yeah, it's been up a couple of times...the short answer is that no-one here directly knows of anyone that is in a commune, but if you hunt around places like nelson, motueka, whangarei and so on you might be able to find a few.
mapua leisure park in nelson was a nudist colony, but has steadily become 'clothed'. there are still parts of the beach where you can bear all (as far as i know, it may have changed since 2002 or whenever) but the tone of the place has gone much more 'family values' orientated. actually, what i think i mean to say, is that the image of 'family values' has mutated over the years. these days it is considered harmful to children to expose them to naked strangers, and no, i'm not kidding. i grew up spending every christmas holiday at mapua (for at least ten years) and it was a free-spirited, welcoming place. this was in the 1980's, but things have become more conservative since then. when the ownership changed hands a few years back it altered dramatically. mapua is still a great camping ground, but i wish i'd appreciated it more at the time. ahh childhood... you one get it once. the warm community feeling just seemed normal to me then, but i was in for an unpleasant discovery when reality turned out to be a bit different. it was the closest i came to living in a commune or hippy-esque environment. sadly my parents (well, one half) have become more conservative since then too. anyhow, i think there are one or two other nude colonies. the locations may not be as good though. good luck.
