We cancelled 2 trips to New Zealand due to Covid (!!!!) We now have all our bookings set
When we arrive, we are staying at Whitianga for 5 nights

Rt 25 and 25A which circle the outside of the lower part of the peninsula is said to be very scenic.

Questions
clockwise or counter clockwise
suggestions for stops along the way

I really envy you, Wrenwood. We made a big mistake when we arrived in NZ only giving ourselves one night on the Coromandel Peninsular on our way to Napier, and though we saw some of it [as it happens the lower half] it was by no means long enough. We stayed in Thames in a great B&B with a lovely garden, friendly hosts and terrific food [leaving there after one night was a definite error] and at their suggestion took a circuitous route to Napier by driving up to Tapu, then across to the east coast and south to Napier. This was when we started to realise that we had probably been too ambitious [typical British understatement] as it took a "good" 7 hours excluding stops to get there. What we did see was beautiful.