Forget Byron Bay; Nimbin has long been known as Australia’s earthiest paradise. Nature, waterfalls, hippies – everything a British trustafarian could dream of. Just over an hour’s drive inland from the iconic Byron, Nimbin is a small town of 1,477 people which – up until about 2016 – felt above the law.
Though it’s part of NSW and thus subject to the same drug restrictions as any other town in the state, there used to be “only one cop,” Michael Balderstone, who was president of Nimbin’s Hemp Embassy in 2018, told Vice.