I did the CTC Wings course and as part of the NZ PPL we had, at a guess 15-20 hours of solo GH time, in the local area.
The vast majority of the solo GH time was spent practicing PFLs and the complete stalling package. Steep turns for 20 hours would get fairly tedious! Navigation (both dual and solo) came after, at about 40 hours into the PPL.
I have no problem in practicing solo all of the GH manoeuvres that you are supposed to demonstrate on your test. You don't (or rather, shouldn't) need an instructor to critique every aspect of every PFL if you have been taught how to do it properly to start with. Of course the solo time was built around some more dual instruction but this was where you could hopefully demonstrate how your technique is improving with continued practice. The instructor could then offer more advice and improvements for you to work on solo.
We did 3 hours of dual aerobatics / spinning / UA recoveries and practicing that as a solo student is potentially the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard!