Italian night at Sunseekers Nudist Club is not for the faint-hearted. A guest of the club on Saturday, I was nervous before I’d even set foot on the property. I didn’t grow up in a nudist family, I have no nudist friends, I really like clothes. What was I doing there? I was curious. Were these people swingers? Would there be an orgy? Would it be sexy? In a word, no, to all of the above. “The biggest misconception people have about us is that we’re all swingers,” one member says.

“They think this is a sex club. It’s not. All of us are married and have families. There is nothing sexual about being a nudist.” The night I visit Sunseekers, there are about 40 people there. Among them, a teenage boy who has grown up in the club. He is fully clothed, and remains so, by choice, during his visits to the property with his parents. But he is at ease in a room full of nude adults, and he jokes around with topless - and bottomless - men and women who have watched him grow up. Feel the sun on your bare skin at Perth's only nudist hideaway. Credit:Sunseekers Nudist Club. Many club members have been visiting the property for years. They spend weekends at one of the many chalets on site, or bring their caravans.

The boy is not the only one fully dressed. There’s me, for one. No matter how warm it got in the club hall, at no time was I tempted to disrobe. Members are expected to ‘nude up’ within about a year of joining, though. “We don’t force anyone to do anything,” a member says. “But this is a nudist club, and if you’re not going nude we would wonder why you are here.” Winter presents a unique challenge to nudists. Saturday night was chilly in the hills, but open fires and central heating keep the temperature warm enough to get the gear off. Summer is when the club really comes alive, members say. Sunseekers has a volleyball team, a darts club, tennis courts and a big pool.

Members compete with other sporting clubs in the community, and the clubhouse trophy cabinet is weighed down with shields testament to the group’s sporting prowess. Nudism and sport go hand in hand, it seems, and there are plenty of members who spend weekends hiking through the nearby national park, sans clothing. The club also has the support of the Shire of Mundaring, the local Chamber of Commerce, and neighbours. “It’s a wonderful little community here,” Pam the caretaker says. “We have the best fun.” At one point during the night, I am asked to award prizes to the best dressed man and woman at the event.

Guests have been encouraged to dress according to an Italian theme, but I don't see many attendees wearing clothes and I burst out laughing. How does one judge such a thing? There is the odd nod to the theme by way of a skillfully draped flag or a Godfather-style moustache. But costumes are thin on the ground and I think they're pranking me. They're not. I choose a man wearing a mini-gladiator outfit and cop an eyeful of his 'weapon' as he collects his prize. The woman I chose as a winner for her green tutu accepts her award long after the tutu has been discarded. I barely recognise her.

We're all going to nude school The nudists I met all said they loved the freedom of the lifestyle. Credit:Warren Lynam/Sunshine Coast Daily Nudists, or naturists, have been around in one form or another forever. Those who dare to bare these days are in the minority. But, here and there, there are facilities for those who embrace the nude lifestyle. In WA there are several clubs where members meet for pool parties or beach outings. There’s only one, though, where members can check in for as long as they like and live clothes-free 24/7, come rain or shine.

For many years the Sunseekers’ location was a closely guarded secret. It’s now featured on the Shire of Mundaring’s tourist trail and attracts visitors from all over the world. For those who favour bare skin over clothing, it’s paradise. Sunseekers started in the early '60s, and was set up by a group of couples. Hitting its heyday in the '70s, the club was a home away from home for singles, married couples, and families with children keen to embrace the counter-culture lifestyle. Today, following a membership decline in the '90s and early 2000s, numbers are once more on the rise.

“There was a huge number of families, but it’s waned,” Sunseekers chairman Avan tells me. “It’s not like that anymore. We’ve now got about 180 members.” With members ranging in age from nine to 90, the club strives to keep a gender balance, with applications currently closed to single men. New members are either recommended or invited by current members, or they apply online. Nobody joins without a trial period, and nobody joins without some level of scrutiny. “We need to make sure we’re getting the right people,” Avan said.

Live-in caretakers, Dave and Pam, say they are accustomed to dealing with “phone calls from weirdos”. “We get the odd one who slips through,” Pam said. “But we’re really good at sorting them out on the phone. You get good at picking body language.” The rare “weirdo” who has found their way onto the property has been shown the gate quick-smart. “This is a family club,” Pam says. “It’s up to us to protect our members.” The bottom line

What’s the attraction for those who not only like to walk around with no clothes on, but who like to play sport, watch footy, eat dinner and socialise in the nude? “It’s freedom,” one member tells me. “You just feel better being nude, and swimming nude is the best thing in the world.” For the chairman and his partner, it “just feels normal”. “We all have a joke, we drink, we dress up,” Avan said. “But what will happen during the night is the clothes will come off.” Caretaker Dave said members were all “normal”.

“We do normal things,” he said. “We just enjoy doing things with no clothes on. It’s so natural now, if I have to wear clothes for a couple of days I find it really weird.” If the nudists I met at Sunseekers are anything to go by, those who embrace the lifestyle are just like members of any other shared-interest group. They're mums and dads, accountants and sales reps, big and small, young and old. They like a laugh, and, while they don't refer to themselves as exhibitionists, they are all happy to talk to me about their love of being naked. There are no smutty jokes, there's no creepy overtone during the evening. It's just about good, clean, nude fun. So, would I join?