The Wellington Naturist Club is a

naturist resort A naturist resort or nudist resort is an establishment that provides accommodation (or at least camping space) and other amenities for guests in a context where they are invited to practise naturism – that is, a lifestyle of non-sexual socia ...

located in

Te Mārua Te Mārua (previously also known as Te Marua) is the easternmost urban suburb of Upper Hutt. For reasons of location and distance from the city, the area is often classified as rural. Te Mārua is well known for its Plateau Reserve where remna ...

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north-e ...

, northeast of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in the North Island of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Its of land hold facilities including a miniature golf course,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

court, picnic areas, spa and

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

, and extensive rhododendron gardens, with a large hall for a clubhouse. For accommodation, the resort has four lodges and over 150 campsites. The Club was founded in 1950, under the name "Wellington Sun and Health Society".

Community events

The Wellington Naturist Club opens its gates to the public on one weekend each summer, and periodically hosts the

New Zealand Naturist Federation Naturism refers to a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public, and to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both are also known as "nudism". Naturist organisations have existed in New ...

(NZNF)'s annual national rally. The Club regularly celebrates

World Naked Gardening Day World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD) is an annual international event generally celebrated on the first Saturday of May by gardeners and non-gardeners alike. Organization WNGD was founded and organized by Mark Storey (consulting editor for Nude ...

in May, but has also helped launch a National Nude Gardening Day in October, as May is a cold month in New Zealand. The Club's grounds have also been used as a wedding venue.

2016 INF World Congress

In November 2016, following lobbying by the NZNF in conjunction with

Tourism New Zealand Tourism New Zealand is the marketing agency responsible for promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board, a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Ac ...

, the Club was the venue for the World Congress of the International Naturist Federation (INF), marking the second time the Congress had ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere. This Congress was marked by political unrest, as sitting INF president Sieglinde Ivo was voted out in favour of French delegate Armand Jamier by a narrow majority led by

British Naturism British Naturism (until 2009, Central Council for British Naturism) is a members organisation with both individual and organisation members. It promotes naturism in the United Kingdom, and it is recognised by the International Naturist Fe ...

delegates. The vote was overturned and Ivo returned to the presidency at a special World Congress in 2017, held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

References

External links

Wellington Naturist ClubWellington Naturist Club – "Te Marua"New Zealand Naturist Federation
{{nudity Naturism in New Zealand Naturist resorts Non-profit organisations based in New Zealand Organisations based in Upper Hutt Tourist attractions in the Wellington Region