Timaru (Maori: Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a major port city in the southern Canterbury region of New Zealand, located 157 kilometres southwest of Christchurch and about 196 kilometres northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru District, a territorial authority of 46,850 people (2013 census) in and around Timaru City (31,205), includes a prosperous agricultural hinterland with links to smaller rural communities such as Pleasant Point (1,190), Temuka (4,247), and Geraldine (2,574). The town of Waimate is about 43 kilometres to the south just off the main highway to Oamaru and Dunedin.