Take Me There: Nimbin – By Name, By Reptuation

Nimbin: a place where if you haven’t yet visited you would have heard of by reputation.

In my head Nimbin was going to be a remote, dusty village with few amenities, dirt tracks like those in the desert, crowds of hippies with shaky eyes and police officers just on the outskirts ready to search you for that stash you just bought.

In reality, Nimbin is a place like no other. The street is a mile long with 1 bar that’s attached to the only hostel around, a pizza place, a museum, an information centre and lots of boutique shops selling hippy drug stuff.  The road is tarmac and the streets are empty, apart from the few people skulking on benches in their own sort of reality.

People aren’t intimidating but they are certainly the most bohemian wanderers I’ve ever come across. There doesn’t seem to be much to do here, unless you’re big on smoking, in which case you’re not really there ever.

We had a drink in the only bar and ate pizza in the only pizza place.

Then we got the hell out of Texas.

Stay time: An afternoon trip

Amusement rating: 10/10 gobsmacked! 

Related articles

• Day Trip – Nimbin, Australia (travelpod.com)
• Byron & Nimbin – Surfers Paradise, Australia (travelpod.com)
• Hippies at the gate: why the Left and Right hate coal seam gas (crikey.com.au)

EAT: #8 Cooking on the road

KEY LIME PIE, MY FAVOURITE DESERT!

This is number #8 on my list of things to accomplish while in the middle of nowhere – get creative cooking. As a way of earning my keep on the farm it has become customary to cook for the family, which began as a fun idea that soon transformed into pressure for timing and quality. Deciding what to cook every night is also coming on tedious, but as you will see from the snaps below, the result can be more rewarding. sometimes.

The catch phrase “it’ll just take 20 minutes” has become an ongoing joke after the first two weeks seemed to drag out to a good 2 hours -  and there’s 2 of us! How did this happen?

After understanding where all the equipment and ingredients stood and how the oven and grill functions (and sometimes does not) the 20 minute tag line has become more realistic and the enjoyment of producing something new is actually pretty exciting.

Here are a few pieces of evidence of culinary delights that have been sweated, baked and pruned over the last month:

Feta and Spinach Parcels 

It’s actually easy and looks rather good as a presentation piece (though this picture does them zero justice). Give them a go!

 

Pavlova/Meringue

Topped with fruits and double cream. On occasion sorbet, too.

Pizza

We made the dough! Mushroom, pepper, pepperoni, cheese and tomato pizza, baby!