The settlement stands at 500 metres above sea level, some 25 kilometres from Ranfurly, to which it is connected by both road and the Otago Central Rail Trail long-distance walking track.

[2] In 1905, the township comprised a post and telegraph office, a store, a hotel near the railway station, a school, coal pits and a flour mill.

[2] In 1967 members of the Otago Anthropological Society surveyed a large area to the east of the town, revealing evidence of quarrying and production of flake knives done in the twelfth century.

[4] The Idaburn Dam, located 3 km southwest of Oturehua along the Ida Valley Omakau Road is used for curling bonspiels when conditions permit.

It is also the site of the annual mid-winter Brass Monkey Motorcycle Rally, which was held until 2021, though many motorcyclists continue to make a pilgrimage to the site on Kings Birthday Weekend of their own volition, out of tradition The Otago Central Rail Trail runs through Oturehua, adjacent the Ida Valley Omakau Road.