We like to say that Canberra is Australia's best-kept secret, but this is ridiculous. I had to run an Internet search to find it but yes, it's there. It's Kambah Pool, on the Murrumbidgee River, just outside Canberra's suburban limits. More details at the website below. I should warn anyone tempted to actually swim there to leave it until late summer - we owe much of our water supply to spring snow melt from the mountains to the south. AndrewDavid, sorry, but my only acquaintance with Kambah Pool has been the nearby non-nudist section.

www4.tpgi.com.au/users/alexvan/beaches.html#Kambah%20Pool

Marsketa,

We actually have four legal nude beaches in Victoria.

Southside/Point Addis at the start of the Great Ocean Road (between Torquay & Anglesea)

Point Impossible, also near Torquay

Both of these are long beaches open to the Southern Ocean, and would be suitable for Nude Surfing for those game to try (Torquay is the home of surfing in Australia, with the nearby Bells Beach, a Surfing Museum, and home to major surfwear manufacturers, including Rip Curl)

Campbells Cove (mud flats on the Western side of Port Phillip Bay - the less said, the better)

Sunnyside North (near Mornington, on the Eastern side of Port Phillip)- a quiet, sheltered Bay Beach, backed by steep cliffs providing privacy)

Three of these are great beaches, only blighted by the fact that it's too cold to use them for most of the year.

Can't understand why Queensland, where the weather is warm all year round, still does not have any legal nude beaches!

AndrewDavid,
Yes that is Kambah Pool on the Murrumbidge River outside Canberra because rivers and lakes have beaches too! And sorry "bendigo" for my misinformation on Victorian Beaches. I was of course thinking of Campbell's Cove and Sunnyside North and completely forgot about the other two! Must get down there sometime in summer and check them out!
When Don Dunstan declared Maslin's Beach Australia's first legal 'Clothes Optional' Beach he was asked why? His reply was,
"I was insistant that one of the major changes that we would make in South Australia was that we would allow people to be individuals in society. We believe that the law had no right to demand conformity to patterns of behaviour which didn't need to be imposed. Unless people were hurting others in the community they should be able to be individuals and do their own thing. I believe the richness of society comes from its diversity and individuality."
He was such a forward thinker, a man ahead of his time and a far better Premier than QLD's Joh Clone!
I have just heard that a naturist tour operator in the Fraser Island Area has been given permission by the Cruise operators and the local Council to organise NUDE 4WD tours of Fraser Island for the Nude Cruise tourists as well as a traditional dance by Indigionous people in traditional dress (hopefully nude!) So what are the Cairns Tourist Authorities planning to do for the Nude Cruise Tourists in Cairns?

Dunno - probably send them to Nudey Beach on Fitzroy Island off Cairns, where no-one's ever been arrested. Can also remember some frolicking nudity on Great Keppel Island in Qld - no cops or lifesavers to thwart them there. I wasn't for a second trying to disparage Don Dunstan and whilst I have very little truck with Peter Beattie would hardly describe him as a clone of Bjelke Petersen. Beattie's attitude seems to be: Nude beaches attract deviants and he's not going provide government funds for extra policing.

Yes, that is the answer I keep getting from Mr Beattie, yet there are Perverts everywhere in our society! There are perverts on mainstream beaches, in parks, in schools, in churches and yes even in parliament. That is a sad fact of life! Mr Beattie can find the money to police all other parts of society. Naturists vote too and naturists work and contribute taxes so why aren't they just as entitled to having the Government spend money protecting them. Instead many police man-hours are wasted prosecuting nudists who are just trying to enjoy their lifestyle at a beach in peace!
Naturists have got to be the only group of victims to be punished for the crime of others (Perverts). Would Mr. Beattie make schools not legal for children because they attract paedophiles? Of course not! That would be ludicrous!!! So how can he logically justify making beaches not legal for nudists just because they (according to Mr. Beattie) attract Perverts? Did you know that since beaches have been made legal in other states there have not been any increased recorded incidents of perverts at those beaches. Morality in those states has not declined as a result of beaches being made legally "Clothes Optional"! There is actually a lower crime rate on nudist beaches- less sex crimes, less violent crimes, less stolen property etc than on mainstream beaches. This is probably because nudists are a small community that stick together and look after each other. On nudist beaches people talk to each other and are more friendly as a rule. Mr Beattie needs to look more closely at the statistics. I think his arguments are not backed up but are refuted by the facts.

I've heard about a beach near Hartley's
Creek where people go nude but don't fancy the idea of being next to a crockadile farm! Can anyone confirm this beach is used by nudists?

Pat,
Tell me more about this "Nudie Beach" on Fitzroy Is. Great name! Do nudists go there. How do you get to Fitzroy Island?

I'd like to think that the Queensland government bans nudist activity on aesthetic rather than moral grounds, but this seems unlikely.

Anita -There's a good description of it on www.qldbeaches.com/fitzroy-island.html Fitzroy is the closest island from Cairns mainland - ferry service 3 times a day. Has budget accommodation - it's a continental island, not a coral cay like Green Island. It's a popular venue for "recovery" parties after Sydney's Mardi Gras.

Neil,
I always thought that NUDES were favoured (not banned) for aesthetic reasons!

Depends on who's going nude, Marsketa. I reckon I'd be banned on aesthetic grounds in a flash (sorry, no pun intended).

Neal,
Dare I bring out that age old banta about how nudists don't have as much of a problem with body image as non-nudists. Nudists don't expect everyone to be like Brad Pit or Elle Mc Pherson. Because nudism isn't about being the perfect "10". It's about people and getting to know what they are really like (beyond skin deep impressions you find their true self, their personality). They say "beaty is in the eye of the beholder" but to a nudist inner beauty is what we look for. Now isn't that a refreshing and liberating concept in our world of anorexic supermodels?

Thanks Pat,
End of Mardi Gras is beginning of March. Nude cruise is in February. Will they clash? The Alex Bay Carnival is the second Sunday in march and this is just after the post Mardi Gras celebrations in Noosa.

Despite Neil's lack of experience, and a not overwhelming amount of nude beaches down under, this thread is about to overtake Michi's "Not the normal tourist things to do in Sydney" thread. Is it time to resurrect that hoary chestnut or should we just introduce the 2 threads to each other and hope that they breed?


AndrewDavid

I understand that a recent phone poll had 83% of callers in favour of a legal nude beach in the Cairns area. Is that correct?

AndrewDqavid,
Perhaps we can suggest Michi could visit Cobblers Beach, the legal nude beach at Mossman, Sydney. Would it be warm enough in April?

Marsketa - I didn't see that poll but it could well have been conducted by Cairns Post. They conduct such things weekly and the results are often skewed because very few bother to ring in with their opinion.

I believe your letter to Cairns Post was published last week (Editor's pick) and so far has only elicited the following response which appeared in yesterday's CP: It's from a P.Kerlin, Mason St, Mareeba and appears under heading "Bare Activities" - "As we in the backblocks will never have the chance to participate in anything so socially sophisticated as "nude tourism", I applaud Anita Grigg's concern. Shopping, of course, is out. Where would you carry your gold card? However, I might suggest a nude council welcoming party, a nude basketball challenge to the Taipans, a nude rugby union match and nude bungy jumping (all with photographs). Why, the activities are only limited by imagination".

Now, how come given the paucity of nude opportunites in the whole country, do we have a nude beach in Mosman, Sydney and nude resort (albeit partime) in Mossman, Qld. Were they name after a famous nudist and one of the states didn't get the spelling quite right?

He he! Sounds like P. Kerlin has some great ideas! I must put them to the organisers of the Nude Cruise for consideration. NOT!
As for nude shopping, they could always carry "bum" bags. Obviously P.Kerlin hasn't heard of Cape D'Arge in France. They have a whole city that is nude. Nude hotels front onto a nude beach and have their own nude pool. You can have a nude massage, go to a nude gym or play tennis, nude of course. However they also have nude banks and nude shops and nude bars/nightclubs, nude restaurants etc.
And they get 40,000 people there at any one time! Those nude tourists all manage to find somewhere to put their money before they spend it! In Europe nude tourismn is the sofisticated choice of the rich tourist. But then, perhaps P.Kerlin is just jealous!

Pat:Thanks for the tip off regarding letter to Cairns Post. Please tell me more. Friend of mine says he was up there recently and there was an article about some Councilor not wanting Buchan's Point to stay a nude beach. Is thie true?
Can't say that I know of any naturists named Mossman but trust those New South Wales naturists to spell his name wrong, hey?!

I don't remember the article Marsketa, but your friend is probably correct. I'm guessing but I would say the councillor is being pressured by rate payers in that area. Buchans Point is probably the most upmarket address in the north. I'll check with friends who live in nearby Palm Cove and let you know.