BOP Naturists join NZ Naturists at Katikati Naturist Park

The weekend weather forecast was looking dodgy all week until mid-day Friday when it suddenly changed to fine and sunny, making it perfect weather for the NZ Naturists event at Katikati Naturist Park. About 40 naturists from as far away as Kaitaia in the north to New Plymouth in the southwest came along for the fun.

Some of the naturists at the NZN weekend at KNP

The weekend started on Friday with those present getting together for happy hour and a barbeque. A soak in the spa ended the day nicely.

More people arrived on Saturday, with many coming in time for morning tea and a chat. The games started soon after and ran throughout the day, with a couple of finals being played on the Sunday morning.

Petanque was very popular with 20 entries and other sports included table tennis, mini-golf, frisbee golf and pool. Between games, the swimming pool was a great relief from the very warm conditions and afternoon tea was provided to keep up the energy.
Everyone gathered for happy hour in the gazebo, with a few spot prizes being handed out, before a shared pot-luck dinner fed the masses. After dinner, 24 took part in a fun quiz before retiring to the warm spa or bed.
Sunday morning dawned fine and sunny again and Col, the Secretary of NZN provided cereals and a cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash browns, which was a great way to start the day. After morning tea, prizes were handed out with the sports winners getting a 'cup' (coffee mug) and also a prize off the prize table. Several other deserved awards were made so that everyone went home with a prize of some sort.
Gatherings like this are a great way to enjoy the naturist camaraderie with people from all over the country. All of the people present were members of both the NZ Naturists and BOP Naturists. Several people staying at the park were very interested in what we were doing and joined us as well. This type of promotion can only increase the interest of newcomers into the naturist community.

Weekend in Waihi - Part 3

Naturist day at Waihi Beach

Col and I were joined by two families at the recognised naturist section of Waihi Beach in the beautiful Bay of Plenty. We cycled from the end of Waihi Beach town to the naturist beach accessway. Once there, we pushed the bikes through the sand dunes and onto the beach.








It was a cloudy day but very warm. The boys all went swimming - the girls knew better - although the water was quite tolerable for so early in the summer.










The only visit we had while at the beach were 4 horses (and their riders) and a dog. Other than that, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.







One of the members produced a kite and demonstrated his skills with the two string flying machine. Apart from trying to hit his partner on the head a couple of times, he did very well with it. The breeze was perfect for kite flying.










Col and I cycled back along the beach. It was still warm and ended a fantastic weekend. Along the way we saw a great sand sculpture and just had to get a photo of it in naturist uniform. Someone had spent a lot of time working on that piece of art.

Weekend in Waihi - Part 2

Orokawa Bay beach day

The second event that Bay of Plenty Naturists held over the weekend was a day at Orokawa Bay at the north end of Waihi Beach. Twenty-one adults and 3 kids walked the 45 minute track around the point to the private beach at Orokawa Bay.  The walk was steep at the start and finish and slowly climbed to a viewing platform about 2/3 of the way over to the bay. From then it was downhill to the beach, and was easily managed by all who went on the walk.
Once at the beach, we settled down under the pohutukawa trees and enjoyed a peaceful few hours naked at the beach.



Although the sea was a bit rough, we were close to a small stream which the kids enjoyed playing safely in and which some of the adults also cooled off in (and played in)!

The beach had some amazing driftwood which made for some interesting photos and the view out to Mayor Island was a beautiful backdrop.




















There were some mussel-covered rocks at the end of the beach as well, which were pretty rough on bare feet!

Weekend in Waihi - Part 1

Hauraki Cycleway

Although not an advertised naturist event, Col and I joined 4 other members of the Bay of Plenty Naturists group for a bike ride along part of the Hauraki cycleway. We rode two legs of the cycleway from Waihi Railway Station through to Waikino then on to Karangahake a distance of 30km return.

It was a lovely day as we set off along the newest section of the track from Waihi to Waikino. It was however a bit steep with a lot of up and downs to start with while it followed the river. But as it got onto an old rail siding to the old stamping battery, it leveled out. However, being a new track, the shingle was a bit loose and dangerous, as Lyn found out just before we got back. She was dismounting to walk over the final bridge and skidded in the loose shingle, damaging her knee and grazing her leg and arm. So if you are cycling on this section, take care!

The section from Waikino through to Karangahake is a well established flat ride along the old Karangahake Gorge railway line. Here we reached high speeds in the perfect conditions and felt much safer on the hardened shingle.




We stopped for lunch at a picnic table amongst long grass, before riding up to the tunnel at Karangahake.
After I fell off my bike several years back, when I dismounted too far into the tunnel and couldn't see the sloping edge, falling and breaking my arm, I now walk through tunnels, which we all did!






On the way back we stopped for a coffee at the Waikino railway Station cafe before heading back to Waihi. All in all a memorable days exercise but not one that could be done naked due to the large numbers of people using the trail.

Phoenix Shield challenge

The weather was warm and sunny last weekend and the competition was fierce for this years annual Phoenix Shield challenge between the Bay of Plenty Sun Club and Waikato Outdoor Society at the BOP Sun Club's grounds. The competition was so close that neither club knew who had won until the presentation ceremony on the Sunday morning.
Over 25 naturists from both clubs and eight from BOP Naturists (who don't belong to either club) enjoyed the occasion and the games that were part of the challenge. Both team challenges and individual games were played in good spirit which is usual for the Phoenix Shield event. The games were very relaxed, simple and with team games included, most people took part.
Some of the team games are featured here. There was an egg and spoon race with real eggs followed by egg throwing. My partner for the games and myself threw our egg so far that everyone thought it was hard boiled - until it broke in my hands! Running with a balloon between the legs in a relay was very entertaining and a hoop relay with 2 hoops and 2 people having to get from one end of the course to the other without moving out of the hoop required a bit of lateral thinking.

Individual games were based on throwing things. Firstly we had to throw a petanque ball as a shot put, a gumboot, a frisbee and even the caber. One participant got the booby prize for throwing her gumboot straight up above her head while several others threw theirs into the pool! We also had to make a hole in one with a golf ball and upturned umbrella.

A few games of mini-golf, horseshoe throwing, volleyball, and petanque followed for individuals to compete in before happy hour and the hat competition.















There were some fun hat creations that would rival any at Ellerslie (and some that wouldn't)!


After a pot luck dinner provided by the BOP Sun Club members, a radio and TV personality from Rotorua hosted a quiz night. The teams from earlier in the day joined up again to answer some of the varied questions. The questions on the Renaissance left most of us stumped as did the themes from TV shows in the 70s and 80s. Just showed that we were all far too busy in those days to watch TV.


The winning team wasn't announced until the next day with the quiz being the deciding event that determined which club would hold the Phoenix Shield for the coming year.

Oh - I suppose you want to know which club won? Well once again Bay of Plenty reigned supreme by a slim margin, due to their knowledgeable teams who were placed (out of 7 teams), 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th in the quiz.