After a quick dip in the sea, we set off and within about an hour we'd arrived at our destination, and it was surreal to say the least. The buildings were old and rustic, built from wood, and painted with colourful patterns (kind of like it was the set of a western film, but the paintings were all aboriginally styled). Every man had a long, grey beard, and every woman had dreadlocks (I bet Torill felt right at home!). As we drove through the town's only shopping street everyone we saw just looked chilled out, lounging around and shunning their responsibilities. Basically, everybody looked high!
When we got out of the vans, it was more than a little bit weird. The first man we encountered approached us to sell us some weed. We were a little taken aback, since when was the last time someone came up to you on a main shopping street, with a police station 150m away, and offered to sell you drugs, without even lowering their voice?! Of course, we had to (when in Nimbin, do as Nimbin people do... sorry mum and dad!) so a couple of the boys went around the corner to do the deal, during which time at least three other people approached us to try and sell us some weed or some "cookies" if you get my drift. It was like when you go to a European beach resort and every other person tries to sell you something and give you some kind of cheap deal.
After this, we took the time to look around the shops and cafés. Everything that was sold in any of the shops was in some way related to marijuana! There was hemp clothing, hemp bags, hemp hats (basically anything that can be made from hemp), grinders, pipes, incense, bongs, fertiliser especially designed for growing weed, and keyrings, postcards and other memorabilia with cannabis leaves on them.
We also took a look around the Nimbin Museum. This was probably one of the coolest buildings I've ever been in. It was made up of seven rooms, each with a different theme, and each jam packed full of interesting objects and artefacts. There were painted VW camper vans, aboriginal paintings, a room like a cave, and a room with a TV where you could watch a documentary about the history of the town.
When we'd got to the end of the museum, Karina, Noor, Charlie and I turned around a corner and went into a bathroom that had been painted with bright colours and still had pots of flowers on the windowsill, etc. We were looking around going "ohhh this is nice!" and "I love it in here!" when suddenly we heard a voice from around the corner ... "That's just the toilet guys..." - it was the curator, who (quite rightly) laughed at us as we then shuffled out of the building...
At this point, we made our way out of town and to a camp site nearby which was, of course, called the Rainbow Retreat (what else would you call a camp site in a town full of hippies?!) which had a similar kind of look and feel as the main town, all of the buildings were painted with cool aboriginal designs. I felt like it was a very trusting kind of place... for example, there was a fridge full of beer and soda. If you wanted one, all you had to do was go to the fridge, put your money in the tub and take what you wanted, but there was no one there to make sure you paid and no cameras. I loved that kind of attitude and I wish the rest of the world was more like this.
The camp site was very close to a little river, so Hamish and Aristo went for a little dip, looked (unsuccessfully) for platypuses and lobsters before we all sat around in a circle and sampled Nimbin's speciality. The rest of the evening was spent sitting around, eating, laughing, star gazing (the stars were AMAZING because there was almost no light pollution), and generally admiring nature. There was a forest right next to where we'd parked the vans, and when we looked in we could see little flashing lights. This was a first encounter for the English and the Norwegians with fireflies. It was beautiful. We stood there in silence surrounded by these little flashing lights, trying to take it all in.
Once we were finished being amazed by small insects, we went back to camp and listened to Nimbin's local radio station. Funniest thing ever! The presenter would play half a song, read out something she'd randomly searched on Google, then play out the rest of the song. The things she was reading could not have been more random - mostly animal news. When she got to the big cat news, she growled... then there was silence for a few seconds... then she just started laughing, and so did we. We were all tired from the week of partying, so all went to bed at about 9.30 and dreamed about all the different animals we'd heard about on NIM-FM that night...
The next day we walked back into town to appreciate the wonderfulness that is Nimbin one last time... There was street art all over the place, and motivational messages like "remember that you're a spirit on a journey," "life is a dream, please don't wake up to a frightening nightmare," and "love is for real."
It's fair to say that we all had a great time in Nimbin. For me, it was not only because of the weed, but because there was a real sense of community, something that I've never really felt before. I also loved the spirituality and mentality of the town. Sure, they don't obey the government laws about marijuana, but they have their own laws which basically just involve being polite and courteous to each other (they had a Nimbin street code, which you'll be able to see some of if you click on the picture of me next to the car bonnet). There was no litter on the streets, everyone was polite and thoughtful, and what most appealed to me was that no one was in a hurry. The pace of life was slow and relaxed, which is exactly what I needed after having so many deadlines set in such a short period of time.
Eventually we managed to get back into the vans and drove back to Byron Bay. We ate, relaxed a little, then had another night out in Cheeky Monkeys. We made sure it was a good one, because it was our last night there! Thanks for being patient with all these posts! Hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
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