Next we headed for Byron Bay.
Well, that was the plan …then John remembered about a little place called Nimbin…a place that time has forgot or else just got too stoned to remember…i.e the place is stuck in 1960’s hippie central mode.
A quick look at the map revealed his recollection of the place couldn’t have been timelier. It was 72k’s to both Byron and Nimbin. –We decided to take the high road and headed for Nimbin.
We arrived late but this didn’t seem to be a problem, and the camping was the cheapest we’ve had so far: $19 for a powered site. A quick walk into town revealed a weird mix of a rundown small town and an abandoned festival. The few locals still awake were exchanging small talk over the bar of the local pub and the pool table appeared to be locked down so we called it a night.
The next day we ventured in around lunch time and just as the guidebook had predicted were immediately approached by purveyors of herbal remedies. They were everywhere…like ants…in the shops, on the streets….in the museum! (well if you can call it that) all slithering around, lookin’ dodgy and whispering to passers by “yo, you smokin’? Yo…you fancy some cookies?”. Quite surreal really..
Anyway, so doddling round the town, it was surprising how much stuff there was to doddle over (Well for a girl anyway). Reams and reams of trinkity shops, filled with scarfs, earrings, wind chimes and “hemp” everything, stereotypical hippies in their best dreadlocks chillin on the street and wise old men sitting staring into the sky.
I took the opportunity to get my palm read by one of the “wise” old men-$10 for one hand…sweet! It turned out to be complete bullshit really…he must have been watching too much Dawson’s Creek and just preceded to go through every stereotypical pop-psychology cliché he could think of…one clinker was when he seen John hovering around..(clear that we were together and travelling)…mystically stared at me as if having a mad epiphany and said “you and your boyfriend...mmm…yes I see strife…I see arguments and its usually about were to go?…what road you need to take? Am I right?” What? Oh so from my palm you can deduce that a couple travelling together are going to fight over directions? Mmmm this guy is so in tune with the mystical elements! I started to get hungry so I hurried him up and scarpered off to a café for some lunch with John. (And a fight over where to go.)
Oh one more thing before we leave Nimbin! When we were leaving we seen this bloody mental ensemble of “car, dog and woman”- (let me explain).
So we seen the car first…a convertible of some sort…white with loads of pink splashed round it and the inside totally decked out in pink and white leopard print..(bad enough) then on closer inspection a huge dog was sittin in the front seat (the big one from the Dulux adverts - people at home will know) And anyway the dog not only had a pigtail on top of his head but his hair had been dyed pink and white to perfectly match the car! Mental..aww I pissed myself… but the fun didn’t stop there..two seconds later, the owner came! Sweet lord above that women needs counsellin’ – she was decked out in head to toe white and pink leopard print aswell…matching not only her car but her huge dog aswell! Aww it was soo funny… (and slightly scary) Anyway, sorry maybe you had to be there..thats Nimbin anyway. Off to Byron Bay we go!
