Nimbin, New South Wales

May 10-11, 2003

About a 45 minute drive from Byron Bay, nestled in the pictureseque Far North Coast Hinterland, lies the village of Nimbin.  The tiny village, which consists of just one main street for a few blocks, has never left the Age of Aquarius of 1973, and has become a haven for hippies, those into alternative cultures, and nowadays, quite a few junkies.  As soon as I parked my rental car in town, a young woman approached me.  Thinking the obvious when a young, attractive woman approaches a single man, I was a bit surprised when I realized what she was actually offering to sell me was her stash of homegrown weed. But I soon discovered that this is the way it is in Nimbin, where drug dealing openly occurs on the street.  Nimbin is definitely a one-of-a-kind, fascinating place to spend some time.  I have never been anywhere like it.
 

Looking down Cullen Street, the main and only drag in town.	Some of Nimbin's shops and locals.	The Nimbin Hemp Embassy and Hemp Bar.
Some exhibits from the Nimbin Museum.  It's not your ordinary museum!
A solitary man with a leaf blower on Cullen Street early Sunday morning.	The Channon Market, the largest arts and crafts market in New South Wales, on the road from Nimbin to Lismore.