?’”
McMillan is the founder of Naked World, an events organisation that runs barely clothed or naked events, including the three day Auckland festival Naked in the Trees. She is British and moved to New Zealand seven years ago.
Like other travellers from Europe, as documented in many a Reddit thread , she was caught off guard by the apparent conservative nature of New Zealanders towards public nudity. It seemed to be far more hushed than the topless sunbaking of Australia’s Bondi Beach or a bare bum in a quiet cove on the Mediterranean.
In 2008, Research New Zealand released the results of a survey on beach nudity . About a third of respondents said they were comfortable with it, 25 percent were okay with it in designated areas, and 45 percent were opposed to it. However, Kiwis apparently at least love the idea of nude beaches. An analysis of Google searches found that New Zealanders searched the term “nude beach” 67,000 times, the second highest per capita, following Australia at number one.
Contrast that with the French, possibly the most liberal in the world when it comes to public nudity. A 2012 survey from travel site Expedia found that 73 percent of French people who responded said they felt comfortable with topless beach sunbaking.
But is New Zealand’s attitude towards public nudity loosening up? Was the man on the Herne Bay beach the new norm or just a blip on the radar?
“I do think [public nudity] has gotten more widely accepted, but then it’s also difficult to say because of the circles I run in,” says McMillan.
Last year, the Naked in the Trees festival drew 800 people. The next festival in 2026 will have a capacity of more than 1300 people. McMillan recently hosted her largest-ever undie party with more than 1000 people for a Halloween celebration.
Because there is often a sexual element at some of the Naked World events, McMillan doesn’t classify them as naturist events (there is a “Pleasure Playground” area at Naked in the Trees festivals). Naturists insist that being naked in a community isn’t sexual, and naturist clubs typically advertise as a family-friendly environment.
Lisa McMillan, the founder of the Naked World.
supplied
Is public nudity even legal in New Zealand?
“Being naked on a public beach in and of itself is not illegal,” writes University of Canterbury senior lecturer of law Cassandra Mudgway in an email to RNZ.
However, there are two offences to watch out for, she writes. The first is being nude and engaging in behaviour that is deemed “offensive” by current community standards, where time, place, and circumstance are all taken into account.
“If the beach is known to be a space for nudists, it will not likely be considered offensive (even if children are present).”
The second offence is indecent exposure, she writes.
“Exposing genitals is not enough. It must also be considered obscene in the context in which it occurs.”
Either charge has the defence where a person reasonably believed they would not be observed, Mudgway added.
Membership numbers at the 15 naturist clubs around the country have remained steady in recent years, says Alice de Wet, the president of the New Zealand Naturist Federation.
“In the 70s and 80s, the naturist movement was a very big movement, but in the 70s was also a very different time in terms of many things in the country.”
Alice de Wet, President of the New Zealand Naturist Federation.
SUPPLIED/Alice de Wet
It was the era of the Nambassa Festival, which was styled on Woodstock and where public nudity was common. The year 1979 was its largest year, attracting about 65,000 people to the festival’s music lineup and alternative lifestyle.
De Wet started exploring the naturist movement in her native South Africa 15 years ago. She moved to New Zealand in 2008 and found it more conservative than Europe, with a stronger liberal bent than South Africa when it came to public nudity.
Currently, the largest age demographic of naturist club members is those in their 30s and 40s, says de Wet. Clubs encourage young members to join by offering discounted membership for those aged in their 20s and for families. For example, a regular membership at the Auckland Outdoor Naturist Club is $400 per person per year and a membership for someone aged 18 to 25 costs $125. However, out of the club’s 250 members, only a handful are in that young age group, says de Wet
“I mean, it could be difficult for some people to embrace that, but naturism is all about boosting your self-esteem and realising that when you’re there, nobody’s actually there to judge you.
“So when you get older, you probably become more comfortable with your body, but it shouldn’t be that way. You should be comfortable with your body at any age.”
De Wet isn’t sure if New Zealand’s attitude to public nudity is changing, and naturist membership is not the best way to tell.
“There may be some naturists who don’t necessarily join a club, but they’re still naturists. They go to a beach and strip off. So it is quite difficult to define.”
Her own experience at beaches is that people don’t care if you are discreet.
“I’ve stripped down on a very quiet beach that’s not necessarily a naturist beach in New Zealand, and I’ve never had any problems.
“… if you compare it to Europe, Kiwis may be slightly more conservative, have a slightly more conservative outlook, but at the same time, Kiwis are very laid back.”
While de Wet says membership at many of New Zealand’s naturist clubs is evenly split across males and females, her observation at nudist beaches is visitors skew male (while there are no official designated nudist beaches in New Zealand, there are a few often-secluded beaches where nudists tend to congregate).
Lisa McMillan enjoying a Naked Dinner
Supplied / Peter Cadman
McMillan has seen the same at beaches where nudists congregate. Her events also attract more males than females. Single male tickets to Naked in the Trees sell out much faster than single female tickets, and she hasn’t figured out why despite conducting a survey of attendees.
“I couldn’t understand why, because I was like, there are generally what we would understand to be equal numbers of men and women in the world. And these days we should feel equally accepted in any space, pretty much.”
In an effort to make women feel more comfortable, McMillan started a Sunday social group for women who want to meet together at Ladies Bay Beach, a known nudist beach in Auckland. She also started a WhatsApp chat called the Bare Babes Club. It has 250 members, and they meet up before a Naked World event so they can attend together.
“We like to have strength in numbers…”
