nimbin
Wikipedia: Nimbin is notable for the prominence of its environmental
initiatives such as permaculture, sustainability and self-sufficiency
as well as the cannabis counterculture.
Residents who appreciate Nimbin in a more multi-faceted way can feel
dismay that Nimbin is so often dismissed as being all about the
drugs. Decades ago, the Aquarius festival was an Australian
equivalent to Woodstock. Since that time, Nimbin has acquired a
certain reputation, and giving out too many details about the scene
there might further spoil the place for residents.
Nimbin has a very colourful main street. GK and I went to meet a
friend from online who had agreed to show us the markets there. We
returned on the day we were leaving town to see if we could pick up
some mind-altering substances.
I'm more interested in drugs than GK is. It's probably accurate to
say that GK was more into checking out Nimbin for the lifestyle,
whereas for me it had more to do with the drugs. Out there, it seems
unlikely I could be independent, but aside from that, if I were to
move, I would move to Melbourne. It's not that my feelings about
Melbourne will never change, but it could be that for right now,
there is a reason Melbourne stands out to me. But as for GK.. the
place where he now lives doesn't make the most sense, except that the
possums live there. A place like Nimbin does seem a better fit for
him, politically, socially, philosophically.. but in the early years
of establishing himself in his career, he settled near the company
which offered him work, before he started up his own company (his
work is now pretty transferable - what I mean is that he doesn't have
to be based here in the suburbs, he could move to the Northern Rivers
area.)
more murals on the main street
GK and I both have certain nervous mannerisms that might make it more
difficult for us to buy drugs (for people to trust us). However, his
appearance in particular probably helped us out to some extent.. at
one point in Nimbin, while I was using a public toilet just for a few
moments, someone came up to GK who was waiting outside and offered
him some weed.
Later on, when we went to an area where other people were waiting to
buy drugs, I thought maybe that no one approached us because I was
the problem, and if I just took a little walk, maybe someone would
come up to GK, who definitely looks hippie-ish. So I went to buy us
some iced coffees, but no one had approached him by the time I got
back. We spent some time observing, and eventually when we were about
to leave/give up we stumbled into things.
I was horribly clumsy, and ended up dropping a couple of $50s on the
ground, but I did manage to get some acid (which I have never tried),
and GK managed to get some cookies (like pot brownies) from one of
the 'grannies' who sells them.
roast pumpkin and persian feta salad
On the day we went to Nimbin, we had lunch at the Sphinx Rock
Café. The salad pictured above was very tasty.
We went to the 100 Mile Table for breakfast. The philosophy there is
about sourcing ingredients from within 100 miles. The coffee there
was my favourite in Northern Rivers. GK got a breakfast called The
Candice, composed of egg, spinach, beans, grilled haloumi, tomatoes
and maybe a hash brown, and I got a breakfast bowl with granola and
yogurt, and we shared both. (We also shared the lunch pictured above
and below.) In Nimbin, our friend directed us to some baked goods at
a small market, and we shared a chocolate éclair and a pastry
with affogato.
We had also checked out The Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley
Art Centre (what I remember most was something called Woman in Mask 2
by someone named Shayla, but I have forgotten her last name and have
had trouble finding it online.) And we took a drive through Mt
Jerusalem National Park, which is near a cute town called Uki. More
on that in a moment..
dips and bread at sphinx rock café
Before the drive home, I ate a pot cookie. I had been hoping it would
give me a 'high', or that giddy feeling you can get with pot, but it
had a much stronger physical effect than I had ever experienced
before.
I hadn't realized that I was trying out the medicinal type of weed.
I ate a whole cookie, not realizing how strong it would be. It was
very powerfully sedating, and I probably should only have had about
half a cookie the first time.
I think what I had was more indica than sativa, and mainly had a very
strongly sedating effect. GK is nervous about pot because of his
paranoia experience, but he thought it would be interesting to
observe me on the drive back, and he purposely chose to drive through
the winding road of the big park near Uki (Mt Jerusalem).
For a while I was a bit scared, because in the past I hadn't noticed
much effect with pot at all.. but the effects of this stuff were
pretty extreme. My mouth and throat were very dry, and felt 'heavy',
and for a while I wondered if I was having an allergic reaction, or
if there was something else in the cookie, and if my throat was
slowly closing up and I would suffocate. But then it did start to
dawn on me that maybe this related to the whole medicinal marijuana
kind of effect that those with severe pain seek out, and so I just
tried to pay attention, to keep breathing, and just note my reactions
and experience. I drank a bit of water from time to time. I felt
sleepy and sedated, but was a bit afraid to go to sleep. I was able
to ask myself: what am I afraid of? Suffocating slowly? Yes, but am I
afraid to die? We are in the middle of nowhere, on a winding road in
a park, not near medical help. What would happen if I died now? I
made it to Melbourne, I made it to Byron Bay for GK's birthday, it
would be ok to die now. And so I relaxed and was able to just go with
the experience.
The iPod was on, and I noticed that if I was going to try to sing,
I wasn't sure I'd be able to. I thought about various things, like
how much muscular control I'd have, and wondered about things like
bladder and bowels as well. If I spoke, would I slur? I mean, I was
severely sedated. But I didn't have trouble with any of these things,
and later, when everything was probably fully kicked in, we did get
out and walk, and I wore a heavy backpack, and although things felt
a bit odd, I didn't have a problem with motor control or anything
else, including speaking. We also got an ice cream each, and I found
the ice cream was very soothing for my throat.
I think it was good that I remembered to check out drug prices
before heading to Nimbin. In hindsight, I guess we also should have
searched effects and stages, but in the moment, I was actually
thinking that sometimes it's good not to know everything in advance,
or to have preconceptions, and to just have 'an adventure', like
people used to when they'd just accept drugs.
GK searched later, and said that for the first time, it might be a
good idea to just have half a cookie. It's a good thing I guess that
I didn't have more than one cookie.. at first, he had speculated it
might take about half an hour for it to start kicking in, and at that
stage, not much was happening.. I think it was more like 45 minutes,
and the peak came later.. but at the half an hour mark I didn't take
another cookie.
When I described my experience to GK he said it probably would be
good for pain relief, and yes, I think when I have a bad period or
stomach problems, it would probably be good, except that it takes a
while to kick in. I did have my period while I was away. It was the
first one in a while, and I had no problems with it. I have, however,
had a few stomach issues recently, a couple of nights just before I
went away, and also a couple of nights while we were travelling.
Maybe it's because of the extremes.. the coffee, sugar, alcohol, and
the vomiting.
I will eventually try to write up my experiences with lsd
here.
->exile on meme st: a diary
->xesce.net
