Four & a bit days to kill - Coromandel or East Cape?

Oh my god, what happened to my old mate the TT? Oh well.... hey, have just four days to spare away from work before a very busy upcoming period. The original plan was to spend one week roadtripping all the way around East Cape, as it is the one part of Enzed I have not covered - but now with only four days, what do you think? Will I spend it all actually driving, with little time to chew the grass? (starting/ending in Taupo).

Thing is, am now really tempted to just go to Coromandel and hang out on the coast, somewhere I know I already love. But that feels a bit lame, as I think exploring the Cape and meeting some cool locals will be a great taste of the real NZ. What would you do? Are there some really nice bits of coast/beach up the Cape? I've heard it can be hard to get access to some areas because of Maori/private land - any truth in this?

I am loading up the truck and hoping to camp on the beach at least once, to fish, and kayak. Is all that stuff possible up there?

Your thoughts appreciated. Cheers.

4 days, I'd go to Coromandel and relax.
It will take about a day to drive to the East Cape and that's a long day. It's get windy (yes curvy) after Ohope Beach. Gisborne takes 7-8 hours via the Waioeka Gorge (direct) so its plus extra the other way.
Te Kaha has a camping ground and spectactular coast if you want a feel for the area wthout killing yourself. After Hicks Bay/East Cape the road doesn't always run alongside the coast. Some of the beaches are private (effectively all the land and road is privately owned, yes possibly maori).
As to locals, I think your my likely to connect by staying in the same area a few days and seeing them more than once at the local pub. Just my thoughts. The East Coast is pretty friendly but people can be a bit wary if they don't know you.

Ohope is really nice, the Ohiwa harbour could be could for kayaking and definitely fishing is a popular past time here.

Also I recently discovered Raglan (which I bet all the locals are glad as they don't believe they are lost). It's like a bigger version or Coromandel township but still has a real local feel. For Aucklander's it doesn't tend to appear on the radar, apart from the surfing crowd.