Husband of teacher caught in Mount Maunganui landslide managed to escape slip

Tuesday, 27 January 2026

The husband of one of the victims of the Mount Maunganui landslide managed to escape the slip while his wife remains missing, presumed dead.

Travis Maclennan is the husband of Lisa Maclennan and teaches at Cambridge Middle School.

In a social media post on Tuesday night, the school said that the couple were both involved in the slip last Thursday.

“It is with great sadness that we advise that Room 01 teacher Mr Mac and his wife were involved in the slip at Mt Maunganui last week,” the post read.

“Mr Mac managed to get out safely but his wife is one of the six people still missing after the incident.

“This is a very difficult time for Mr Mac and we know that you will join us in supporting him and his family,” the post concluded.

Maclennan’s wife, Lisa, who is also a teacher, is being hailed as a hero after warning other campers about the potential for slips.

Maclennan reportedly woke many holidaygoers at 5am to warn them that the bank above the camp was starting to crumble.

Lance Macfarlane told the NZ Herald he was asleep with his daughter in a tent when McClennan got them out of bed early Thursday.

“I think she saved us. We could have been asleep if she didn’t wake us up. I could have been still there sleeping when the big one came down,” he said.

Macfarlane said Maclennan was staying in a campervan next to his tent. She told him her camper was hit by a small slip in the night, and she wanted to ensure he was safe.

Macfarlane said Maclennan managed to get some of the other campers to move away from the base of the mountain.

“She was warning everyone that there were slips and she recommended that they move.

“She said it felt like an earthquake [when mud hit her campervan]. She told me if she didn’t wake me up and warn us that something happened, that it would forever be in the back of her mind.

“I think she’s a hero. She has done her best but ended up being caught in it,” he said.

Maclennan was a literacy centre tutor at Morrinsville Intermediate School.

Six people are presumed dead as a result of the landslide that came down on the Mount Maunganui campground.

Efforts to recover those people are still ongoing, in an operation expected to take days, if not weeks.