Urban' beach usage
In the course of trying to have some recognition that there are, at the very least, particular places where merely to be naked is indisputably legal; the following table was presented to the police's Office of the Commissioner in August 2000. It summarises the approximate nude usage at each place, over the periods indicated.
The sum of the weekday averages is over 200 per day, with more than 1400 at the weekend. Over the 15 urban areas, adjusted for weather by dropping one day in three; there have been about 1500 instances of naked beach use each summer week - possibly 50,000 occurrences per year. (Another 300 or so places are used, but they are mostly further than 40km from populated centres, and don't often have high usage.)
Thus, over the 50-odd years that it's known to have occurred, up to the year 2000; there have been well over one
million occurrences of unprosecuted public nakedness in or around suburbia.
The High Court has determined that happening in a place 'where it is know to occur' or 'is not uncommon'
is a defence to the only charge which might currently be applied to innocent nakedness: 'disorderly behaviour.'
(For example; This may apply to someone on the street.)
The police's head of the Prosecution Service in the Office of the Commissioner, Graham Thomas (also Superintendent of Ministerial Services), has acknowledged that forensically, these occurrences can be "said to be 'not illegal'."
The Summary of estimated free beach usage
Urban area | Local Beach | Usual weekday |
Usual weekend |
Useable weeks |
Years used |
Total |
Whangarei | Uretiti Beach | 20-30 | 50-200 | 35 | 50 | 437,500 |
Waiheke Is | Little Palm Beach | 20-70 | 25-150 | 35 | 20 | 233,333 |
Auckland | St Leonards Beach | 20-30 | 50-150 | 30 | 30 | 195,000 |
Ladies Bay | 15-25 | 20-50 | 30 | 40 | 136,000 | |
Pohutukawa Bay | 0-10 | 15-50 | 35 | 30 | 63,000 | |
Orpheus Bay | 0-5 | 0-20 | 25 | 20 | 10,833 | |
Mellons Bay | 0-5 | 0-15 | 25 | 20 | 9,167 | |
Waihi | Waihi South | 0-3 | 0-5 | 30 | 15 | 3,750 |
Whangamata | Opoutere Beach | 0-5 | 10-15 | 25 | 20 | 12,500 |
Tauranga | Papamoa Beach | 10-40 | 20-170 | 35 | 30 | 203,000 |
Omanu Beach | 0-2 | 0-5 | 30 | 5 | 1,000 | |
Taupo | Five Mile Bay | 0-3 | 0-10 | 20 | 15 | 3,500 |
New Plymouth | Tapuae Beach | 10-20 | 10-40 | 25 | 20 | 41,667 |
Back Beach | 0-5 | 0-10 | 25 | 25 | 9,375 | |
Wanganui | Ototoka Beach | 0-3 | 0-8 | 15 | 20 | 3,100 |
Hawkes Bay | Ocean Beach | 3-10 | 10-40 | 25 | 25 | 34,375 |
Waimarama Beach | 0-10 | 3-10 | 20 | 25 | 12,667 | |
Kapiti Coast | Peka Peka Beach | 0-5 | 5-30 | 20 | 25 | 15,833 |
Wellington | Breaker Bay | 10-30 | 20-100 | 30 | 40 | 176,000 |
Nelson | Rabbit Island | 5-15 | 10-25 | 20 | 35 | 39,667 |
Christchurch | Taylors Mistake | 0-2 | 0-15 | 20 | 15 | 4,000 |
Waimairi Beach | 10-20 | 10-50 | 20 | 50 | 90,000 | |
Waikuku Beach | 0-10 | 0-20 | 20 | 15 | 9,000 | |
Dunedin | Murdering Beach | 0-5 | 3-10 | 15 | 20 | 5,100 |
Averages: | 10 | 31 | 25 | 26 | 72,890 | |
Average day totals: |
238 | 730 | Total: |
1,749,367 |