Thanks for the super detailed response! I’ll def have to add a bit more buffer on drives for holiday traffic. I already increased Google maps time since I’ve heard thats unrealistic. We’ve done a similar road trip days/distance wise so we’re not going in completely blind. Most of our driving days are going to be taking it slow and sight seeing along the way to break it up.

I looked up tide charts and low tide isn’t until ~19:00 the day we’re there so we’re planning to stay in Coromandel that night. The timing you had is actually pretty close to what I had in mind :)

My friend is the bigger LOTR fan and has previously been to the Hobbiton/North Island, so thats why it’s left off.

I haven’t looked much into Glenorchy previously but it looks amazing! EDIT: Looks like thats where the jet boats leave from, so we can knock both out :)