Hangin' in a Hippy Haven

We have spent 4 glorious days in Byron Bay and it was everything that people told us it was - no commercial buildings, surfers everywhere, laid back hippy-style attitudes, and tie-dye clothing!  We enjoyed shopping in the many surf shops and funky stores before taking a dip in the wavy sea.  A strange thing that we noted on the beach though was that the sand sounded weird as you walked across it - like walking on rubber...though it felt soft and completely normal...very odd.  

We stayed at an especially hippy place called 'the arts factory' that used to be a hippy vegetarian commune and prior to that it was the site of a 'piggery' (the buddha bar (piggery) has since been renovated in the last decade, but before that apparently the floor was sloped so the blood of the pigs could run down to the one end).  Now its just a cool night spot called the Buddha Bar, that plays live music every night.

Now, its just a really cool spacious open air hostel that has a bar, a cafe, a lounge, a spa and a cinema with couches!  Plus, being open air it always feels in tune with nature.  The mainland area with didgereedoo pit, hammocks and volleyball court was the fun place to hang out, and where people sang & yelled until the wee hours of the morning (much to our thin-walled tent chagrin).  Its funny that the stereotype of hippies not being into sports proved true -- we never once saw the volleyball court being used.  We stayed in island bungalows, which are essentially tent-like huts on the river, where iguanas and turkey vultures stop by to visit all the time (and wake you up in the morning like roosters).  It was a great place to chill on our own little balcony.

For a different spice of life we booked a full day bus trip to a hippy village called Nimbin through a company called Jim's Alternative tours.  We booked it with our Irish friends from the surf camp as they were staying at the Arts Factory too.  Essentially right from when the bus picked us up we were in for a journey, as the driver played his synchronized 60's music (rock, reggae, soul) very loud and proud, amidst his peace activist and anti-religious viewpoints.   At one part of the trip we were about to go down a long windy hill for 5 minutes and 12 seconds, and he happened to find a jazz song to match the hills in order to simulate a roller coaster experience for us with the music enhancing the dips and turns along the way.  He also introduced us to eco-air conditioning, below, which we used frequently. 

I have never been on such a fun bus trip where you don't want to get off the bus because the journey (and entertainment of tunes) is so fun and unpredictable.  Before almost every tune or set he would introduce a funny quip as to why that song was chosen.  I would give you some examples, but they wouldn't be politically correct for a public forum. ;o)

Nimbin itself was a pretty trippy town.  It looked like we were stepping back into the 60s as nothing had been updated, and even the local residents dressed like hippies. Very surreal.  They had a crazy museum describing the hippy history of the village and their love of peace (and grass).  This is the entrance to the museum.  We enjoyed walking through the hippy shops (including Hippy High Herbs) and then had a great pizza for lunch. 

Following that, the bus driver took us on another hippy adventure - to Paul Recher's Hippy Heaven.  The entrance was this funky junk garden.

This is essentially a man's private rainforest farm (you can take a guess as to what he farms).  When we got off the bus, this 50-something man with long hippy hair and glasses and a beard showed up to meet us in just his briefs (no not swim trunks, briefs), that didn't leave anything to the imagination if you know what I mean.  He walked us through a secret path through his garden of lush trees to his cabin on a small lake. 

The lake was full of lily pads, but he dove in to show us how it was done.  we were so hot so we decided to go for a swim in the 'rain water lake', though we couldn't help thinking that we were swimming in his sewer....hmmm..best not to dwell too much on that.  We had tubes supplied by Ivan and it was nice a refreshing on a 33C day. Following a nice dip, we chilled on his porch and had watermelon and fresh macadamias from the trees that we cracked open ourselves. yum. 

I happened to get a picture of Paul for you, just so you can get a flavour as to what he's like (and check out the dubious look on the guy's face in front of him). 

Astrid:o)