Hmmm.... I'm not sure if 'Cultural Encounter' best describes this leg of my travels! Byron Bay is a big surfing hot spot, (although we didn't actually surf from here!), and Nimbin is.... Nimbin!

Byron Bay - Dip and I spent a day at the fab alternative local Byron market. Just a short walk from our hostel (everything is very close here), and we were at this 'Camden -style' market, selling things like hemp bags and man made ornaments made out of metal cutlery and garden spades! Very clever! We picked up a couple of fried fruit 'rainbows'! Ingenious! Just layers of pure dried fruit in different layers that make up a rainbow! I chose the mango, strawberry, passionfruit and one!

Nimbin - We also did one of the many 'Nimbin tours'! Interesting! Nimbin is a hippy, weed-smoking, one-street town, where hash cookies are 'secretly' sold! The 'Cookies? Hash cookies? Do you want some cookies' still rings in your ear after you're back on the bus! All the shops down here, except maybe the supermarket are based on weed, smoking it, eating it, enjoying it, and legalising it! Even the museum is in on it! For a town which is not exempt from the no-marijuana smoking/selling laws of Australia, this is a very surprising little place! So much so, that we've heard of many tourists thinking it is legal here, and pulling out their new stash to brag to police!!! Hmmm... not so clever now eh?! We heard a story of a guy who had had 3 cookies (you are only suppoesed to have how much the cookie seller advises, depending on whether or not you have smoked weed before, and whether you smoke ciggies). Usually this is one cookie, maybe even a quarter or a half. You are then to wait an hour for it to take effect. So this guy waits a couple of minutes, feels nothing, has another one, until all 3 have been polished off! Back on the coach, he starts to feel a bit unwell, until this turns into 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die'. Did i mention this guy had a couple of beers too?! The driver tells him he'll be fine, but to eat some of the oranges in the back, to keep hydrated. The guys then polishes off the whole bus' quota, before stopping at a local family park and hysterically asking all the locals if they have any oranges. He believed they were keeping him alive! Moral of the story? There is such a thing as the COOKIE MONSTER!!!

NB I am sorry if the person in this story was you. Don't let me find out you've become a Nimbin resident!

Canberra: Australian Capital Territory - A decision between choosing Melbourne or Sydney as Australia's capital city led to choosing a half way point instead, thus Canberra. Our trip here was a very short one, as there is not much to do besides taking walks through the Government grounds, and around the museums. Our self-guided tour of the area ended very VERY late, and so our walk back ended even later, and dinner later still! On to Melbourne, and Christmas presents!!!