Nimbin
Nimbin is an 'alternative village' in Summerland NSW, approximately 1 hour west of Byron Bay and 30 km north of Lismore.
In beautiful countryside, surrounded by hills, forests and trees and watched over by the sacred Rocks of Nimbin is a truely magical place.
The area is part of what is known as the 'Rainbow Region' and is culturally important to the Bundjalung Aboriginal Australians and has become a haven for Australia's counterculture in recent decades.
Nimbin was a former dairy village in serious economic decline until May 1973, when the Aquarius Festival, a major music and countercultural lifestyle festival of university students, practitioners of alternative lifestyles, 'hippies' and party people, was held in the village.
After the festival many participants and festival goers remained in Nimbin to form communes and other multiple occupancy communities.
Since the Aquarius Festival, the region has attracted many writers, artists, musicians, actors, environmentalists and permaculture enthusiasts.
The unofficial capital of the 'Rainbow Region' and Australia's alternative lifestyle capital, old shopfronts have been converted to eateries and retail shops are gaily decorated in indigenous and new age motifs.
Accommodation is now growing from the limited caravan parks, B&Bs, motel, backpackers and a pub, with a growing farmstay and cottage presence scattered in the hamlets around the village.
Look out for the Nimbin Rocks. They lie about 3 km south of the village and are particularly beautiful in the early morning sunlight. Nimbin also provides convenient access to Nightcap National Park, now one of the five World Heritage sites in the region.
