but this year’s will haunt me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karyn Henger reflects on the magic of her annual holidays at the Mount and why this year’s felt different from the beginning. <\/p>\n

\u201cHey, it\u2019s lucky you went to the hot pools yesterday because there\u2019s a campervan in there now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was my first clue to the terrible landslide that took six lives at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park<\/a> on January 22 \u2013 despite the fact I was there, less than 100m away.<\/p>\n

\"Karyn<\/p>\n

Karyn Henger’s campsite circled at the base of the mount, the slip was near the pools to the left. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

My son Mikey and I have holidayed at the campground<\/a> with a group of my old schoolfriends every January since 2021. We loved it because it was so central. You could wander into town to look around the shops, try out the caf\u00e9s or spend the day swimming at the beach. There was always something to do, and every morning started with a walk up Mauao.<\/p>\n

\"Karyn<\/p>\n

Karyn on a morning walk to the top of the Mount with friends Todd and Sarah (left) and Debbie (far right). <\/p>\n

This year we arrived on Saturday January 17, excited for our five days ahead. But right from the start, things felt off. A rahui had been placed at Pilot Bay for a swimmer who\u2019d died during a triathlon that day<\/a>. The forecast for the week was cooler temperatures and rain<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019d always had great weather before. And for the first time since purchasing it four years ago, our friends\u2019 gazebo succumbed to high winds and collapsed, beyond repair.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A collapsed gazebo due to high winds at Mt Maunganui. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

We remained optimistic, painting by numbers and solving sudoku puzzles in the afternoons when we\u2019d normally be swimming. But by Tuesday gloomy skies had set in and on Wednesday January 21, we woke to rain so heavy, Mikey and I decided the only thing for it was to spend the day eating.<\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/p>\n

Bad weather in the day’s leading up to the Mt Maunganui tragedy. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Dumplings, salt and pepper squid, cauliflower bites and sticky chicken wings at Rice Rice Baby were followed by a relaxing soak in the rain at the hot pools then burgers at the Mount Ocean Sports Club. We received a red heavy rain warning<\/a> for the Bay of Plenty at lunchtime, but no notifications or warnings from our hosts at the campground, so had no reason to believe we were in danger.<\/p>\n

Awaking to the sound of a waterfall<\/p>\n

Thursday morning, we woke to the sound of what we thought was more rain, but it turned out to be a waterfall coming off the Mount, just a metre behind our cabin. Still no word from our hosts, though, other than barriers to stop people using the walking tracks. We walked along the surf beach, got back around 9am, had showers and packed to go home. We were due to leave that day anyway.<\/p>\n

Sometime between 9.30am and 10am my friends came running up through the campground from Adams Ave and told us there\u2019d been a landslide on the Pilot Bay side<\/a> of the campground. They said a campervan was in one of the hot pools and that they\u2019d seen mud still flowing down the slope. Out of nowhere, a rescue helicopter appeared, police began combing the grounds and holiday makers streamed down onto the street. <\/p>\n

\"Karyn's<\/p>\n

Karyn’s friend photographed the chaos and arrival of a helicopter on the morning of January 21. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

The atmosphere was charged. Feeling confused and unsafe, we threw the last of our gear in the car and got out of there. A police officer took our names at the gate.<\/p>\n

\"Mass<\/p>\n

Mass exodus: Police take names as campers stream out of the grounds. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Driving past the hot pools we saw brown water pouring out onto the street. The hillside behind looked messy, and everything felt skewed, like the world had tipped sideways. It wasn\u2019t till I heard the news reports on our three-hour drive back to Auckland that I realised the magnitude of what had happened<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t believe that we might have just escaped with our lives. I couldn\u2019t believe that people might be dead.<\/p>\n

One week on, I can\u2019t stop thinking about the people who died<\/a>. Two best friends who\u2019d camped at the Mount together for years. They would have looked forward to those holidays just as my old friends and I did. Two beautiful teens with their whole lives ahead of them. Just a few months younger than my son, their smiles and poses in their pictures just like his. The young Swedish tourist made me think of my oldest daughter, in the Netherlands right now, discovering the world, just as he had been. A well-loved teacher who saved the lives of many by waking them and warning them of the dangers, only to be taken by the landslide herself.<\/p>\n

\"Karyn<\/p>\n

Karyn and 16-year-old Mikey have camped at the Mount for years. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

These people should never have died, and I don\u2019t know how you get over that \u2013 as a parent, a friend, a sibling, as their child. It seems to me that there were opportunities to prevent this tragedy, dating back years but also right up until the hours and minutes beforehand. <\/p>\n

When you put a family campground at the base of a mountain, you have a duty of care to the families who stay there. Was that duty of care adequate? The families of those who lost their lives deserve answers and hopefully council and government inquiries will provide them. <\/p>\n

As to whether my friends and I return to the Mount, I’m undecided. We have such happy memories of the place, but now they’re tinged with tragedy. <\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including demand surges for ambulances, a US politician is attacked, and a record breaking two year old. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karyn Henger reflects on the magic of her annual holidays at the Mount and why this year’s felt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5901,42,43,2114,384,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-256681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-1news-recommends","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-opinion","12":"tag-people","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}