Advice please - Lower N Island east coast

Fellas

This coming summer hols is the first time in a while that the missus and the kids and me are all gonna go away together.

We are remote camping types - fully equipped. We are allergic to lots of people.

The boys want to fish and mum wants to park off and do bugger all. It'll be surf casting, rock fishing and jettys. We love fresh smoked kahawai so good kahawai spots are always appreciated.

The part of the country that we've not traveled much before is the lower N Island from Hawkes Bay down to Cape Palliser. Do any of you wise fisho wizards have some tips for good spots where we can camp (assuming small holiday parks) and fish and generally relax without battling the hordes? Somewhere like Herbertville?

No idea what the coast is like along there as I've only ever been to that coastline once, and I can't remember.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

No help on the fishing but Paua are easy to get at Cape Palliser if your keen but that is a long way down from Hawkes Bay

the further south you go towards cape palliser the more remote youre gonna get, there are some really good beaches along the wairarapa coast that usually arent too busy and have excellent fishing and diving aswell so if youre gonna go that far im happy to share what i know

Ocean Beach down Western Access Rd has a remote camping area - out of Featherston or via Martinborough.
Akitio - maybe @Marty Henry could advise there.
Mount Holdsworth - but the fishing could be a bit sparse as the area gets 'bombed' pretty regularly with the copter dropped poison.

For touristy looking Porongahau, Herbertville and Akitio make a great trifecta on route 52 they however get heavily populated over christmas. Porongahau and Herbertville are best for surfcasting, Ive always found Akitio patchy. If paua and crays are your thing then if you can get access through the coastal stations your chances are good but if you hope to avoid crowds your timing is off.