Surf and cookies

Day 98

"Who am I?
Can I conceal myself for evermore?
Pretend I'm not the man I was before?"

Byron Bay, the surfer's Mecca of the world. Byron Bay was never very high on my list of must-see places, but it has such big history and reputation that it's just one of those places you can't skip if you are trekking along east coast.

If I understand right, Byron Bay started as this sort of hippie-surfer low-key travel destination some 30 years ago. Over the years as world has gotten smaller, it has overwent change as has every place along east coast, but it somehow still manages to have small-town charm. In a way, Byron Bay reminds me a lot of Broome on West Australia. Allthough its now active travel hub, hippie history is clearly visible here.

So the main reason people come here is to surf. I tried that on first day but I have to say that surf here is not as good as Agnes Waters. Waves are much more unpredictable here and tide affects them much more. There are only hour or 2 each day for good waves, unlike Agnes Waters which had basically constant good waves. Other than surf, town boasts active party scene, nice beaches and famous historical lighthouse.
All in all, this would be nice place but it seems that the more south I get, younger the travelers become. In Byron Bay they are hardly 20, so I feel older than ever here...plus its pretty clear after few chats that I have absolutely nothing in common with these people.

Now, trip to Byron Bay would be for nothing without day tour to Nimbin. The undisputed hippie and drug capital of Australia 75km inland from Byron Bay. There are 2 guys who run tours there, I asked hostel reception which one is better and guy said: "This one is the better one, it has barbecue lunch and swim at the waterfall. This other tour...its more for dope smokers, guy takes you to Nimbin, buys some dope, then takes you to farm and you spend afternoon smoking and eating mushrooms there". Ok...let me make one thing clear, smoking, possession, buying, selling, etc. is illegal in Australia, but for some reason cops dont give a shit about it in Nimbin.

So on we went towards Nimbin with bus driver that obviously wasn't playing with full deck anymore. Here are some exerpts from his speech during the 1h drive there:

"I come from South Africa when things were really rough there. So that makes me perfect tour guide for this trip because I have zero respect to authority and police."

"Drugs are bad and they are illegal...Ok, now that I got the legal shit out of the way I want to inform you of safe dosages..."

"When you buy marijuana in Nimbin, dont buy from teenagers, they will just use the money to buy speed. Buy from adults, that keeps the system running smooth."

"Remember, only half a cookie, take rest with you to Byron Bay. We had irish bloke the other day who ate two and half cookies and guy spent half hour on sidewalk crying cause he couldnt find his legs."

"If the cake lady is in town, take only 1/8 piece. We had israeli guy on tour who ate over quarter and he refused to come back in to the bus cause he was convinced there was 25 palestinians inside wanting to kill him."

"If you want to eat real food in Nimbin, remember that everything takes twice as long there...for obvious reasons."

Bus driver warned us that once we step out of the bus, it would take 2mins until someone was offering us cookies and dope. Well, that wasnt quite true, it took me 10 seconds and there was old lady in her fifties walking by trying to sell her cookies and cake to me. Anyway, here is some pics of Nimbin.


...and here some lines locals said to me while there:

"Want to buy cookies? cake? marijuana?"

"...I was really emotionally unstable but this herb here really made me better person..."

We spent 1.5h in Nimbin, but took me only 15mins to realize that this wasn't my cup of tea. I mean, I just cannot imagine myself looking at a mirror spelling GURU out loud(I'm not kidding, they were selling mirrors there with painted text that said "Look in the mirror and spell out loud GURU"), if that ever happens can someone please pull the trigger? You can have many opinions about hippies and smoking weed, but I haven't got anything positive to say. I mean...even the driver said to us that teenagers are buying speed there...Hello!? That should already be a warning sign!

Anyway, trip was definetly worth doing. Now I know that hippie communities will never be my thing. Was more than happy to leave the town since the whole place smelled of weed since people were just smoking joints openly.

So now I am spending last day in Byron Bay enjoying scorchingly hot sun and flawless weather. Frankie and Becky should be coming to town this evening so we might do something in town later on. Tomorrow I have nightmarish 11h bus journey down south to Newcastle where I'll be spending one night before heading to Hunter Valley for some wine touring.

Only 9 more days left in Australia this year, gotta make most out of it.