I think it is pretty clear that we live out here in horse and sheep country, albeit, next to the beach. The beach is really a sleepy place with people walking dogs and people fishing. A crowded beach is seeing more than ten people looking in both directions at any given time.
I walk the beach from here to the next beach over, a little place called Peka Peka. It is about 2.5 miles up and back. On those walks I usually see maybe one or two people, usually walking their dogs.
But one day as I wandered along I thought I saw a naked butt. A man walked out of the ocean in front of me, he was about 25 yards away, and he was naked. I was perplexed. Here? On Te Horo Beach? A naked man? As I approached I did in fact confirm that, yes indeed standing in the dunes was a fully naked man.
Then I saw a woman pop up over the dune and she was totally naked too. Hmmm. Okay, I am guessing this is a nude bathing beach. But I had to find out if this was a one off or if this was truly a place where people went to swim naked.
And I have to say, the ocean here is fully facing the wide open ocean and it is not Bermuda. There is a lot of debris in the water, detritus from the nearby rivers which brings in logging debris, a lot of drift wood and smaller mulch size pieces. Then there is debris brought in by storms. Dead fish mostly. When I go into the water I wear, not only a bathing suit, but sandals because of the rocks and debris that tumble through the waves. There is stuff out there that you would definitely not want in your private parts.
So I asked a few people who live here about the naked people. Sure enough there is an “informal” nude beach that is accessed from a road that dead ends at the beach between Te Horo Beach and Peka Peka. I was warned not to venture into the dunes in that area because I might be surprised at what I saw.
In fact, I now see that this beach is quite the regular nude beach hang out. The other day I saw a guy who seemed to be a little unsure of whether he wanted to be naked. He stood in the dunes for a bit and then walked with purpose to the ocean. As I was coming back, I saw him in the dune again holding his clothes in front of him. Then he seemed to hurry back toward the road still holding his clothes in front of him. When I looked again, he had gotten dressed. Sorry no pictures although I was tempted.
I don’t really care that this exists. Hey, if you want to frolic in the water and dunes in your birthday suit and maybe get a little on the side, go for it. What is baffling to me is, why here? Given the rural area and the family and sport oriented nature of the beach, this does not seem like a place for dune hook ups and splashing around in the ocean buck naked. But there you are. Someone decided this was a great place for it.
A Yank Among the Kiwis 