Friday 16/12/11 in the Hinterlands of NSW

I woke up Friday morning quite refreshed; as has been the case every night since being here.  Having a complete day to kind of do whatever, I thought it would be nice to head a little more inland and explore the Nimbin and Tweed Shire region.  I was able to grab one of the last seats on the "Happy Coach," which is a bus that leaves Byron Bay and heads to Killen Falls, passes through a small town on the way to Nimbin, NSW.

Killen falls was somewhat lackluster but it was a good stop to make on the way and it gave me a chance to talk to a few of the other kids on the tour.  The age of the 35 people on the bus must have ranged from 18-30, maybe older since everyone looks young around here.  While at Killen I talked with a girl about my age who was on the last leg of her journey in Australia.  Nichola is from South Hampton, England and she had been in Sydney working as a waitress for the last 3 months or so where before she had traveled from Perth and Melbourne as well.  She was quiet, but very nice and we talked about Australia and the reasons we both had decided to come here.  As she travels up the coast, She'll end up hopping over to New Zealand before heading back to the UK.  She was previously in hospitality since being out of school, did quite well at it but will see if she likes anything different when she gets home.


We left Killen falls and road for another 25 minutes or so before we stopped at what I would call a rest stop, or road house.  There was a Christmas/souvenir shop as well as a pub/restaurant that both have a very brown old wooden look to them.  The barkeep was quite nice serving most of the bus' riders (glass) bottled coke's while we used the restrooms and hung out in the small beer garden.  I took the opportunity to get myself a Tooheys Old and a roast beef sandwich.  The much needed lunch was nice and I ate while four or five of us just talked about where we were from and where we had been so far in OZ.  Laura, from Holland was a sales rep and party planner of sorts.  She's been traveling Australia for 3 months or so and has another month left before she'll return.  Although she says that she can resume her old job if she wants, she'll be looking around for more lucrative sales jobs even in Western Australia where mining is a huge industry.

We hopped back on the Happy Coach where Taylor, our driver informed us that we had about 30 minutes until we arrived in Nimbin.  Taylor is a classic hippie chick, probably in her late 30's or early 40's just happy to be showing us newbies around.  I was the last one on the bus, and sat down next to a guy (Chris) who is an American/Englishman hybrid.  He was born in San Diego to English parents and lived there till he was 7.  They moved back to England once before coming back to the states when he was to attend high school.  He stayed through high school and moved back to England for university, didn't like it so he's finishing university down here at University of Queensland in Brisbane.  He's just on a school break and is off on a mini-adventure while he's got the time and money.  (told me he works 3 small jobs while in school up in Brisbane)  Brisbane is known to be one of the most costly cities in the world.  As we chit chatted back and forth we were both in awe of how beautiful the countryside was.  It was awesome to see the rock formations and all of the green as we passed by farms and over hills into green pastures.  Chris said it reminded him a lot of England/Scotland area; I thought it was like driving through the beaten paths of Kentucky.

We arrived in Nimbin, where it appeared to be somewhat run-down; just as Julie had described.  Nimbin was originally a town of timber cutters and farmers that grew to be known as a dairy village through the middle of the 20th century.  Nimbin's culture changed dramatically in 1973 when the "Australian Student's Union" decided to hold the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin Valley.  As I understand it, the festival was your standard hippie festival celebrating an 'alternative' lifestyle experience for hippies and drop-outs from all over Australia.  Most of the festival's visitors returned to cities and regular lives, but a small number of them remained happy with what they had found in Nimbin.  The city then became the unofficial capital for the alternative lifestyle and environmental movement.

I wish I could say that the town still had the magic as described in the Nimbin Museum which was located in the center of town.  The ideology and streetscapes had the kind of feel that you would expect; but for the most part the people there seemed to survive off of the tourists that come in and out daily.  I met a few nice volunteers that worked in a few of the shops, which sold a variety of souvenirs, cannabis themed everything, and an idea of peace.  I was actually impressed when I saw the fire house down the street "Nimbin Volunteer Brigade."  So maybe this town did have the right idea?  Naa, the big problem I saw, was that if the tourists left, they'd have no income coming into the town.  I saw a few old school hippies out working on some sort of art & crafts, but I also ran into several "alternative lifestyle salesmen" who weren't much older than myself offering the tourists pretty much anything under the sun.  Of course me being, well me, I had at least get a little bit of a 411 from one of the guys "peddling" that seemed to be about my age.  There were now cameras installed on the streets, which if anything else makes the place even more dirty.  But I did strike up a mini conversation and asked him if he was from around here, in which he responded that he was from Nimbin; although he didn't look it with his short hair and bball jersey.  Since it seemed there was so much competition on the streets I asked him if everyone was competing or if everyone just donated to a big pool at the end of the day.  Being in this town of peace and love, I thought there may have been a small chance that was the case...  Of course not, he kinda begrudgingly said there was competition; but it seemed to me that there were maybe small groups or teams that worked together.  At any rate, it was pretty skeevy and not a real live and love atmosphere that one would hope for.  It made me wonder what the kids are like that grow up there.  I saw plenty of long haired pre-teens at the skate park and walking around town, some coming in to one of the shops after school while I was getting a coffee.  Imagine what a kid who grows up in Nimbin thinks of a place like Mayberry or the conservative bible belt of the States?  Talk about some culture shock when meet the people of the world who think THEY'RE the weird ones!

The ride back was once again extremely beautiful countryside.  It seemed that everyone was tired from the day and the bus was pretty quiet aside from the tunes coming from the mix cd that Taylor had brought for the ride.  We heard a large variety of music, and definitely more of the classic rock tunes that I'm used to; which was nice.  I apologise for not getting any pictures of the countryside, it was hard to do where I was sitting on the bus to get any good ones!

I got dropped off at the dive shop where Giac and a few of the other Sundive guys were hanging out at the end of their day sharing some brewkies.  We headed back to the house where we cleaned up and headed out to Wategos beach for a little BBQ.  Once again, even packed as a picnic, the dinner was outstanding.  We started with some cheese and crackers, while we continually realised we had forgotten the meat at home.  It was pretty funny, because we then realised we had forgotten something else at the house as well!  Giac and Dell went back to the house which was only 5 min drive away each time.  We had salad as well as Italian and Roo sausage with all the fixings of a good meal.  Dinner time at a good hour means bed at a good hour as well!  I got to sleep around 10:30 which seemed quite late down here, as usual... Thus, another good night sleep.