According to an article in today’s Geelong Advertiser, a Bendigo man has been charged with stalking and public nuisance after being caught “up-skirting” at Pt Impossible beach. The article states:

Police responded to complaints from beach-goers and discovered a video camera hidden in the backpack of a 54-year-old man mid afternoon on New Year’s Day.

“He had it set up so he could film through the eyelet of the back pack,” Detective Senior Constable Steve Thompson said.

While this is only our opinion – HURRAH!! While it is never pleasant to discover this sort of behaviour occurring on our beaches, the reality is that inappropriate behaviour happens on ALL of Victoria’s beaches at some time or another. So we’re pleased because of the following:

• The inappropriate behaviour was noticed – detection is half the issue, so spotting this particularly concealed behaviour is a win for someone with sharp eyes. Well done!
• The inappropriate behaviour was reported to police – this is what we’ve always advocated, if you see something wrong on any beach then the police should be notified immediately. Well done to the person or people that made the call
• The police responded in a timely fashion – this is assumed, since the man was caught and charged. Good work Vic Police, it’s great to see these kinds of reports taken seriously and acted on
• The man was charged and will face court – excellent, because such behaviour is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE and should be dealt with accordingly. Nude beach or not, wandering around with hidden cameras is WRONG, pure and simple.

As mentioned in the article, police are actually encouraging beach users to call 000 if they see anything suspicious – and we agree! Nudists should not hesitate to call police if they see anything inappropriate – remember that failing to report unacceptable behaviour reflects on us as users of the beaches, and we are tired of being associated with the undesirables who seem to think that “clothing optional” is the same as “inappropriate behaviour”

Well done everyone involved – we’ll keep an eye out for the court results. If anyone hears anything, please let us know. And, as always, make sure you behave appropriately on our beaches, follow the nudist beach etiquette and call police if you see anything suspicious. Oh, and keep out of the dunes, no-one is allowed in there (clothed or otherwise).

You can read the full article here

A couple of interesting articles came across our desks today, both of which are well worth the read!!

First off, The Lonely Planet has an article titled “Best Places to Get Naked”, and covers off a lot of interesting places around the world. If you’re planning that nakation, this article is well worth a look!

Yesterday, a small reference to Point Impossible was made in The Sunday Age “M” (weekend magazine) – the article, titled “The Beach is Back” indicated that Point Impossible is the best nudist beach!! We’ve been unable to locate an online version of the article, so there’s a scan of the relevant section below.

Check them both out, well worth the read!!

Yup, it would seem that Ron Humphrey has somehow managed to land himself a spot on the Surf Coast Shire Council, at least until the next round of elections in November 2012 – given it wasn’t the Surf Coast residents that voted him in this time, but a somewhat eyebrow-raising countback using preference votes from the last election, we suspect he won’t make it past the next elections!

Congratulations Ron, on the unlikely chance you read this site – enjoy your time back in the council chambers while you have it. Our only advice would be for you to focus on the really pressing issues that concern the residents in the Surf Coast Shire, if you want ANY chance of being voted back in at the next elections!! You know how well your last attempt at closing our beaches went, but we’re always happy to sit down and have a chat about the ways the council can help make the beaches a better place for all users – if you want to talk about replacing the toilet block, putting in better lighting and fencing, and establishing council patrols of the Dunes, just let us know!! And we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on things, as we head into another summer of popular beach use!

The nudist community supports safe beaches for all users, and works actively with local and state representatives to do our part in support! And our advice to beach users remains unchanged – appropriate behaviour on the beaches and no going in the dunes, and there’ll be no reason to associate nudists with any issues.

Update: Ron’s return to the Surf Coast Shire Council is already with controversy, as it would appear he’s got a little conflict of interest going on – others have advised Ron that being a councillor and remaining president of the Surf Coast Community Ratepayers Association could be problematic!! Not for Ron though, he’s got it under control – be interesting to see if he manages to hold onto both positions!!

Here’s the article from today’s Surf Coast Times, if you are interested!

According to a recent post on the Melbourne_nudist-naturists forum, one of the Pt Impossible CO beach regulars has detected some shifting in the Surf Coast Shire Council – apparently one of the councillors resigned last week, and they may not go back to the polls for a replacement!

Sure enough, it only took 2 minutes of research to confirm the process – Surf Coast Shire to Fill Vacancy

What does this mean, dear readers of this site and users of Pt Impossible? We don’t actually know – to be honest, we don’t have enough info on what was the outcome of the losers of the elections in 2008!! Does this really mean we’re looking at our good friend Ron getting back on Council? Who knows – but on the plus side, our community is still fiery as always and willing to take up the fight, that’s for sure!!

Is being elected on a count-back really a win?? We wouldn’t have thought so. Ron seems to be missing the limelight though, not for lack of trying – check the Surf Coast Times last month, they weren’t backwards coming forward in this editorial:

We look forward to working with whoever the new councillor is – and wish to remind that person that the nudist community is a great supporter of community values and providing a safe, well-behaved environment for all beach users. Oh, and if there is even a hint of plans to revoke the CO status of the beach, perhaps ask Ron how that worked out last time!!

Keep an eye out for the count-back results on or soon after 23/9

An article ran in the Geelong Echo today, “Easter packed out on the coast”, it would appear Tourist Information centres are getting enough nude beach enquiries to warrant reporting it in the newspaper!!

At tourist information centres staff, are busy answering inquiries from hundreds of people wanting information on on everything from accommodation to the locations of nudist beaches.

We’ve got great beaches in Victoria, and it would appear word is getting out!! If you are on the beaches this Easter, please behave like a true nudist and represent our community well! And if you see anything untoward, or anyone in the dunes, report it!!