Chapter 3: A Passion for Public Nudity
We have seen in the first two chapters that Diana had an obsession with showing off her body in public. She designed and selected clothes on this basis. She carefully planned where and how she could exhibit herself. She luxuriated in the reactions of people to her nakedness. Most of all, she appreciated my complicity in this planning, the actual episodes, and the de-briefing after each event.
The lease on her apartment was about to end, and we planned for her to move in with me. But the weekend before this I stayed at her apartment. She borrowed a camera from her friend Alice, who was a Junior Account Executive at a large Advertising Agency. As day was breaking we took photos of her outside various landmarks. She wore an overcoat she had brought over from London. At each location she would pose, then drop the coat to expose her complete nakedness while I took the photo, and then put the coat back on. We would then drive to the next location. At first we selected sites familiar to us -- outside the offices where we worked, the hotels we frequented, the Club, the nearest Police Station, and as it was very early, there was little chance of being seen.
Eventually we worked our way into the CBD, and were heading for the Opera House, when we approached a bus at a Circular Quay terminus. The driver was standing outside the bus, having a quiet smoke. Putting on her best British accent, she asked the driver if he would mind having her boyfriend take a photo of the two of them standing next to the bus. As he agreed, she posed next to him, smiled, dropped the coat and politely inquired "You don't mind, do you?"
Leaving him somewhat dazed, we moved down to the ticket booth for the Manly Ferry. The lady was just opening the booth. Standing beside the booth, with the lady at the window, the coat was dropped, and the photo taken.
"I hope you didn't mind?" Diana asked politely with the same British accent.
"If I was as young as you, with such a beautiful body, I might be tempted to do the same thing" was the response.
Moving on to the Opera House steps, we encountered the predictable Japanese tourists, cameras clicking as they excitedly viewed and posed. A group of three guys motioned for us to take a photo of them with the Sails in the background. Diana then asked them if I could take a photo of her with the guys together. The coat came off, and there was much enthusiastic mumbo jumbo as they posed with her. Naturally they each wanted to take their own photo of this strange and unique Australian custom. This took enough time for other early-morning tourists to notice, want a closer look, and to take their own photos. Diana happily posed away, completely nude, for three to five minutes, to the combined appreciative gathering of about 12 to 15 people, both men and women.
Moving on up to Hyde Park, Diana posed beside a sleeping vagrant who was lying on a bench beside the fountain. There were now more people about, but this only added to Diana's enjoyment, although she did not linger long as she noticed some children approaching.
Next stop was the Underground Rail Station at the Town Hall. Down on the platform, a train stopped, a couple of people alighted, a few boarded, and Diana dropped the coat and stepped onto the train naked. On hearing the signal that the doors were about to close automatically, she got back off, and the train departed with Diana waving to the dumbfounded faces crowding the windows.
With her coat back on, we were leaving the station to go home, when she noticed a uniformed attendant manually adjusting the Indicator that showed what trains left which platforms for what stops at what times. Again, in the English accent, she asked for a photo with him in front of this Indicator. Although there were now at least 20 people studying the panel, Diana again dropped the coat for my photo, to the generous applause of the commuters, and the look of utter disbelief on the face of the attendant.
The next morning (Sunday) we resumed our adventures in Bondi, in front of the places I had lived in as a child, my school, the church and the shop we patronised. It was too early for anyone to be up and about. We then moved down to the beach, where we came across two older surf club members studying the surf in front of the club. The routine was repeated, the accent, the request, the dropping of the coat and the quasi-apology. While still naked, Diana asked if they had a club cap that she could have for a photo. One of the guys said he would get one, and in a few moments emerged from the club, not only with the cap, but with two more club members and their March Past flag. There were more photos as a few early morning walkers and joggers stopped to watch.
Back in the car, and driving past the golf course, we targeted a quartet on the tee, waiting to hit up onto a short par 3. The same routine was followed, and more photos, including one of Diana trying to hit a ball with a borrowed club.
We took some shots outside the school at which I had taught, and the cemetery across the road.