Oaro is a settlement close to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Coast of north

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

of New Zealand. Oaro is within Kaikoura District on

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

and on the

South Island Main Trunk The Main North Line between Picton and Christchurch and the Main South Line between Lyttelton and Invercargill, running down the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, are sometimes together referred to collectively as the South Isla ...

railway, 20 kilometres south of Kaikoura. It lies on a small flood plain close to the mouth of the Oaro River, which reaches the ocean just to the north of Oaro. The headland of Piripaua (Spyglass Point) and the associated Haumuri Bluff are located just to the south of the settlement. There is some conjecture about Oaro's etymology, though it is definitely

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

; it has been suggested that it could mean "the place at the front", "the place of swamp", or "the place of a wish". Alternatively it could mean "The place of Aro", which may have been the name of a prominent local Māori individual. The area around Oaro was badly affected by the

2016 Kaikoura earthquake Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...

.Daly, M.,
Kaikoura Earthquake tsunami was as high as 7 metres at one spot
" ''stuff.co.nz'', 28 March 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.

References

Kaikōura District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand {{CanterburyNZ-geo-stub