You guys are lucky you didn’t stay the extra night - huddled under shelter and cooking in the rain. It bucketed down the whole night. But company was great and we still made the most of it ! Was a great weekend and good to catch up again with you both
Thanks Yvonne. I didn't realise you were staying an extra night, I thought how lucky we were to be home when the rain hit. I gather that was the night the road north of Opoutere washed out. Yes, it was good to catch up with you again, hopefully we will catch up again soon.
The comment no nudity because if the children really gets on my wick. And its often like this one where you cannot have a discussion about it which means they have the final say.
Maybe the statement “keep your clothes on, this is a family campsite!” boils down to the fact that generally speaking, we may not be seeing families participating in naturism as they once might have.
This is probably due to more of a general phobia towards nudity and a gross misunderstanding of what recreational nudism entails.
With particular venues deeming themselves “adults only”, I doubt that helps the situation.
Having spent a lot of time recently exploring the https://www.freebeaches.org.nz/ website, I’ve been struck by how family orientated the imagery is.
Compare that to what we generally see on modern social media and it’s little wonder naturism is considered a predominately adult orientated activity.
Reading through a century of history in the NZ naturism scene, the thoughts and challenges haven’t changed much.
If anything massive ground has been lost as pre-WW1, naked bathing seems to have been a somewhat common activity.
One vast improvement, in NZ at least, is that the Bill of Rights and several high court rulings have firmly established that mere nudity in public isn’t illegal.
On that basis, focusing on the theme that “Nudity is OK in NZ”, might help make it a little more common place.
I can’t think of too many other ways of turning the tide other than demonstrating with actions vs words that being naked is perfectly acceptable and non-offensive.
I think you are right. I also think that there is a real fear of including children in naturist images, as they are more likely to be held up as evidence to suppress the philosophy. While you and I know that there is nothing wrong with naturism for children, and that evidence suggests that it may even be of great benefit, the public at large is intolerant of listening to reason on this matter.
Thanks for the report, Steve. I was wondering if BoP's Opoutere weekend went ahead. I usually shoot over there on the Saturday to catch up with some of the folks, but with SH25a being out of action the 40 minutes over the range is now 1 hour 45 minutes via Waihi and Whangamata. Anyway glad you had a decent enough weekend.
Yes, you always find the oddball that likes to jump on their self-righteous soap-box trying to protect others from something that doesn't need protection from. Like the poor soul on the Waitawheta hike. But Opoutere Beach has never been an issue. I've often walked the entire length each direction, one end to the other, carrying a kleensack and picking up plastic rubbish - especially through the southern area where most of the clothed people gather. Never once had a negative comment, and often thanked for helping to clean up the beach. It seems that context is everything!
To be fair the criticism was only in the campsite where I was dressed, and not on the beach. The comments and interactions with clothed people on the beach were all positive.
It's good that you have two good week end days to enjoy. Keep it up.
Sounds like the kind of weather we have been having in the Pacific NW.
Summer is on the way.
Thanks for shareing.
You guys are lucky you didn’t stay the extra night - huddled under shelter and cooking in the rain. It bucketed down the whole night. But company was great and we still made the most of it ! Was a great weekend and good to catch up again with you both
Thanks Yvonne. I didn't realise you were staying an extra night, I thought how lucky we were to be home when the rain hit. I gather that was the night the road north of Opoutere washed out. Yes, it was good to catch up with you again, hopefully we will catch up again soon.
The comment no nudity because if the children really gets on my wick. And its often like this one where you cannot have a discussion about it which means they have the final say.
Maybe the statement “keep your clothes on, this is a family campsite!” boils down to the fact that generally speaking, we may not be seeing families participating in naturism as they once might have.
This is probably due to more of a general phobia towards nudity and a gross misunderstanding of what recreational nudism entails.
With particular venues deeming themselves “adults only”, I doubt that helps the situation.
Having spent a lot of time recently exploring the https://www.freebeaches.org.nz/ website, I’ve been struck by how family orientated the imagery is.
Compare that to what we generally see on modern social media and it’s little wonder naturism is considered a predominately adult orientated activity.
Reading through a century of history in the NZ naturism scene, the thoughts and challenges haven’t changed much.
If anything massive ground has been lost as pre-WW1, naked bathing seems to have been a somewhat common activity.
One vast improvement, in NZ at least, is that the Bill of Rights and several high court rulings have firmly established that mere nudity in public isn’t illegal.
On that basis, focusing on the theme that “Nudity is OK in NZ”, might help make it a little more common place.
I can’t think of too many other ways of turning the tide other than demonstrating with actions vs words that being naked is perfectly acceptable and non-offensive.
I think you are right. I also think that there is a real fear of including children in naturist images, as they are more likely to be held up as evidence to suppress the philosophy. While you and I know that there is nothing wrong with naturism for children, and that evidence suggests that it may even be of great benefit, the public at large is intolerant of listening to reason on this matter.
Thanks for the report, Steve. I was wondering if BoP's Opoutere weekend went ahead. I usually shoot over there on the Saturday to catch up with some of the folks, but with SH25a being out of action the 40 minutes over the range is now 1 hour 45 minutes via Waihi and Whangamata. Anyway glad you had a decent enough weekend.
Yes, you always find the oddball that likes to jump on their self-righteous soap-box trying to protect others from something that doesn't need protection from. Like the poor soul on the Waitawheta hike. But Opoutere Beach has never been an issue. I've often walked the entire length each direction, one end to the other, carrying a kleensack and picking up plastic rubbish - especially through the southern area where most of the clothed people gather. Never once had a negative comment, and often thanked for helping to clean up the beach. It seems that context is everything!
To be fair the criticism was only in the campsite where I was dressed, and not on the beach. The comments and interactions with clothed people on the beach were all positive.