Kaikōura

Common card · No. 451969

Kaikōura (; Māori pronunciation: [kaiˈkoːuɾa] ) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on State Highway 1, 180 kilometres (110 mi) north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of 2,350 as of June 2025. Kaikōura is the seat of the territorial authority of the Kaikōura District, which is part of the Canterbury region. In 2023, Kaikōura was named as one of the "most beautiful small towns in the world". Kaikōura was first inhabited by the Māori, with the Ngāi Tahu iwi occupying the area since at least 1670. Europeans began to settle in Kaikōura in the mid-1840s. By the 1850s, land that had been acquired was sold to European settlers, who most often started sheep farms in the area. Mount Fyffe in the Seaward Kaikōura Range is named in honour of Robert Fyffe and his family, the first European settlers in the area. The present town owes its origin to the richness of marine life in the ocean, since it developed as a centre for the...

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