Fast facts
- Counter-culture capital of Australia
- In a beautiful green valley pierced with limestone spires
- 785 km north of Sydney, population 1,100
Why go there
Nimbin is Australia’s home-grown haven for alternative subculture. The communes that sprouted in the hills around Nimbin in the 1970s and 1980s were the nucleus of an experimental society that seemed to flout most of the rules of contemporary Australia. Today, Nimbin wears its hair, its tattoos and body piercings and its slightly outrageous manners with pride, but it’s not for the faint-hearted.
A tapestry of farms and a landscape of astonishing beauty that includes a number of World Heritage national parks surround the town.
History
Nimbin was a peaceful, sleepy, farming town until the early 1970s, when it was catapulted into the Woodstock era when Australia’s universities held their combined Aquarius Arts Festival on the green slopes around the town. Some who attended noticed that local land was cheap, and Nimbin became the incubator for a communal society that aimed to get back to grass roots living, reinvigorate the human psyche and generally save the planet.
Things to do
- Walk to Protester's Falls on Terania Creek, beneath a canopy of Bangalow palms, to the waterfall where a 30 metre veil of water sprays into a green pool.
- Explore The Channon, a charming little village surrounded by subtropical forests and the centre for many alternative communities of the region.
- Take a tour of the Rainbow Power Company, an alternative power supplier.
Events
- The Mardi Grass Fiesta in May is a unique cultural event that celebrates the cannabis plant, which Nimbin embraces with enormous gusto.
Don’t miss
- The psychedelic ambience along Cullen Street.
- The action at the Nimbin Bush Theatre and Cafe.
- Nimbin Rocks, remnants of volcanic action in the area.
- The Channon Craft Market, second Sunday of each month.
- Nimbin Museum, a museum experience with a difference.
