Remembering Anna Cruse

Reflecting on the many unique and special contributions Anna made to the naturist community.

Anna Cruse first visited the Auckland Outdoor Naturist Club (AONC) in 2019. She embraced naturism immediately and, later that same year, purchased a tiny home at Auckland Sun Club (ASC), where she would live for the next five years. Once established at ASC, Anna began beekeeping as a way to support and enhance the club’s environment by encouraging pollination of the surrounding plants and flowers. From this passion she produced both honey and mead, sharing the fruits of her work with those around her.

Anna was a woman of many passions. One of her great loves was acrobatics, which she enthusiastically promoted within the naturist community. Over the years, she ran numerous acrobatics sessions at AONC with members of all ages, from the very young to more mature participants. Alongside Alice de Wet, she also developed a structured training framework for naturist acrobatics, compiling it into a document for broader distribution within the community. You can view the document here.

 

She was a strong supporter of "Nude Cooking Day" which was started by the NZNF in 2022, which falls on 1 Sept annually. She had the following profound message with respect to it: 

"People are used to being naked in their bathroom and bedroom, but being naked in the kitchen would be a new experience for many. Discovering the sensation of being nude in a new space, and becoming more aware of yourself and your body as you’re preparing food - also makes you aware of what you’re putting into that food and that body.

As I’m battling terminal cancer right now, I can’t help but wonder how all the unknown things in prepared foods - preservatives, colourants, thickeners, sweeteners etc., - what kind of long-term effects they might be having on our bodies. And perhaps we need to move to nude food - more raw ingredients from the Earth, preparing our own food; rather than just buying prepared meals which might contain all sorts of things that we aren’t aware of. Another benefit of this is less packaging - meaning less waste, which is better for the planet too.

New Zealand is a country of contradictions. Farming is our biggest sector. Food is our biggest export. We have - what is widely considered - the best diary products in the world. Our beef and lamb, is arguably the best you can find anywhere. We produce these amazing fruit and vegetables. We have some of the highest standards of farming globally. We’re an island in the middle of the ocean surrounded by all these gorgeous edible fish. We should be one of the healthiest counties in the world. But we are consistently ranked as one of the worse. Obesity top 10 world global index. As is diabetes and heart disease. We seem to be addicted to fast food. Food and drinks high in sugar and fat seem to be our go to place.

Nude cooking of nude food might be the revolution this country needs right now."

You can read the full article along with her recipes here: Anna's Naked Kitchen

She was also deeply involved in promoting Southern Hemisphere Nude Gardening Day, an event launched in 2018 and held annually in October. Anna appeared with Alice on  stuff.co.nz to help promote the event and was further featured in Organic NZ’s nude gardening calendar. 

 

Another great passion of her was belly-dancing. On one memorable occasion, she led a topless belly-dancing class for a group of about a dozen women at AONC, accompanied by her daughter, Eloise.

Anna was especially passionate about encouraging more women to participate in naturism. In support of this goal, she helped organise “ladies only” days at both ASC and AONC, creating welcoming spaces for women within the community.

Among her many other interests were fire dancing, making balloon animals, role-playing, motorcycling and many others. 

Beyond the two Auckland-based clubs, Anna held a deep affection for Rotota, a place she cherished greatly. She is pictured here with her friends Alice and Alana during one of her many happy visits there.

Anna passed away on 5 January 2025, after a long and courageous battle with cancer, at just 54 years of age. She is profoundly missed, and we honour the remarkable contributions she made to the naturist community during the few short years she was part of it.

 

 

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