We had planned a trip to John’s hometown of Stanthorpe, and my friends took some time to map an interesting route for us. Ellen quickly found a must-visit town name for us to visit on the way (not too difficult in Australia!) and after only about an hour in the car, we were in the middle of the mountains looking for the town of Dum Dum. Google maps said we had arrived, and there certainly was a neighborhood of homes with a school, but no sign indicating we were actually there. Still, we ‘checked in’ on Facebook, took a few photos, and made as Dum Dum jokes we could think of in the three-minute tour.
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I realized that the majority of exploration of mainland Australia has been confined to major cities and tourist spots, so the interior, green, and tall mountains certainly surprised me! After some more twisty roads, we arrived in Nimbin. The town that claims to be the only place in NSW where weed is considered legal. Indeed! Every year on the first weekend of May, they have a Mardi Grass celebration in order to promote the legalization of cannabis and all its healing properties. The war on drug (laws) is real in this town! There are local fundraisers for the bail of beloved potheads, a Hemp Embassy, and every hemp product you can think of for sale in all of the shops. The vibe was peace, rainbows, and hemp. We enjoyed a bit of window shopping and hippie-spotting.
At sunset, we drove over to the Stanthorpe golf course for a guaranteed sighting of hundreds of wild kangaroos having a snack. We were lucky enough to see a baby joey in one of the pouches and also get so close that a male kangaroo puffed up and made some threatening moves towards us. How amazing! Afterward, we went back to John’s parents (who were in Europe) and enjoyed their chilled home for a few minutes before deciding to have dinner at the local pub. (The neighbor turned on the hot water for us, but not the heat! And since we were in the coldest Queensland town in the middle of winter, it was, well, cold.) We had a hilarious dinner experience where we met interesting people, including Patrick O’Neill who is running for political office and driving and sleeping in his van throughout all of Queensland over the next three months! Brrrrrr. The kitchen must have been having a seriously crazy night because they had to come back and get a different order for Ellen three times, and when John’s second choice of beef pie came out, it looked like it had been run over by a mob of kangaroos. Apparently, the pie maker had died – and for a minute we were worried that it was an actual man that died – mid-pie and he got his dinner for free! That meal was the best deal ever – three mains and two bottles of wine for $78 AUD.
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The next morning we left early to return to the (relative) warmth of Broadbeach and I prepared for my vacation with Greg and Jess!
