It’s a Tuesday morning, the infinite blue sky of Byron Bay has opened up and the six naturists – four men, two women – have stripped down to their birthday suits for a quick dip in the buff.
This section of beach – an 800-metre stretch along the vast coastline – forms the only legal clothing-optional beach in the shire. Among those taking advantage of the opportunity to be out in the open is Duncan James, vice-president of Northern Rivers Naturists, who is something of an evangelist for “embracing the beach as Mother Nature intended.”
“Many of the beach users have described the clothing-optional beach as their happy place, a place where they can disconnect from modern day stresses, a place they can feel at one with nature,” he says.
There is, however, a metaphorical cloud on the horizon. On Sunday, Tyagarah is set to be stripped of its status as an official clothing-optional beach.
“I guess these values aren’t shared by New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS], who are hell-bent on closing one of Byron’s last alternative community hubs and experiences,” James says.
Is this the case of Byron becoming fashionable, hippies being gentrifuged out by rising prices and replaced by Liberal voters who wanted their slice of heaven to be more conservative and family-friendly?
Someone needs to explain to me why nudity is considered not ‘family-friendly’ but watching movies/playing video games with massive amounts of bloodshed and death is considered fine and dandy for kids.
I’m ok with people without clothes on at the beach, but I really don’t want to see a line of people tanning their assholes, so can we at least keep that to a minimum?
I have never heard of anyone actually doing that.