We headed to Oamaru Hut from Taharua Road last week near Taupo it was a 4 hour hike in and 12 km. We got 30 min away from the hut on dusk and found and nice spot by the river and camped the night there instead we never made it to the hut. This is a great hike to do if you want a relatively flat hike, with beautiful scenery.
for mor info on exploring the kamanawa visti here https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/tongariro-taupo/kaimanawa-forest-park-brochure.pdf
This area is so amazing to explore parts are difficult and advanced its great for hunting and fishing and hunter’s even pay a hellicopter to take them deep into the forest, as one of the carpark entrances to the hut is by an airfield. This is an amazing place to hike the terance is diffeent to most hikes and the Mokaha river is beautiful and greqt for trout fishing.