Nimbin

What happened in 1973Nimbin was a declining dairy farming village when the Australian Union of Students selected the valley in 1973 as the site for the Aquarius Festival. Ten days of music, art, and discussion about alternative lifestyles – and many of the participants stayed, bought cheap land, and founded communes in the surrounding valleys. New South Wales specifically created the legal form of Multiple Occupancy for this. The festival is considered the starting point of the Australian counter-culture.The Village TodayThe main street is colorfully painted, partly by artists from the festival generation. There is a museum dedicated to its history, shops for handicrafts and hemp products, and a permaculture garden. The town is located on Bundjalung Country and is named after a local palm tree. Environmental campaigns later emerged from that movement, such as the blockade against logging at Terania Creek in 1979. Nimbin is also a place with visible social problems – that's part of the picture.

Getting ThereNimbin is located in the hinterland of the Northern Rivers, about 30 kilometers north of Lismore and a good hour's drive from Byron Bay. The drive takes you over narrow, winding country roads through pastureland and macadamia plantations – expect it to take longer than the mileage suggests.Getting AroundThe village essentially consists of one street, Cullen Street, and can be walked end-to-end in ten minutes. Without a car, you can get here with shuttles and day tours from Byron Bay; public transport is virtually non-existent. For the waterfalls and trails in Nightcap National Park, you need a vehicle, partly on unpaved access roads.