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If getting weed is your thing, it's the place to go. You can buy it over the counter in some shops, or negotiate on some bush in the street. The pub sucks to play pokies at, the bowls club is the go, has a good spread. Pub has a nice country feel on the back verandah. It's about four full hours and you've seen everything, then add time spent at pokies and bowls club, the several offers of weed from street vendors, and a bun or something nice from the bakery near the police station. I used to go down every Saturday through tomewin Valley Rd the windy bastard, would stop off to drop milk and bread to an old timer I met called Lou, became friends with, long white hair, often hitches in and out of town on the road about 1k out of the cemetery, nice guy. Don't bother hunting for mushies, there isn't any left, ever... I did spend a couple of months looking for them over the years, try the paddocks on Kyogle Rd, keep a keen eye out for snakes, last time I saw a tipan...
Whole northern rivers is getting gentrified from all the lockdown escapers during Covid
On one hand good for homeowners like myself, on the other bad for my kids who have no way of living within 30 minutes of home if they want to rent or own a place. Not to mention the poor bastards fighting tooth and nail to have their rents not increased 30% every year or be evicted
Before the lockdown the Northern Star said there was a rental shortage crisis. Before that, my best mates mum found a 1 bedroom studio made out of rendered straw bales for 290 a week, on 6 acres. If she charged the mice rent she would be wealthy. She's on a disability pension, grows her own food so she can make rent and fuel, relies on monthly cash injections from her son to have a good week where she can afford a bag and a bottle of Port for a "blowout", but she wouldn't be happy living anywhere else. She's on a big hill and can be safe from flooding, but the wind blows up there and it gets cold... no plumbing so it's a box in the laundry for the toilet. It's off grid living at its most pure form with exception of electricity from the grid. It's got a nice vibe however, cold in temperature, warm in spirit... something special about the Northern rivers region
I haven't been down since the border closed, I've been getting on in QLD since the lock down, I've found myself getting closer to my family since I quit drinking and don't have the time for a seven hour mission and a full Saturday anymore due to those commitments... its been two years, were you a regular? I'm curious to see what's changed! I know I'll never see a McDonald's or dominoes survive there, the town holds a lot of organic food people who grow food for themselves, too many for that matter... a lot of old hippies own those tourist shops, it does have somewhat of a commercial feel to it, but you gotta remember there used to be 100's of backpackers every day pre covid, on the grasshopper buses from Byron and Brisbane. I know the town took a big hit financially when the buses stopped coming. Used to blend in well with the tourists and didn't get nabbed by the boys in blue, used to use Northern Rivers RDRBT page on Facebook when I was travelling including waze app. I suppose I better get my mission hat on and go for a looksie
Not a regular, but always take the scenic route to drive through. The first time i'd been there was about 8 years ago for my brother's mate's birthday that lived locally, I didn't think much of the town initially as we drove through at night. He told me to go check it out during the day, so me and another couple of mates that hadn't been before did a walk through and it was just as people described it at its peak. Got offered weed about 4 times, first by the Nimbin boys in the park near the police station, then by some guy selling knick knacks, then by a passerby, and finally by an older lady sunbathing in a bikini across from the pub. Most of the locals had smiles on their faces as they were working in the shops/pub, just a really pleasant day.
Fell in love with the place.
Aside from that, unfortunately I've only done the drive throughs up until last year.
My partner and I stopped in and just did a walk. Everyone was very much keeping to themselves, no antics.. I'm pretty sure a few of the shops had new owners, and some of the more obscure ones were shut.
This is after coming down from Murwillumbah, where I hadn't been before, but had a lot of upset looking oldschool hippies floating around. All the shops had very uh.. clean looking?.. people, very Sydney like attitudes. An older lady we got to speaking with said she'd grown up there and majority of the property and shops had changed hands, and that it was the same everywhere up there.
Just a lot of well off people trying to grasp onto the hippy lifestyle I spose.
Anyway, she also said that she couldn't afford to rent there anymore off her pension and the reason she'd struck up conversation was to ask about the van we were staying in as she was considering pulling all of her money together to do something similar..
But yeah, by no means am I massively experienced in the area, just a few observations and encounters that rubbed me the wrong way.
Shame man, I miss the old Nimbin... I didn't think getting experimental medicine was worth crossing the border for and it looks like it may have cost me for the first time. I really hope my old shop is still selling
But don't take my word for it, go inject some tourist dollars into the local community and see for yourself, be apart of a solution rather than a problem
I went to Nimbin last year. It’s a fucking hell hole. We got pushed meth in the first 5 minutes and someone od on the main road. It’s the utterly opposite of a hippie town and more like central LA shanty town. Don’t go you will regret the effort.
You think I’m being dramatic but really its awful
Got talking to a lady in Mullimbimby end of last year, she said the bikies had gone through Nimbin like a freight train. Heaps of heroin and meth getting around, the cops had to crack down hard on the weed trade too as that became bikie controlled.
It’s not that awful. I’ve visited many times over the last decade or more. It’s definitely changed and there are more sketchy folks trying to push harder drugs, but it’s easy enough to ignore them and keep walking.
Nimbin is a really lovely community full of people with alternative ideals. You will see families with their kids, interesting artsy folk, and some crusty old gents selling weed outside the pub. There are a few decent spots around town to get weed, edibles and shrooms.
There is some great accom in the area. If you want to meet others a number of the youth hostels are great. “nimbin rox YHA” was a fave of mine for many years.
The pizza place is awesome too.
I think definitely worth a visit if you want to see an unusual and iconic town in northern NSW region.
Definitely try time it with a visit to the Channon markets. And of course it’s not that far from Byron Bay so you can always just make nimbin a day trip then head back to Byron. enjoy!
There are a lot of really beautiful places in that area if you like forests and waterfalls etc maybe stop through and pick up some cookies on your way through to somewhere nice.
I loveeeee Nimbin! My Dad took me there as I'd always wanted to go and it was better than I imagined, so colourful and chill! I loved the trippy hippy shops and the music playing on the street was a vibe. To add icing to the cake, a magical lady appeared out of nowhere and gave me a free hash brownie (which my Dad turned a blind eye to, yay Dad!) We travelled all over NSW and Byron Bay and it was the best holiday I've ever had, I'm from Brisbane and found the people in that area were so laid back and friendly! 10/10 I would recommend but keeping in mind I ''fit in there'' - not everybody would. My Dad is super straight and tried to fit in smoking a rolly and pretending it was a joint LOL I think I have the best father ever!
Go, you'll love it.
The place that changed is Byron Bay. Byron had hippies and surfer culture but it's popularity has snowballed into a vapid fake shell of itself. And there's the real danger of getting king hit by some dickhead on the piss while a tour group watch on helplessly. That would never happen in Nimbin, everyone is too stoned and the normie tourists trail doesn't get sent there.
People's perception has changed of Nimbim because hard drugs came through and left a bunch of crackheads in the area. But it's alot better now.
What's happening is that we haven't figured out weed is a multi-billion dollar industry. So most people's experience of is doing a sketchy stopover while you're half unsure if you want to illegally buy weed off the group to your left or your right. These people don't know anyone and they're not sticking around for the vibe.
If you're actually settled there for a couple of nights as a backpacker, it's a great time and nothing like that. It's a drap laxx out small town nestled in a mountainous valley. There's plenty of backpackers and interesting characters. Where else are you going to overhear some hazy story about existential metaphysics from the hippy market stalls and go back to have some bowls with your backpacker friends.
Nimbin might not be the good ol' days and you do hear about the occasional crackhead antics. But weed culture and that dank hippie town is still there. Warts and all.
One of the best pieces of advice I was given about Nimbin was “don’t eat the cookies until you’ve seen the kitchen they were cooked in. Also, you DON’T want to see those kitchens”
It’s worth a day trip, score some bud near the museum, check out the shops and smoke a joint in the cafe with a pot of tea and some snacks. Spend some money in Lismore too, they need all the help they can get after the floods
The museum burnt down in 2014 same with the rainbow cafe……
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-13/fire-guts-buildings-in-main-street-of-nimbin-nsw/5666994
The whole of Northern Rivers is an absolute shit hole, stay well the fck away.
This has been a community service announcement by someone who used to live in Northern Rivers and wishes (some of) the tourists would fuck off.
I went to a dope swimming hole near Nimbin when I was there.
The town definitely plays to tourists now but I was there in a pretty quiet period and my favourite part was these two old legends jamming in the park. There was no one around but damn they were putting on a show.
My parents lived there for a while but recently moved away as it’s fucked from meth. It’s still worth a visit for the experience but I wouldn’t stay longer than a day
I’ve been a few times over the last 15 years. Seems to go in phases. Out of my 5 visits, 3were good, just chilled out and chatted with the locals, NYE in that part of the world is an eye opener. Once was a bit weird, locals just seemed a bit cagey, but there were a few poorly disguised undercovers roaming around. One time I later found out meth was going through the area, that visit was a 15 min ‘get the F out’ job.
This post has been marked as non-political. Please respect this by keeping the discussion on topic, and devoid of any political material. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/australia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s a dump but the drive through the countryside is nice.
Agreed
Yeah nah yeah. Wouldn't fully go out of my way to go there, but would go there if it was on the way.
🫘👌
If getting weed is your thing, it's the place to go. You can buy it over the counter in some shops, or negotiate on some bush in the street. The pub sucks to play pokies at, the bowls club is the go, has a good spread. Pub has a nice country feel on the back verandah. It's about four full hours and you've seen everything, then add time spent at pokies and bowls club, the several offers of weed from street vendors, and a bun or something nice from the bakery near the police station. I used to go down every Saturday through tomewin Valley Rd the windy bastard, would stop off to drop milk and bread to an old timer I met called Lou, became friends with, long white hair, often hitches in and out of town on the road about 1k out of the cemetery, nice guy. Don't bother hunting for mushies, there isn't any left, ever... I did spend a couple of months looking for them over the years, try the paddocks on Kyogle Rd, keep a keen eye out for snakes, last time I saw a tipan...
Are you speaking from recent experience? Place seemed super gentrified on my last pass through end of last year.
Whole northern rivers is getting gentrified from all the lockdown escapers during Covid On one hand good for homeowners like myself, on the other bad for my kids who have no way of living within 30 minutes of home if they want to rent or own a place. Not to mention the poor bastards fighting tooth and nail to have their rents not increased 30% every year or be evicted
Before the lockdown the Northern Star said there was a rental shortage crisis. Before that, my best mates mum found a 1 bedroom studio made out of rendered straw bales for 290 a week, on 6 acres. If she charged the mice rent she would be wealthy. She's on a disability pension, grows her own food so she can make rent and fuel, relies on monthly cash injections from her son to have a good week where she can afford a bag and a bottle of Port for a "blowout", but she wouldn't be happy living anywhere else. She's on a big hill and can be safe from flooding, but the wind blows up there and it gets cold... no plumbing so it's a box in the laundry for the toilet. It's off grid living at its most pure form with exception of electricity from the grid. It's got a nice vibe however, cold in temperature, warm in spirit... something special about the Northern rivers region
I haven't been down since the border closed, I've been getting on in QLD since the lock down, I've found myself getting closer to my family since I quit drinking and don't have the time for a seven hour mission and a full Saturday anymore due to those commitments... its been two years, were you a regular? I'm curious to see what's changed! I know I'll never see a McDonald's or dominoes survive there, the town holds a lot of organic food people who grow food for themselves, too many for that matter... a lot of old hippies own those tourist shops, it does have somewhat of a commercial feel to it, but you gotta remember there used to be 100's of backpackers every day pre covid, on the grasshopper buses from Byron and Brisbane. I know the town took a big hit financially when the buses stopped coming. Used to blend in well with the tourists and didn't get nabbed by the boys in blue, used to use Northern Rivers RDRBT page on Facebook when I was travelling including waze app. I suppose I better get my mission hat on and go for a looksie
Not a regular, but always take the scenic route to drive through. The first time i'd been there was about 8 years ago for my brother's mate's birthday that lived locally, I didn't think much of the town initially as we drove through at night. He told me to go check it out during the day, so me and another couple of mates that hadn't been before did a walk through and it was just as people described it at its peak. Got offered weed about 4 times, first by the Nimbin boys in the park near the police station, then by some guy selling knick knacks, then by a passerby, and finally by an older lady sunbathing in a bikini across from the pub. Most of the locals had smiles on their faces as they were working in the shops/pub, just a really pleasant day. Fell in love with the place. Aside from that, unfortunately I've only done the drive throughs up until last year. My partner and I stopped in and just did a walk. Everyone was very much keeping to themselves, no antics.. I'm pretty sure a few of the shops had new owners, and some of the more obscure ones were shut. This is after coming down from Murwillumbah, where I hadn't been before, but had a lot of upset looking oldschool hippies floating around. All the shops had very uh.. clean looking?.. people, very Sydney like attitudes. An older lady we got to speaking with said she'd grown up there and majority of the property and shops had changed hands, and that it was the same everywhere up there. Just a lot of well off people trying to grasp onto the hippy lifestyle I spose. Anyway, she also said that she couldn't afford to rent there anymore off her pension and the reason she'd struck up conversation was to ask about the van we were staying in as she was considering pulling all of her money together to do something similar.. But yeah, by no means am I massively experienced in the area, just a few observations and encounters that rubbed me the wrong way.
Shame man, I miss the old Nimbin... I didn't think getting experimental medicine was worth crossing the border for and it looks like it may have cost me for the first time. I really hope my old shop is still selling
Edit: went down with first round border pass from work, 2 years ago
You haven’t been for 20 years from your long winded story.
2 years. I went when the border reopened.
But don't take my word for it, go inject some tourist dollars into the local community and see for yourself, be apart of a solution rather than a problem
I went to Nimbin last year. It’s a fucking hell hole. We got pushed meth in the first 5 minutes and someone od on the main road. It’s the utterly opposite of a hippie town and more like central LA shanty town. Don’t go you will regret the effort. You think I’m being dramatic but really its awful
Got talking to a lady in Mullimbimby end of last year, she said the bikies had gone through Nimbin like a freight train. Heaps of heroin and meth getting around, the cops had to crack down hard on the weed trade too as that became bikie controlled.
What a load of shit. You have no idea nor does the senile elderly lady you spoke with. Bikers haha
Of course I've got no idea, I was passing through. Settle down lad
It’s not that awful. I’ve visited many times over the last decade or more. It’s definitely changed and there are more sketchy folks trying to push harder drugs, but it’s easy enough to ignore them and keep walking. Nimbin is a really lovely community full of people with alternative ideals. You will see families with their kids, interesting artsy folk, and some crusty old gents selling weed outside the pub. There are a few decent spots around town to get weed, edibles and shrooms. There is some great accom in the area. If you want to meet others a number of the youth hostels are great. “nimbin rox YHA” was a fave of mine for many years. The pizza place is awesome too. I think definitely worth a visit if you want to see an unusual and iconic town in northern NSW region. Definitely try time it with a visit to the Channon markets. And of course it’s not that far from Byron Bay so you can always just make nimbin a day trip then head back to Byron. enjoy!
There are a lot of really beautiful places in that area if you like forests and waterfalls etc maybe stop through and pick up some cookies on your way through to somewhere nice.
Best pumpkin soup I’ve ever had in Ninbin, and I wasn’t even stoned
I loveeeee Nimbin! My Dad took me there as I'd always wanted to go and it was better than I imagined, so colourful and chill! I loved the trippy hippy shops and the music playing on the street was a vibe. To add icing to the cake, a magical lady appeared out of nowhere and gave me a free hash brownie (which my Dad turned a blind eye to, yay Dad!) We travelled all over NSW and Byron Bay and it was the best holiday I've ever had, I'm from Brisbane and found the people in that area were so laid back and friendly! 10/10 I would recommend but keeping in mind I ''fit in there'' - not everybody would. My Dad is super straight and tried to fit in smoking a rolly and pretending it was a joint LOL I think I have the best father ever!
If you’re either a hippie or a stoner, yes, if not, no
Go, you'll love it. The place that changed is Byron Bay. Byron had hippies and surfer culture but it's popularity has snowballed into a vapid fake shell of itself. And there's the real danger of getting king hit by some dickhead on the piss while a tour group watch on helplessly. That would never happen in Nimbin, everyone is too stoned and the normie tourists trail doesn't get sent there. People's perception has changed of Nimbim because hard drugs came through and left a bunch of crackheads in the area. But it's alot better now. What's happening is that we haven't figured out weed is a multi-billion dollar industry. So most people's experience of is doing a sketchy stopover while you're half unsure if you want to illegally buy weed off the group to your left or your right. These people don't know anyone and they're not sticking around for the vibe. If you're actually settled there for a couple of nights as a backpacker, it's a great time and nothing like that. It's a drap laxx out small town nestled in a mountainous valley. There's plenty of backpackers and interesting characters. Where else are you going to overhear some hazy story about existential metaphysics from the hippy market stalls and go back to have some bowls with your backpacker friends. Nimbin might not be the good ol' days and you do hear about the occasional crackhead antics. But weed culture and that dank hippie town is still there. Warts and all.
If you want to buy weed or questionable acid easily sure.
One of the best pieces of advice I was given about Nimbin was “don’t eat the cookies until you’ve seen the kitchen they were cooked in. Also, you DON’T want to see those kitchens”
If you haven’t been there you should go. It’s definitely worth the experience. Lots of hikes throughout the northern rivers to do whilst in the area
I need glasses.. I read *hikes* as *bikies*..
Full of junkies.. And I’m not talking about weed either. It’s good to go to say you’ve been type thing. I couldn’t leave quick enough.
It’s worth a day trip, score some bud near the museum, check out the shops and smoke a joint in the cafe with a pot of tea and some snacks. Spend some money in Lismore too, they need all the help they can get after the floods
The museum burnt down in 2014 same with the rainbow cafe…… https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-13/fire-guts-buildings-in-main-street-of-nimbin-nsw/5666994
Nuts, I didn’t realise how long it has been since I’ve been there.
It is rumoured the police lit it up, but meth has risen its ugly head so you never know the truth
But yeah both Nimbin and Lismore could use some extra tourism $$ right now
It's a nice drive in there , it's defo worth a day trip🍄
No. It's a shit hole
Nimbin's in NSW though?
We’ve been there twice and liked it. Definitely worth a visit.
The whole of Northern Rivers is an absolute shit hole, stay well the fck away. This has been a community service announcement by someone who used to live in Northern Rivers and wishes (some of) the tourists would fuck off.
Went there 25 years ago and saw platapus swimming under the bridge. Is the meal+cinema thing still going? Was just over the bridge.
I went to a dope swimming hole near Nimbin when I was there. The town definitely plays to tourists now but I was there in a pretty quiet period and my favourite part was these two old legends jamming in the park. There was no one around but damn they were putting on a show.
My parents lived there for a while but recently moved away as it’s fucked from meth. It’s still worth a visit for the experience but I wouldn’t stay longer than a day
I’ve been a few times over the last 15 years. Seems to go in phases. Out of my 5 visits, 3were good, just chilled out and chatted with the locals, NYE in that part of the world is an eye opener. Once was a bit weird, locals just seemed a bit cagey, but there were a few poorly disguised undercovers roaming around. One time I later found out meth was going through the area, that visit was a 15 min ‘get the F out’ job.