Good 2-3 day trip on North Island August-Sept?

For the loop I was talking about Umukarikari track -> Waipahiki Hut -> back on Urchin Track, not going down to the river (and so yeah it's a half-loop actually), seems a bit easier. Thanks for the info, will try to organize that now :)

Just be aware that the track from the Umakarikari range to Urchin is quite long and will probably take about 4 hours to reach the Urchin car park. It is then a 5km road walk back to Umakarikari carp ark so could make for a long day.

OK thanks, that's what I thought :)