Mullumbimby for a month!

[apothecary]

Hullo!

My stint at the CSIRO finishes June 23 - 30, and I have four weeks of holidays (July 1 - July 30) between then and Semester 2 of uni.

I'm not staying in Sydney, my "spread the wings and leave the nest" urges are beginning and I wish to strike it out on my own, if at least for those 4 weeks.

My planned destination is most likely gonna be Mullumbimby.

Countrylink tells me I can score return coach for $105, and the Greyhound to Byron Bay is $86.

The Middle B Pub/Hotel/Motel/Whatever website says staying there is like $100/wk.

I figure food cost will be about $50-60 a week.

That comes to a rough total of $800.

I have much more than that already, so it looks like I won't be "striking it out on my own" as much as I originally thought, but I want something to do for that month!

Anyone willing to hire me? Any short term employment opportunities up in the M? I have no issues with going up with 5 or 6 books and purchasing several hundred dollars worth of drugs, but I figure that won't be fun for all that long.

I want to work up there! If you live in the area and have some work that'd need doing around that time, please post here or pm me!

EDIT: Also, what are some interesting things one could do while up there? Any festivals etc on at the time?

[ 21. March 2005, 09:26: Message edited by: apothecary ]

[nabraxas]

apoth--my friend, i congratulate you on getting so far w/your course.

i hope you find some employment in mull. but i wouldn't hold my breath.

you should still go though, just to get a look.

enjoy your holiday & have a rest, save those nuerons for when they're needed.

i really hope you do well in your exams. the more qualified folks we have here the better.

[mesq]

If you come to mullum let me know and I can help you find awesome doofs

[apothecary]

What the hell are doofs?

Do you mean dance party type deals?

[apothecary]

Also, forgot to add, if some of you live in the area, I think it would be cool to organise a meet or similar.

I don't know how it works in ethnobotanical circles, but on the geek forums and IRC and such that I usually hang out on, we go to a pub and drink ourselves silly

[mescalito]

Normally what you do is you go on a Road trip and post to see if peeps are willing to put up with you for a few nights do drugs and finger your bum-hole.

[apothecary]

I'm sure there will be an invitory post detailing the bum hole fingeringness and drug doingerings just as soon as I arrive (gainfully employed or not) :D

[Chemical Shaman]

I just got back from spending like a week in the mullumbimby/byron area. I slept in a swag in the park in mullumbimby most of the time, the rest of the time I slept in a tee-pee on someones property.

One thing I should point out is that you have SERIOUSLY underbudgeted for food. You'll need a lot more than that even if you're as skinny and malnourished as I am and you just eat crap. One of the things I love most about mullumbimby is the food! It would be a real waste if you don't take advantage of some of the delicious, healthy, organic meals availabe at most of the restaurants around town. Try Poincianas while you are there, the food is amazing and delicious. if you're just after healthy fruit and vegetables and groceries in general you should try Santos across the road from the pub you are talking about staying at.

As far as working and what not goes, there are plenty of places in the Byron shire that do woofing, which is basically where you work a few hours a day for food and accomodation. This might be a better way to go for you then staying at the mullum pub as you will get to hang out with a bunch of cool backpackers and peeps that are probably closer to your age bracket and would be a bit more fun than just hanging out in mullum.

Truth be told there really isnt a hell of a lot to do in mullumbimby itself, the pubs are generally just filled with locals and the odd bogan, there isn't any nightlife at all. There is HEAPS of stuf to do in Byron though, you can spend all day on the beach surrounded by topless women and then when it get's dark the pubs are awesome and there is always something on. Even strolling along the beach at 1am you'll most likely stumble onto some sort of gathering around a campfire with people drumming and fire twirling etc.

You should definately budget a bit more money than $800, I tore through that in a week (but I did do a lot of partying).

Was there any particular reason you wanted to stay in Mullumbimby in particular? You'd probably have a lot more fun in Byron. Then again it's no real dramas hitching into Byrin from mullum, you just won't have a any luck hitching back to mullum from Byron if you're staying out late.

-Chemical Shaman

[apothecary]

I'll probably be taking a thousand or maybe more. Also I will have the credit card those fools at the bank gave me.

What do you think is a good weekly approximation for food?

I can see it costing a lot if I eat out every day every meal ($10 meal * 3 meals a day * 7 days a week = $210 for a week) but I doubt I'll be doing that. Not sure. Gimme more info! :D

I won't be spending all my time in Mullumbimby I think there is cool stuff I want to see there, I definitely want to visit Wandjina gardens, and spend a week or so just unwinding and relaxing, but I also want to see Nimbin! And Byron!

I figure I can spend a week or so just chilling and walking around without anything more specific than weed and some Nietzsche in mind.

A day or two in Nimbin is probably more than enough for me, I just want to see what it's like.

I'm going up to Mullumbimby because I don't want to look back on my last year as a teenager and say I sat around at home smoking weed and following the same routine as everyone else.

I want to remember this year.

I want to see Byron. I want to go to the pubs and listen to cool live music. I don't want to drink. I enjoy beer, but I don't enjoy getting slaughtered.

I'll probably be good for an ounce, 7 grams a week is huge for me.

*thinks*

Maybe I won't be up there for 4 weeks. I will be up there I guess for as long things are interesting.

Out of curiosity, is there any chance of $100/wk accomodation at Byron? I don't really need to work there if I save enough money up.

Damn you CS. You're like a little tornado, come in and spin up my plans. Thus I am demanding more info from you! :D

[Chemical Shaman]

Just uploaded some pics of mullum.

This is pretty much all there is to see in mullum

[apothecary]

That pub looks cool.

MORE INFO, CS!

Do not log off without more info for me.

[Chemical Shaman]

You can get good value meals at The Mullum Pub, you can get a good chicken parma for $9.50, both pubs offer good value on counter meals. You can expect to pay about twice as much in Byron.

In terms of cheap accomodation in Byron, you wont really get anything for $100 a week.

From reading your posts above and what you want out of this trip I can tell you EXACTLY what you want to do. Follow this and at the end of the month you will be emailing me saying "thankyou thankyou thankyou."

Take a tent and a sleeping bag and book yourself into "The Arts Factory" in Byron Bay. It's about 10-15minutes walk from the CBD. You can expect to pay $12-$15 a night but it is well worth it. You know that movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio where all those backpackers find that paradise? Well the arts factory shits all over that place. Trust me once you see this place you will never look back, you will wonder what the fuck you were ever thinking wanting to stay at the mullum pub.

The arts factory has everything you could ever need, there is a kitchen where you can prepare all of your meals and store your food (two kitchens actually), there is a cafe/rumpus area with internet access and pool tables etc. There is beach volleyball, there is a swimming pool, there are beautiful blonde swedish backpackers, there is everything you could ever need. Every day they do either free fire twirling lessons, free didgereedoo lessons, massage lessons etc. At night there is a restaurant across from the entrance where they sometimes put on cheap Dinners (cooked meat and a few salads etc) usualy around $8-$10.

After dark there is a van that basically drives into Byron and back again every 15 minutes untill like 3 or 4am. There is a reading room where you can just sit and chillout and they have all sorts of cool books in there, or you can sit on the balcony overlooking tanned bikini babes and relax there. There is also a cinema about a minute walk from the entrance where they do CHEAP classic movies too. This is the place you want to be.

You can spend your days on the beach and then retreat of a night back to your site and have a jam with some other peeps, share a spliff around etc.

In terms of cheap meals and drinks etc in Byron, what you want to do is wait untill about 5pm and look out for backpackers handing out vouchers for a place called Cheeky Monkeys. If you grab a few vouchers you can eat there cheap every night. With one of these vouchers you can get a good meal at cheeky monkeys for $5-$10 which is REALLY good for Byron Bay, Happy hour at Cheeky Monkeys starts at 9pm I believe and you can get really cheap jugs of beer. 2 or 3 jugs should see you right for the entire night

You don't even need a lot of money to enjoy the nightlife in Byron, you can simply walk up and down the main street checking out the different buskers, or talk to fellow travellers etc

I was having dinner in a restaurant there last week and this guy came up and just put a lit joint into my hand

As far as Nimbin goes, most people can only hack a day or two at MOST It can get pretty full on. You wont have any trouble scoring good cheap weed, just sit down and chill out and talk to a few peeps before you buy anything. You'll probably get 20 offers in the first 5 minutes if you look like a tourist. The Rainbow Cafe in Nimbin does pretty nice healthy meals, the nimbin pub does cheap counter meals (roughly $10). The Hemp bar is a good place to chill and chat with other stoners.

I've only been back a couple days and im already starting to miss being up there

I'll post some pics up in a sec.

-Chemical Shaman

[apothecary]

I think maybe my plan needs revising.

Thankyou for your input CS. I definitely have some things to think about now...probably enough that I won't get any work done tomorrow hehe.

I am still definitely going to Mullumbimby, I want a place to chill, and it seems like while the Arts Factory is cool I think it's a bit too expensive to just spend chilling

What's the chance I could convince you to come up while I'm around? :D

[Chemical Shaman]

jeez im just going through my camera, I hardly took any photos at all.

This is from the beach hotel

I was walking past the park in byron and there was this dude there doing free poi and staff lessons for anybody that wanted to join in. He's there every tuesday and thursday.

This park is just down the road from the mulumbimby pub, I slept there in my swag just about every night and then I slept ina teepee in Nimbin for two nights.

These are some pics from the arts factory, I only had a couple on my camera

I'll see what else I got

[Chemical Shaman]

apothecary:

I think maybe my plan needs revising.

Thankyou for your input CS. I definitely have some things to think about now...probably enough that I won't get any work done tomorrow hehe.

I am still definitely going to Mullumbimby, I want a place to chill, and it seems like while the Arts Factory is cool I think it's a bit too expensive to just spend chilling    

What's the chance I could convince you to come up while I'm around?   :D  

trust me when I say that The Arts Factory will definately end up being the cheapest place to "chill", you'll see what I mean once you're up there.

Oh and I completely forgot to mention!!!!!! The BEST place to chill in Mullumbimby is The Kiva Spa, it's just around the corner from Santos. The Kiva Spa re-defines the term "chill" don't visit mullum without visitng the Kiva Spa. I think they do a community night there on thursday nights where you pay like 10 bucks for 2 hours. Definately check it out.

Seriously if you want to do it cheap i can tell you how to live it up for next to nothing. I havent paid for accomodation one single time on the last two of my road trips, I know all the tricks in the book:) just take a swag up with you, I can tell you all the places where you can unroll it and not be bothered or hassled (or found) by anyone. I can also tell you how to get free showers etc in Byron Bay by sneaking into places that you are supposed to pay money to be in etc. If you wanted to do it REAl cheap you could just do what i do for accomodation

Seriously look into this woofing thing though, it might be right up your alley. You should pm Being about it, she did woofing for ages all around the Byron area and said it was great.

As far as me coming back up again, that wont be happening anytime soon. I told my boss when I got back to work on saturday night that im going to move to Byron and be homeless and sell acid for a living, I guess now that i've said it im going to have to go through with it heh. Just can't happen anytime soon unfortunately.

Oh also not many people realise but Byron bay seems to be this fucken mecca for cinder blocks!!! What the fucks with that?!? You cant even walk down the street without coming across like hundreds and hundreds of cinder blocks.

[apothecary]

I need a new bookshelf.

My bookshelf is too full. I have too many books.

I have always wanted to build one of those "Simpsons episode where Homer goes to college" cinder blocks and planks bookshelves.

I wonder if I can sneak 6 or even 8 cinder blocks back on the coach when I go home...

..

:D

[Chemical Shaman]

Nothing will impress chicks more than going back to your place and checking out your cinder block and wooden plank bookshelf. Not even a cock the size of your arm.

[occidentalis]

If you need a place to stay in Nimbin, check out the YHA. It's a short distance out of town over a creek and up a hill. Very chilled out friendly people, beautiful surrounds, and a swimming pool. Staying there was definitely one of the highlights of my NSW adventure. It cost us $25 a night but it may be cheaper at this time of year.

[Torsten]

I agree with CS that 4 weeks in mullum will probably do your head in

The town goes real quiet at about 7pm and the only life left is a couple of restaurants and the two pubs. Pretty standard for a small country town really, except even the bogans are open minded (or stoned.... or both)

Seriously, head to the art factory in byron first cos you will meet lots of funky people there and much of your next 3 weeks will probably get planned out from there. It's got nightlife, daylife, sex, drugs and ... more drugs. And it's walking distance from Byron town. So once you've met a few nice or interesting people there you will soon find out the best ways to get around. After all, they all come to the area for exactly the same purpose as you.

Unless you know someone living in Nimbin there really isn't much point staying there after dark. It's a rough town even for the locals. YOu might find a single day plenty, or you might want to go back for a second day, and even if you plan to stay overnight, don't bother booking more than one night.

Do you have a drivers licence? If so, then definitely plan on hiring a car for at least a few days. There are 3 World Heritage Listed National Parks within half an hour from Mullum, but except for expensive backpacker tours there is no transport to them. Do a search for "Mt Warning", "Nightcap" and "Border Ranges".

[Torsten]

Originally posted by apothecary:

That pub looks cool.

Ummm, that's the healthfood shop

[nabraxas]

first off, i think CS deserves a big THANKYOU.

apothecary--CS has done you a big favour. i haven't been to mull. but i really couldn't imagine that much there to keep you occupied---if there was i guess it would be as commercial as Byron.

i think you'd be better off basing yourself in Nimbin. accomodation there was cheeper (when i was there), & it has much friendlier attitude than Byron.

Also the communes like Tunstable Falls are right on your doorstep there. i totally recommend visiting this commune, which has a school, shop, meeting hall etc. Alternative lifestyles made real.

have a great trip--abit shocked to hear you're still a teenie--from the tone ov your posts, all i can say is ..fuck kids are growing up fast these days

[mesq]

CS you forgot to say how fucking cool your first doof was... and that everyone should come and doof with me :D

[apothecary]

I'm glad I posted here well in advance. So many differing opinoins! So many choices...sooo many cool ideas.

I'm not really going to Mullumbimby to be entertained, I want to see what living by myself is like, to see what living in a place that isn't Sydney is like.

I mean, I've lived for 6 months in the US and similar timespan in Singapore, etc, but it was when I was younger and I wasn't on my own.

I don't mind that there won't be nightlife, I am as easily entertained by a 1/4" square of blotter paper as I am by a philosophy book

However, Byron is sounding too good to pass up.

I think I will attempt something like this:

5 nights at the Art Factory meandering around Byron Bay trying to fit as many of the cool things you guys have mentioned in.

A one day trip from early morning till afternoon to Nimbin, to see what all the fuss is about...

A week or so in Mullumbimby simply sitting quietly and relaxing.

I don't want to overplan it at this stage, so it might not happen in that order, etc. Those are the things I definitely want to do, and anything else may come as it will

I don't have a license T. I'm pretty anti-car, but if the heritage parks are that good, I may make an attempt to get my P's before July.

EDIT: Also, wish to doof with Mesqimo. I have no idea what it is, or what's involved, but that hasn't stopped me yet! :D

[ 22. March 2005, 09:26: Message edited by: apothecary ]

[waterdragon]

i can't believe it took so long to mention kiva spa, that would have been right up the top of my list. good, healthy food is everywhere - poincianas especially - and if you can find bad coffee go buy yourself a lottery ticket. wwoofing(willing workers on organic farms) would be a great way to go about it particularly from an experience perspective. nimbin has a very seedy, desperate vibe to it most of the time, it's better when there's a festival happening.

the arts factory would be the perfect place to stay for a week or two (unless you're my vintage). if you have a vehicle check out the border ranges and go see the tourist info places, the first few times i went up that way i kept coming home and spotting things on the net or in books that i should have checked out whilst up there.

[mesq]

 

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I don't mind that there won't be nightlife, I am as easily entertained by a 1/4" square of blotter paper as I am by a philosophy book

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The nightlife can be found if you dig hard enough So can many philosophy books as WELL as blotters hehehe

 

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EDIT: Also, wish to doof with Mesqimo. I have no idea what it is, or what's involved, but that hasn't stopped me yet! :D [/QB]

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Awesome...