Gosh - Do we have fun at Bay of Plenty Naturist events!

Another great event was enjoyed with our huge Christmas party weekend being held at a member's private property in Pyes Pa, Tauranga.
The weekend started on Friday, with six motorhomes arriving and setting up amongst the beautiful setting of established trees and palms at 'Phoenix Park'.

On Saturday another three motorhomes settled in. Day visitors started arriving and all the group's attendees happily undertook a 'creature hunt', looking for creatures dotted amongst the trees around the camping area. Some members must have wandered around the area at least 10 times, looking for the creatures - at least they had the time to discover the array of plants at this beautiful park-like garden.
Two couples found 24 out of 25 insects and marine creatures. However, one bug eluded everybody and it wasn't until the next day that number 21, a green spider was pointed out as to its location. It was amazing that the searchers had walked past this many times, looking directly at the spot. It just shows that you can look at something but not see it. Mind you, being a green spider amongst green foliage might have helped its camouflage!!
A few, who wanted a break from creature hunting, played petanque while others relaxed in the shade of the gazebo. Apart from a nearby thunderstorm on Friday night, the weather was perfect all weekend.
Happy hour on Saturday afternoon, led into the evening with a shared BBQ, before we sat around the fire waiting for darkness to arrive (it was almost the longest day)!! Once it was dark enough, we watched a movie 'Stranger than Fiction' outdoors. While some found it a little strange, others found it fascinating, just showing that we all have different tastes when it comes to movies (or anything else). What a boring world it would be if we were all the same!!

On Sunday, BOP Naturists provided a cooked breakfast and much chatter was heard during the morning as everyone found new friends. Two couples from Australia arrived mid-morning (the weekend was timed to coincide with their visit) and it was great to meet them again (Col and I and several other members had met them in Australia over the years).
Of course we were all waiting for Santa to arrive with his three boxes of gifts for everyone (one for males, one for females and one for either) to take a present from. So everyone went home with a small gift.
Once Santa had disposed of his load, lunch was served. This was also provided by BOP Naturists from funds donated or collected through raffles throughout the year. Lunch consisted of pizzas, salads and buns, which were washed down with some liquid refreshments.
After lunch, we went to 'the races' again and held the 'Trans-Tasman Stakes'. First was the 'Fashion in the Field' competition - ladies a hat, men a tie. The men judged the ladies and the ladies judged the men. The winning combination came from the same Whakatane stable, and went home with two bottles of bubbly for their efforts.

Now back to the 'Trans-Tasman Stakes' - Three horses from NZ (Phar Lap, Split Enz and Pavlova) in black and white colours raced against three horses from Ozzie (XXXX, Thong and Underarm!!) in green and gold. Betting was solid and the result of five races was 3-2 in favour of the Kiwis.

After afternoon tea, we all packed up and went our separate ways. This was an extremely well-attended event on our full calendar from throughout the year. I am sure that everyone had a great time and are already looking forward to the next event, which will be a hot pool evening early in the New Year. After that, we will be returning to Pyes Pa for our annual 'Picnic and Parkover at Pyes Pa' when we have invited a group of local artists to join us for some life drawing amongst the trees at 'Phoenix Park'.
If anyone would like to join in the fun events organised for Bay of Plenty Naturists, contact me on bopnaturists@gmail.com. All correspondence is by email and it is free to join.

A day at the races - BOP Naturists style

What a great event we had at a member's property near Tauranga last weekend. Over 20 people arrived for the 'BOP Naturists Stakes' at the private 'race course' where fashion in the field was hotly contested. A better looking group of naturists dressed only in a hat (ladies) and tie (men) had never been seen before. Everyone got into the theme of the event and over a picnic lunch on the 'green' overlooking the race track we all were given a glass of bubbly (complete with a strawberry) to complete the theme.
The races were hotly contested, with six 'horses' being ridden by six 'jockeys'. The caller threw two dice - one for the horse and one for the number of paces forward that horse could move. To make things interesting, hurdles were placed along the track and the only way to get over these was to throw an even number. This led to the lead changing as others caught up.

The six horses were appropriately dressed in stable colours and without bias, horse number one won four races in a row! Maybe it was 'Pretty Belinda's' attractive get up that was so popular.

The day culminated in a shared happy hour and BBQ outside as the sun set and this was followed by a movie 'Phar Lap' about the famous NZ race horse's short life.
On Sunday morning, as most of the punters had stayed overnight in their motor homes, BOP Naturists provided a cooked breakfast to round off a great event.
After breakfast, some of us went to the local TECT park for a bike ride on a Grade 2 track. This however proved a little too high a grade for some of us, who were happy to let the fitter ones do several circuits.

Fun and games at Katikati Naturist Park

Heavy rain, gale force winds and a massive thunderstorm didn’t deter nearly 50 people from attending the fun and games weekend at KNP last weekend. This was a fantastic event, made all the better by the camaraderie of the members with most participating in the games. 

Because of the weather, we had to revert to plan B and hold all the games indoors, apart from the mini-golf which was played between showers. But the strong gusty wind certainly added a different dimension to the mini-golf, blowing the balls around and even affecting the table tennis which was played in the gazebo! Many of the members present tried out two new games – Wii 10-pin bowling and Wii archery, and despite many not playing them before, a lot said it was more fun that playing the real 10-pin bowling. The draughts and pool were both contests of concentration and at one stage we thought that we would be there all night! But we got most of the games finished before happy hour on Saturday. 

Then the dinner – wow! No-one ever goes hungry at a BOP Naturists pot luck dinner! After dinner, the ‘Quirky Quiz’ had people guessing the “What came next?’ questions.

All in all the weekend was a huge success and everyone went home with a prize as well as many happy memories and new friends. 

Winter activities

Its always difficult to find activities that include naturism over the winter months, but BOP Naturists have been enjoying some fun times nevertheless.

FILM NIGHTS

Over the winter months, we held several film nights. Movies we have watched were 'Changeling', 'The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared', 'Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines' and Stephen King's 'Misery' on Halloween.

CLASSIC FLYERS AND FILM NIGHT

In September, we went to the Classic Flyers Museum in Tauranga for lunch. It was very interesting to go through the (world class) Classic Flyers Museum, to see up-close the magnificent machines that fly.

Of particular interest were the Catalina and the Heron, and the many and varied machines that have had a part to play in all of our lives - whether we appreciate this fact or not. The food at the café was pretty good too.

Inside the Heron - very narrow!

NAC Heron

After the museum, we spent a lovely warm afternoon outside in our private backyard with a few drinks, socialising and soaking in the spa. After a light dinner, we watched the movie ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ which was a real hoot, despite most of us having already seen it many years ago.

FILM NIGHT AND BBQ - AND THE WORLD CUP RUGBY FINAL

Once daylight saving was in force, we had an afternoon spa, followed by a BBQ and movie ('Misery') at our place. It was a great afternoon of relaxation and was made even better by some of the group staying overnight and getting up at 5am to watch the All Blacks win the 2015 Rugby World Cup! This was followed by a champagne breakfast, which helped to celebrate our win.

Italian dinner and film night

Italian dinner and film night

The recent Italian night was a great success and we must thank Roy and Sue for their hospitality in hosting us for the event. We had a great 4 course Italian meal consisting of an antipasto platter, Minestrone soup, a main of Chicken Parmigiana followed by Tiramisu for dessert. The meal was finished off with a glass of Limón Cello cocktail and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate. After the meal we watched the movie ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ which brought back memories for those of us who have been to that area of Italy.

There were even a few people dressed in Italian colours of green, white and red – also a gondolier and a garlic seller directly from the local market!

     

Mid-winter polar plunge

MID-WINTER POLAR PLUNGE

About 40 members of the group came along to Katikati Naturist Park recently for the annual Polar Bare Plunge. Of those, over half actually took the plunge in the outdoor pool. It was a beautiful sunny day (after the frost) with the air temperature reading 13^oC and the pool reading 11^oC. However several said it “took their breath away” as they jumped into the water. A quick dash back to the spa along with some warm mulled wine (thanks Linda) and savouries warmed the plungers up again. During happy hour we showed a slideshow of our trip to China which everyone enjoyed, learning a lot about this huge country in the process. This was followed by a pot luck dinner in the rec room. Then it was back into the spa or sauna to finish off the day. 

Dinner at Chinatown

In May, twenty three members of the group enjoyed a drink together at World’s End bar before going next door to Chinatown for a sumptuous meal. The array of both Asian and European food at Chinatown never fails to astound me.

It gave Col and me a chance to practice eating with chopsticks before we left for our trip to China and we also celebrated Ray’s 81^st birthday with a cake and appropriate candles.

Opoutere Beach weekend

Our recent annual campout weekend at Opoutere Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula was once again spectacular. I mean how could it not be with perfect weather, warm seas, a beautiful setting and a 5km long naturist beach. About 25 people came along and stayed in the camp ground with us. Although we had to wear something in the camp, it was only a short walk to the beach where we could be naked.

Some of us went swimming, some boogie boarding, some fishing, some walking, some all of that and one couple even brought along their kayak. The fishermen did better this year than in previous years, with one catching a large trevally. 

Someone even had a kite, while the children found all the items for the scavenger hunt and others dug a hole half way to Spain!  On Saturday night we all had a communal BBQ to round off a really great weekend. 

Art Deco weekend - Napier

Although a textile event, 14 members of Bay of Plenty Naturists enjoyed this fun weekend in Napier over the weekend. Of course, we couldn’t don naturist uniform here, but had a lot of fun dressing up in the 1930s outfits. This annual event, commemorating the rebuilding of Napier after the 1931 earthquake in art deco style, is amazing and you would swear that you were transported back in time to the 1930s when you arrive. I can’t explain what is so great about Art Deco weekend. The atmosphere is amazing and unless you go and experience it, you really can’t ‘get it’.

It is impossible to put it into words how great it is, but the whole of Napier gets into it. Imagine everyone (kids too) wearing 1930s clothes, art deco buildings, Harvards and Tiger Moths flying overhead, jazz bands and dancing in the streets, a soap box derby (the Dads enjoy it as much as the kids), free concerts at an art deco soundshell and a Gatsby picnic on the waterfront (bring along the best china, lace table cloths, champers and cucumber sandwiches). Add to that the most amazing array of vintage (pre-1946) cars that you will ever see (the parade takes an hour to go by), and you can start to imagine what the weekend is about. And all this is free!
Next year, you really will have to go to ‘get it’.

More fun at the beach

Bay of Plenty Naturists spent another fantastic day at Papamoa Beach today, under blue skies and with water so warm everyone had a swim - even me!
There were about 20 people from the group at the beach over the course of the day and several prospective members took away information about the group. We are hoping that some of them will join us for more fun events.








The waves were perfect for body boarding and although I hadn't tried it before, I found it easy to ride the waves on the board right up to the beach.
This was the first of many group beach days we will hold over the summer, so check in with me on bopnaturists@gmail.com if you are interested in joining us.

Campout, beach, birthdays, BBQ and outdoor movie

What a great time Bay of Plenty Naturists had at a private property in Tauranga over the weekend. We started on Friday evening when members started gathering to camp over two days. After dinner, we chatted around the fire on the warm evening and were hoping to see the comet, but a late shower put paid to that idea!
Our host had to be congratulated on his new classy toilet, which was a few grades better than last years and showed some great Kiwi ingenuity!









Saturday morning dawned showery and thoughts of going to the beach were looking dismal, until our local Papamoa weather man sent a text to say the weather was clearing. So we got our things together and headed to Papamoa Beach just as the clouds disappeared. It turned out to be a great day at the beach. The campers were joined by others in the group and with the air temperature rising, many headed straight into the surf, which was great for body boarding.

A sand castle and sand sculpture were constructed by some of the members - the sand sculpture consisting of a shark chasing a stingray which was chasing a small fish! It was a great creation until the local life guards stopped to warn us of a rip and drove straight over it! However the artists soon rectified the damage and the stingray managed to catch its prey and bite the tail off the small fish!

Once back at camp, we settled in for happy hour and celebrated the 135th birthdays of two members (65 and 70 years). After a communal BBQ, it was time to sit down and watch a movie called 'The Way' about the Camino de Santiago which a couple of members had walked a few months before. It was a magical setting under the palm trees on a perfect evening.

Special thanks must go to our member for dismantling the TV set in his lounge to allow us to see the movie. I did hear that while he was pulling it apart, he disconnected the internet just as his wife was sending some emails from another room - oops!
On Sunday, our very own 'Naked Chef' cooked breakfast for everyone. Once fed, we all sat around chatting until it was time to disperse and go our separate ways - until next month.