Thanks everyone for all the comments and tips, this is a great forum :)
AZBuck - thanks for informing us about the road works, definitely sounds that we'll need to take that into account and do a bit more planning to what's the best route for us to take!
Southwest Dave, thanks for giving us tips how to see more on this trip. I feel it might be a bit too much driving versus spending time hiking and seeing the parks, but I'll definitely check it out with a good map :)
Cheers everyone, very much looking forward to our trip now!