Traveling up the east coast in Australia brought me to some close encounters with the species that is commonly known as a ‘hippy’ – read on…

The Police station in Nimbin appeared closed

Nimbin, a real (dirty) hippy town where marijuana flows like water and the clouds are green. Not that the stuff is legal but the inhabitants don’t mind and actually use it as a tourist attraction.

This is where hippies retire and grow old after traveling from one festival to the other. In fact, this town sort of started out as a festival. Back in 1973 it was a town like any other until some people organized a week long hippy festival. The festival was so successful that the hippies just stayed in town and sort of took over. They have a weekly newspaper dedicated to weed, numerous shops selling all the paraphernalia, and people offering Hydro on the street.

As always, the fact that everyone is into something, makes me do the exact opposite, so I didn’t even check the prices. I can pass on the recommendation that, just in case you plan a visit, don’t buy from the street venders, instead go into one of the shops and ask around.

I couldn’t smell weed on the streets but I could definitely see its effects, like red eyed zombie people slowly walking down the street almost getting run over. Besides that, there seems to be a strange connection to rainbow colors and second hand sales which dominate the tiny, one street, town. There are also organic food stores, cafes and some galleries, but if anyone’s interested in making some cash I’d recommend opening a munchies food place which is painfully missing.

need I say more?

Yep chickens roam free in the street

How many rainbow color objects can you find in the pic?

In comparison to Nimbin, Byron Bay, which is an hour’s drive away, is where the hippies that want to make money come to. The constant flow of tourist in this pretty surfer town is a capitalistic hippie’s dream comes true. Restaurants, bars, clothes stores and surfing gear, along with backpackers on every corner, all overly priced with mediocre quality. Even the parking costs $3 an hour! The Art Factory backpackers I’m staying in is a micro-cosmos of the town. It’s beautiful, well designed but there are no cups in the kitchen and you have to give a deposit if you want to use a pot!

Byron Bay beach