Thanks for the thoughtful responses everyone. I am confident about meeting the 184 day minimum & the 2 year minimum for my Residency Visa. I think what my concerns are more specific to are:
1) How does INZ acertain whether your "primary residence" is in NZ if you split time between two countries (while still meeting the 184 day minimum in NZ)?
2) Are there any issues to applying for Permanent Residency from overseas? It appears to me that as long as I send in my PR application within 3 months after I've held my Residency visa for 24 months (meeting the 184 day requirement in NZ for each of the 2 years beforehand) I'm in the clear. However, on my visa it reads that my conditions are: "Visa is invalid if holder is outside NZ with expired travel conditions." Am I still able to say that I've "met my Visa Conditions", if I allow my travel permissions to expire while in Canada, and wait for a PR approval before returning to NZ?
Thanks heaps for your help. I really appreciate your time.