Upper Central North Island
Franklin region
Kariotahi Beach
This beach lies to the south of Manakau Harbour entrance. It is 'the home' of local identity Bill Shelly, who, until recently, walked naked for a couple of hours each fine day here. The nearest town, Waiuku, is only 8 km away.
Not a good day for skinny-dipping, apparently!
Hamiltons Gap
West of Pollock, well up the Awhitu peninsula toward the entrance of Manukau Harbour; this is
another west coast iron-sand beach - and you can drive on it.
Quite isolated for a place so close to Auckland
Awhitu Reserve
The ARC reserve is almost opposite Hamiltons Gap, on the eastern side of the Awhitu Peninsula. It's normally pretty quiet here; plenty of room, and views across the Manukau Harbour.
Another fairly isolated place, good for a little quiet contemplation
Waihi
Waihi Beach
The southern end of Waihi Beach is used by a number of locals - fairly discreetly; because a local constable can see the nearest car-park from his house and likes to keep the 'nude usage' profile fairly low...
Looking north from the Athenree end
Coromandel peninsula
The Coromandel peninsula has a number of wonderful places to skinny-dip, mostly on the eastern side. There are also several communities on the peninsula, and many of the members are used to skinny-dipping at the nearest beach. Waikawau Beach, saved from the developers by the government; is a fine example.
Opoutere Beach
There is a camp ground next to the beach, just above the dark green
area of trees in the middle of the (left) picture. You can park in the DoC parking area (just to the left
of the trees) and walk about 10 minutes through the trees, then if appropriate, north on the beach.
Several festivals can occur here which generally result in spill-overs on the beach, especially at the north end
Hot Water Beach
This one is known internationally. At the northern access (behind the camera) you might be lucky to find a warm stream, but the usual spot for the hot water is under the sand surface (out from a rocky point) at the southern access, 1 km further on. These days, even at 'off-peak' times, this place can be crowded with textiled visitors from Asia, and since the time you can successfully dig for hot water is limited to an hour or two around low tide, there may well be better options for skinny-dipping elsewhere...
This spot is near the northern access to Hot Water Beach
Raglan
Ngarunui Beach
On the west coast of the North Island are a number of good beaches for skinny-dipping. This one is only 5 km from Raglan, or about 50 km from Hamilton.
You can walk down the hill from directly above or park
near the surf club (behind the camera) and walk about 200m north to this spot.
Down here, a paraponter may join you occasionally...