'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