Clothes-optional Locations

With the demise of State Highway 25a during the recent storms, my favourite beach at Opoutere has become nearly a 2 hour journey to reach, instead of just 40 minutes over the hill. So, while Kaiaua isn't as pretty, it's now my best option. And it does have some advantages anyway - it's just 13 minutes up the road, it's always calm water so great for swimming, and the local takeaways has superb fish 'n chips!

The only slight downside is that it's really only swimmable for about 45 minutes each side of high tide. Still - that still gives an hour and a half if you can time it right.

This coastline is wild and vast. It is a chenier shellbank with huge salt marshes that attracts thousands of migratory wading birds every summer. They arrive here each October, having flown an incredible 10,000 Km from the Arctic circle, to spend their summer holidays before returning in March.

The place to swim is a spot called Ray's Rest. It's a freedom camping site that is almost constantly used by camper vans. However, there is never a problem with skinny-dipping there. After all - they are visitors, while I'm a local. So they need to get used to local customs!