Category Archives: Hip Guide to Australia

Hip Guide to Australia
Australia is a vast continent with a wide range of attractions for the independent traveler. From modern cities to ancient aboriginal sites, from coastal rainforests to sandy deserts, Australia is a diverse land full of dramatic contrasts. Whether you go on an outback adventure or explore the world’s largest coral reef you’ll never be far from Aussie culture and hospitality. The Hip Guide to Australia offers highlights of the country, and contains many tips for making your stay here more rewarding.
The Hip Guide is Australia’s most complete and up-to-date source for hotel reservations, tourist information, events, reviews, shopping and much more! You can find out what’s going on and chat with others about Australia in our Australia Forum. Don’t forget to visit our Australia Photo Gallery! Bookmark this site, and visit whenever you need to find out what’s happening in Australia.
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Cairns

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Clifton Beach, north of Cairns

Once the secret of backpackers, Cairns is now a well known destination for all kinds of international travelers who yearn for a tropical experience. Whether you like fishing, diving, snorkeling, hiking, golfing, shopping, bird watching or beachcombing, you can find it all around Cairns. Located on Queensland’s north coast, Cairns provides an excellent base for exploration to such wonderful sights as the Great Barrier Reef, Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Forest, incredibly beautiful beaches, Kuranda and the Atherton Tablelands.

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Nimbin, Australia

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West of Byron Bay lies a small fascinating town with a unique character found nowhere else on earth. Nimbin is a place out of time, where the familiar sweet smells of incense and marijuana permeate the streets. Where aging hippies have created their own community surrounded by ancient rainforests on volcanic soil. Soil which is well suited to growing the most profitable of all crops in this part of the world, cannabis.
Like an Australian Haight Ashbury, Nimbin is replete with headshops, vegetarian food, street dealers, junkies (just a few mellow ones), classic rock music, everything a hippie needs to survive. On its psychedelically painted streets you’ll find the type of characters you’d thought vanished long ago; Patchouli drenched girls with flowery flowing dresses and bangles, aging white haired cannabis activists and dreadlocked rastas driving colorful combi vans.

Nimbin’s alternative vibe started in 1973 when it hosted the Aquarius Festival in Peace Park. Many hippies decided to stay on and live off the land. Communes were setup in the surrounding hills, and growing marijuana soon became the major part of the local economy.

Today Nimbin is a popular destination for international backpackers and the new generation of hippies. There’s even a annual event, Mardigrass, when 10,000 or more open-minded people descend upon the town to protest Australia’s repressive cannabis laws, and to sample the local produce.

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