Nimbin

 Nimbin is the hippy capital of Australia. It's a short drive north of Lismore so we decided to check it out. My sister, Anne, warned me 'not to inhale'.

Nimbin is not too far from the popular resort on the coast, Byron Bay, so it gets plenty of visitors.

It's a lovely drive up the hill except for the potholes. These interesting rock formations are just outside Nimbin.

The rocks are the leftovers of an old volcano. You can read about them here.

It was a lovely day driving through the trees.

We found a parking spot in Nimbin and started walking. The colourful building indicated we were in the right place.

Since it was early in the day there were no crowds and few customers.

A lovely old tree.

The pub and the War Memorial.

This from the Wikipedia article:

In New South Wales, the cultivation, possession, or sale of cannabis is punishable by law. In Nimbin, cannabis is openly bought, sold, and consumed.

Old bench and seat.

That pretty well describes my retired lifestyle. Not really, since we get up with the sun at 6 am and go to bed about 9:30 pm.

Note the mural of the rocks just outside the village.

The area gets plenty of rain so there a plenty of creeks.

Carvings.

I think this says it all. From what we could see, many of the old hippies had not aged well. Some of the men outside the Hemp Embassy looked dreadful. It's not my kind of place and to my mind, Bellingen further south is a lot nicer.

However, Nimbin had a large influence on the change in attitude towards the indigenous people of Australia and creating the 'reconciliation' concept which is still opposed by the conservative federal government. It was also instrumental in bringing about a law banning logging is rain forest throughout NSW.

We then took a pretty drive over to Ballina on the coast. The main crop up on these hills appears to be Macadamia nuts. There are huge plantations. Macadamias are replacing sugar since they are so profitable even up near where we live. The sugar mill in nearby Maryborough has closed and the locals are now growing nuts.

Except for the narrow and pothole-ridden roads, it would be lovely living up in these hills.

We drove down to the coast and were lucky to get a park.

A recent storm had resulted in decent waves so every surfer in the area was getting ready to out for a few waves.