From Oamaru to Timaru
North of Oamaru, via Waimate, is the town of Timaru. Attractions include the incredible Te Ana (‘The Cave’) rock drawing museum.
FROM Oamaru, I drove north to the similarly-named town of Timaru.
The towns are twins in some ways. They’re both local ports founded in colonial times, with plenty of colonial architecture. And both seem to take their names from the same source, the Māori word maru.
By one account the source is Maru with a capital M, an ancestral hero of the local Māori iwi (tribes) and hapu (bands). In this version, Timaru is short for te Tihi-o-Maru, the topknot of Maru. Oamaru is short for te Oha-a-Maru, the gift of Maru.
Others say that the source is maru with a little m, in the sense of a good spot to camp or haul boats ashore.
And there are other explanations, of possibly dwindling credibility compared to the two main theories.
Whatever the precise origin of its name, Timaru sits toward the southern end of the great…
