I think my trip to Aotearoa was where a real confidence shift happened for me. I had so thoroughly enjoyed not wearing wet togs, and swimming and sunning naked over the year or two prior, that I was willing to skinny dip at a 'not necessarily nude' beach. Again, due to NZ laws around this sort of thing, and the quietness of many tiny, beautiful bays in the Marlborough Sounds, dropping trou seemed almost essential at times... And none moreso than the lovely Governor's Bay.
When I say not necessarily nude, it was clearly a place nudity was 'known to happen' (to fulfill the criteria expected within NZ case law), as when I arrived there the first time I visited in the summer of 2014/2015, there was a small handful of younger women sunbathing topfree (normally relatively uncommon in NZ). At other points I saw one or two others (usually on boats moored in the bay in the early evening) stripping off completely and diving into the water. It's not recognised as a nude beach in any sense by the 'official' lists that various nudist organisations put out though.
A bit emboldened by the unexpected partial (and later full) nudity, I decided getting my kit off was not going to offend anybody, but still walked to the furthest edge of the bay (out of sight for the most part, and only from a distance when in view). Even at low tide, the beachy bit of the bay is quite thin, and so walking along from the main grassy area meant wading at times (especially at higher tides). That was all part of the fun though, and I spent a few hours each day nude sunbathing and skinny dipping on a nice patch of 'golden' 'sand', which had a bit of shade. There were only two or three similar spots, but they were never occupied when I went (and that was during the high season).
Although I was quite surreptitious about it all, others were a bit more blatant (the topfree women for instance were sunbathing on the grass at the entrance to the beach). I think the fact that it's very quiet (even during the high season), probably due to the 10 minute steep walk down (and then up). There are certainly PLENTY of bays around the area, so although this doesn't make the official lists of places to go, I think it might be the one place I discovered between Havelock and Picton where you could easily go skinny dipping (especially at night!) - it has all the hallmarks of a nudist beach, and perhaps just needs to be claimed as one. It was funny though, after all the fraughtness of my experience with a recognised nude beach, I was happy to indulge in some opportunistic nudity in this case.
Grade:8.5/10
Difficulty of access: 4/10 - Similar walk to Orpheus, but slightly less well maintained track.
Likelihood of others being around: 4/10 (very small numbers though).
Ease for a skinny dipping newbie (Hmmm, 3/10 in my experience, but likely variable).
Although I was quite surreptitious about it all, others were a bit more blatant (the topfree women for instance were sunbathing on the grass at the entrance to the beach). I think the fact that it's very quiet (even during the high season), probably due to the 10 minute steep walk down (and then up). There are certainly PLENTY of bays around the area, so although this doesn't make the official lists of places to go, I think it might be the one place I discovered between Havelock and Picton where you could easily go skinny dipping (especially at night!) - it has all the hallmarks of a nudist beach, and perhaps just needs to be claimed as one. It was funny though, after all the fraughtness of my experience with a recognised nude beach, I was happy to indulge in some opportunistic nudity in this case.
Grade:8.5/10
Difficulty of access: 4/10 - Similar walk to Orpheus, but slightly less well maintained track.
Likelihood of others being around: 4/10 (very small numbers though).
Ease for a skinny dipping newbie (Hmmm, 3/10 in my experience, but likely variable).
