Australia's hippy capital fears freedom at risk

NIMBIN, Australia (Reuters) - The pungent smell of marijuana fills the air outside The Rainbow Cafe in Australia's hippy capital Nimbin as a shopkeeper smokes a joint during a coffee break.

Across the road the Hemp Embassy is busy with shoppers inspecting bongs and pipes, as well as hemp T-shirts and hats, while a few enjoy a joint of marijuana in a side room.

"Hey mister, want some weed," says a voice in a dark corner of the Nimbin Museum, a cave-like labyrinth which tells of the hippy birth of Nimbin following the Aquarius Festival in 1973.

Selling and smoking marijuana may be illegal in Australia, but in Nimbin on Australia's fertile northeast coast authorities unofficially ignore the pot smoking.

Nimbin's marijuana smoking reputation is global and busloads of young foreign tourists, too young to ever have encountered a real hippy, arrive each day to get high or just wander through the village's shops which still promote the hippy way of life.

"Nimbin is a pot town," says Andrew Kavasilas, president of the Nimbin Chamber of Commerce, as he draws on a reefer of marijuana inside his Nimbin Cafe.

Nimbin's hippies are gathering for a wake at his cafe and a couple of grey haired women in kaftan tops and cotton pants chat and smoke marijuana, while two men playing chess roll a joint.

"Its a relaxed, alternate town. If you fit in, you fit in," says Kavasilas, who inspects the Reuters business card on the table and declares it would make good filters for his joints.

NIMBIN'S BIRTH

Nimbin was originally a dairy town, perched on a ridge surrounded by lush valleys. In 1973 the town was on the verge of closing when a group of university students held the Aquarius hippy festival in a nearby paddock.

An abundance of cheap land and buildings, and the prospect of growing potent marijuana in fertile cow paddocks, saw many hippies put down roots and build an alternate culture.

In its early years Nimbin struggled to survive with hippies constantly clashing with authorities over issues such as drugs, unauthorized communal housing and the environment.

Today Nimbin's rainbow-colored shops, such as Bringabong, the Hemp Embassy and the Rainbow Cafe, are heritage listed.

Nimbin's communes, one of which is 2,000 acres, now boast state-of-the-art ecological houses. The village's Rainbow Power Company exports alternative energy generating technology.

"Nimbin has changed from an isolated alternate culture to this village which is mainly tourism," says Michael Balderstone, a former stockbroker who arrived in Nimbin 20 years ago and now runs the Hemp Embassy and lobbies for marijuana to be legalized.

Even ageing hippies like Wavy Gravy, the master of ceremonies at the 1969 U.S. Woodstock festival, pilgrimage to Nimbin. Shuffling down the street with walking stick in hand and wearing a ban the bomb T-shirt, Gravy says he admires the communal vibe.

Other visitors just look confused as they gaze through shop windows at books like "Conversations with God", "Anti-Gravity and the Unified Field" and "Extra Dimensional Universe".

VULNERABLE

But Nimbin's relaxed attitude towards drugs has left it vulnerable. Five years ago hard drugs such as heroin and ICE entered Nimbin, fuelling violence especially among its youth.

Nimbin's hippies joined police in cracking down on the hard drugs and backed the installation of CCTV cameras in the main street.

"People worked with police to get rid of hard drugs from the town because they saw their sons and daughters going down a road to nowhere," says Peter Robinson at Nimbin Lifestyle Real Estate.

Nimbin has won its battle against hard drugs, but its reputation for tolerance continues to attract drug addicts and those with mental health problems.

"Its a bit of a refugee camp for people from the war on drugs," says Balderstone. "This is the last bus stop for people with mental health problems. They get accepted here."

"Its a bit of a problem for us. We end up with a lot of homeless and mental health people."

Nimbin's belief that marijuana should be legalized and regulated is no longer merely a hippy principle. Marijuana is a multi-million dollar business and parents fear their children are mixing with criminals and may be jailed for dealing to tourists.

"Lots of good families have left Nimbin because of the street dealing," says Balderstone.

But many hippies fear the biggest threat to emerge to Nimbin's lifestyle comes from Australia's rampant coastal development, driven by cashed up retiring baby boomers.

Coastal homes at nearby Byron Bay cost over A$1.0 million (US$830,000) and developers are eyeing the picturesque valleys and ridges around Nimbin, a one hour drive from the coast.

"To attract development they want to sanitize Nimbin and get us off the street," says hippy Elbereth Evenstal as she sets up her hand-made jewellery stand.

Many hope the inevitable development will be small-scale and environmentally sensitive, but they fear for their hippy lifestyle. "We have been free for a long time. It will be a pity if we lose this freedom," says Balderstone.