I stayed at Byron Bay for a few days. It's one of the nicest towns on the east coast of Australia, I heard. And it was indeed a really nice place. Surfers mixed with old hippies and young tourists. But I had the feeling that the real hippie feel to it has kind of vanished with all the tourists and backpackers like me going there. So I drove to Nimbin, a small village up in the hinterland of Byron, in search of true stoned, peaceloving, long-bearded, sixtysomethings who still didn't know what to do with their lives.
And I found them! From the moment I got out of the car, I knew I had. It was the smell of weed that gave them away. I walked the strip of shops and cafes, which were all very flower power, and had a coffee there and sat in the sun. All around me were people with very bad skin but with a twinkle in their eyes, sigaret in hand, hanging out. The atmosphere was very relaxed, bit touristy, but in a fun way.
I wondered if my generation will ever get its own village that people will go and check out in thirty years. And what it will look like.
Then I drove on towards Brisbane with a small late lunch stop in Surfers Paradise, whose name is the only nice thing about it, actually. I read a Bill Bryson book that said it used to have another name, this village, but when the city council wanted to change the name, everybody could send in a name, for a contest, and this name is the one that won. Now it's a huge beach vacation spot, so businesswise, it was a great decision.
I stayed at Byron Bay for a few days. It's one of the nicest towns on the east coast of Australia, I heard. And it was indeed a really nice place. Surfers mixed with old hippies and young tourists. But I had the feeling that the real hippie feel to it has kind of vanished with all the tourists and backpackers like me going there. So I drove to Nimbin, a small village up in the hinterland of Byron, in search of true stoned, peaceloving, long-bearded, sixtysomethings who still didn't know what to do with their lives.
And I found them! From the moment I got out of the car, I knew I had. It was the smell of weed that gave them away. I walked the strip of shops and cafes, which were all very flower power, and had a coffee there and sat in the sun. All around me were people with very bad skin but with a twinkle in their eyes, sigaret in hand, hanging out. The atmosphere was very relaxed, bit touristy, but in a fun way.
I wondered if my generation will ever get its own village that people will go and check out in thirty years. And what it will look like.
Then I drove on towards Brisbane with a small late lunch stop in Surfers Paradise, whose name is the only nice thing about it, actually. I read a Bill Bryson book that said it used to have another name, this village, but when the city council wanted to change the name, everybody could send in a name, for a contest, and this name is the one that won. Now it's a huge beach vacation spot, so businesswise, it was a great decision. 
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