Nimbin, New South Wales
Nimbin, located north of Lismore and west of Byron Bay in Northern New South Wales, Australia is a quaint little town. Red Cedar loggers first came to the area in the 1840s and by the end of the century most of the land had been cleared. With the Cedar forests gone, Nimbin was subdivided with the land turned over to dairy farming and growing bananas.
Nimbin Location
Drug Capital of Australia
Nimbin is now most well known as ‘the drug capital of Australia’. The ‘escapist’ sub-culture in Nimbin has created a strong counterculture, with many people moving to the region to escape the norms of everyday Australian society.
In New South Wales the growing, possession or sale of cannabis is punishable by law, however, in Nimbin, cannabis is openly bought, sold and used and often in public. Iconic sites in Nimbin, geared to the cannabis culture include:
- The Hemp Embassy - is a point for drug information, and a shop selling anything to do with Hemp, except cannabis itself.
- The Nimbin Hemp Bar - used to allow the patrons to smoke cannabis while enjoying fresh coffee and cake. Under pressure from the police, the Bar closed voluntarily and then reopened, minus the ability to smoke ‘pot’.
- The Nimbin Museum - was a collection of local artefacts, local art, and alternative culture open for tour.
The drug culture in Nimbin has also been accompanied by a collective of public creativity, colourful and spiritually motivated art, music, poetry, craft and fashion and all of this can be seen along the main street of the town.
MardiGrass Festival
A rally for the end to the prohibition of cannabis in Australia is held annually in Nimbin. This event is called the MardiGrass festival and has occurred since 1993. On the first weekend of May, thousands descend on Nimbin for cannabis oriented fun and frivolity. Activities include:
- a Prohibition Protest Rally
- Parade with the Ganja Faeries
- the Nimbin Cannabis Cup
- the Hemp Olympix, which includes the Bong "Throw'n'Yell", Joint Rolling
- the Grower's Iron Person event, where runners must first carry a 20 kg sack of fertiliser, then a bucket of water, and finally "the crop", as a tribute to the difficulties faced by growers in the hills, and to show that cannabis users can be fit and healthy. Source: http://nimbinmardigrass.com
I have visited Nimbin numerous times, not to partake in the delights on offer around the town, but to engage in the relaxed atmosphere and engaging and mesmerising personalities in the town. Cannabis can be purchased freely on the streets and you will oftern find people smoking ‘doobies’ outside of the local pub or in the park in the main street of the town. It is not unusual to be offered marijuana whilst walking down the street.
I once had an older lady (in her 60’s) come and offer me some of her freshest and delectiable cookies she had just baked whilst having coffee at a cafe in the Main Street. Delicious!
Another first hand account of the town has been the experience of @Tremendospercy during his visit to Oz. Although I am not sure how much of that visit he can actually remember!
@TremendosPercy after his trip through Nimbin
If you are ever in this part of Australia, I highly recommend a visit to this part of Australia. A visit to Nimbin is an experience not to be missed and certainly one that will be remembered.
Even Nimbin is sponsored by @Centerlink
Sources:
http://nimbinmardigrass.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbin,_New_South_Wales