How to Plan for a Spring Trip to Australia’s Nimbin

A trip to Nimbin during Australia’s tropical version of autumn (our spring months) is still filled with ‘60s hippie culture gone wild as well as some of Australia’s most relaxing and breathtaking natural adventures.

Plus, now is the time when cannabis enthusiasts all over the world gear up for Nimbin’s annual MardiGrass Festival, which will be held this year from April 30-May 1. The two-day festival is replete with events like the Nimbin Cannabis Cup, the Hemp Olympix, a protest rally complete with “ganja faeries” and nightly musical entertainment.

While the days of drinking a flat white with a slice of cake and openly smoking at Nimbin’s Hemp Bar may be over for now (after an infamous police raid several years back), the toking continues in private.

Still, the ability to stock up on vacay stash in Nimbin any time of year is rather simple these days (quietly ask around town or enlist aide at the Nimbin Hemp Embassy).

Day trippers and vacationers flock to Nimbin and the surrounding countryside for easy-to-score cannabis, the village’s eclectic hippie-frontier vibe and the natural beauty of this place, which is ringed by mountain forests and lush valleys while nearly empty, pristine shoreline is but an hour’s drive away.

Don’t just think Nimbin is some New Age Nirvana. The central village has attracted a nefarious drug culture in the past decade or two so visitors must be on their toes.

Truly, Nimbin is a fun, cheap and mostly safe way for cannabis-seeking travelers to explore all of the delights of New South Wales’ northernmost country lifestyle.

Fun-Filled Facts

—Nimbin has few accommodations, so planning ahead is essential during festival time especially. More and more visitors are opting for private rooms or entire mountain forest or beachside cottages via Airbnb rather than B&Bs near town.

—Hiking upstream to a fresh water river’s deep pond and then spending time swimming and sunning is a favorite pastime of outbackers in Australia. Nimbin is surrounded by some of the country’s best “holes” such as Dalwood Falls, Marom Falls, Tosha Falls and Killen Falls.

If You Go

Australia’s Parliament finally made an amendment to its Narcotic Drugs Act on February 24 to allow for legally growing of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes. Pro-cannabis proponents called it a “historic day,” however, what happens next for MMJ patients is rather murky. So, buying, growing and consuming cannabis are still illegal as of today. Nimbin is quite the exception as this faraway tropical town was literally built as a pot paradise. Ever since a crackdown in 2008, the good ol’ days of lighting up inside cafes and outside on the frontier-style sidewalks are gone. In addition, a very unfortunate fire in 2014 took out the city’s priceless cultural artifacts at the Nimbin Museum. Fortunately, the free-wheeling spirit of the original hippie village remains and is resparked every year during the city’s high-flying MardiGrass Festival.

Time to Go: Spring

Weather: Warm with high humidity and nearly constant rainfall.

Budget: $$$$$