What can I expect at ACTNC?

In short? Relaxation. Freedom. Light and air. Genuine people.

The ACTNC offers a friendly, welcoming environment in the ACT where you can cast off all the brand names and burden-build-up of the working week and truly be yourself. If you decide to contact us to arrange a visit, you'll be directed to our grounds or a mutually convenient meeting point and a member will meet you (clothed of course!). We'll show you around the grounds, show you the pool, showers, club house and the other facilities. You will not be expected to be nude straight away if you're not comfortable with that. You can take it at your own pace. A visit or two will tell you (and us) whether the club is for you. Often a lifetime of conditioning can take a while to overcome, but in our experience we generally find that if the weather is right and the visitor feels comfortable (which is our aim), the clothing doesn't stay on for long! After all, the best way to start swimming is to dive in. But as you can imagine, we want to make sure everyone is able to feel comfortable - so we don't need gawkers and we'll soon know if that's all someone is interested in and they will be escorted out.

Speaking of the weather, we're nudists, not maniacs, and if the weather is cold, we're dressed! Equally, if the hot sun is blazing, we're in the shade!

Our members cover the full range of body shapes and sizes and if you're concerned that your [insert name of your anxiety] is/are too big, small, flabby, the wrong colour, missing, then don't worry, so are ours! The wonderful thing about social nudity is that everyone is on the same level. We all have blemishes and imperfections, thank goodness! But we're also all pretty much the same - have a look at the work of Spencer Tunick and see how alike we humans are in these images .

On the whole you'll find people at the club going about their business cleaning their cabins, reading by the pool, making coffee, playing miniten - living at a pace and style that suits them. If they need to unwind after the stresses of a week in the office, our members find that there's no better way than to drive out to the club, climb out of the car - and their clothes - and leave it all behind.

Most warm weekends you'll find people in the club house or around the pool. We've recently revitalised our playing courts so have a game if you wish. If the weather's cool we have a slow combustion heater and a new wood fired pizza oven.

Give us a call, and give it a go!

A group of like-minded friends

After joining ACTNC you'll probably find a group of people with whom you have more than an interest in social nudism to share. You may be interested in camping, bushwalking, touring, fishing, or some other activity. Doubtless there are others at ACTNC who you'll find share your interests, and with the added benefit of knowing where these interests can be persued in 'club uniform' so to speak. Canberra is a city of people who have predominantly moved here from somewhere else, a fact which often results in a degree of isolation and distance for some. Equally, ACTNC has members from not just the ACT but surrounding NSW. Chances are you'll find common ground with other members.

Why nude?

Most people who have considered social nudity are apprehensive about their first experience of it. You may be a person who has skinny dipped, maybe at at home in a private pool, or perhaps with others as a kid. Maybe you sleep nude. We all bathe nude. The notion of not getting dressed when you get up, or leave the bathroom may appeal to you - it does to us! Being without clothes is truly being. You feel alive and aware of your environment in a way not otherwise possible - especially when outdoors. In mixed company you also soon realise that simply being nude with others is not of itself a sexual activity. But it is very pleasant, and at the ACTNC you are able to spend as much time as you can afford without clothes. Most of our members find that the worst thing about a member of the club is getting dressed when its time to leave.

Maybe you've only ever thought about being nude anywhere other than in the bathroom. Your first steps to experiencing the freedom we nudists enjoy may be at home alone, a 'closet nudist' if you like, and simply not getting dressed and going about your household business. Moving from that to experiencing the company of like minded people will probably feel like a huge challenge but you'll know if its for you. There are plenty of websites discussing the merits of the lifestyle and talking about first experiences and anxieties. Some are listed on our links page under 'suggested reading'.

Maybe you've thought about visiting a nude or 'free' beach but don't always have time to drive to the coast.
One of our members writes:

"My husband and I joined ACTNC a little over a year ago. We were regulars at beaches such as Birdie Beach and Maitland Bay on the central coast of NSW all through the 80’s and early 90’s. We moved to Canberra and our access to the lifestyle changed. Well, disappeared really. Together, we’d gone from our mid 20’s into our mid 30’s, bought our first house on a bare block, worked long hours to pay the mortgage on fairly junior pay rates, had kids, paid bills - the usual exciting treadmill.

While we missed our beach and our freedom, we thought about ‘organised’ nudism rarely if at all as an option and just got on with the treadmill turning. We’d visit the beaches of the south coast on our holidays, clad in cotton and lycra and terry towelling, but that only made us long for the old days. Until, that is, we discovered legal Armands Beach near Bermagui. Beautiful skies, clean water, bushland setting, sea air. Once again off with the clothes, safe in the knowledge that we weren’t flouting the law. Relaxed. Sun. Surf. AM Radio classic summer hits. Other people even. We were back!

Only, we weren’t really. Armands is a 3 ½ hour drive. To do it regularly we would need accommodation, food, petrol, somewhere for the kids to stay if they didn’t want to come, and the trip up and down the Clyde or Brown Mountain can be daunting. We looked at Kambah Pool, once, briefly, but decided it wasn't particularly attractive. It seemed that Canberra and our desire to get our kit off still didn’t mix very well. It was on a visit to Armands that we met a group from ACTNC on a day trip to the beach. They seemed friendly and welcoming and we were given the contact details for the club as we started home. We though about it for quite a while and a year later I made the phone call and, well, here we are.

Why on earth did we wait so long!