Cycling Trip from Lismore to Nimbin is Strenuous
Bike Through Beautiful Australian Bush and Wildlife to Cannabis Town
Sep 1, 2009
Cycling from Lismore to Nimbin via the main road might be the route of choice for most cyclists, but for the sheer beauty of this relatively remote area of bush and farmland, the back road to Nimbin is the way to go.
The road starts with a long climb up a steep hill but by this stage in the tour ones recovery rate is improving and the relatively easy going along the ridge top through lifestyle blocks allows time to recover before the next hill.
The Delights of Watching Wildlife in Australia
One of the little known benefits of cycling is that one gets very close to the wildlife. The birds in Australia are very lively and noisy and it is often worth stopping to watch and listen. However the wildlife cyclists see most of is the road kill. In other areas cyclists come across fresh, and not so fresh, wombats, kangaroos, snakes, birds and lizards - large and small. In fact on some trips an almost complete cross section of Australian fauna can be seen dead along the road sides. A less beautiful thing is the roadside litter in some busier areas but in this area something not often seen may be found freshly killed, and often intact, on the verges. It will look like a biggish rat but has different proportions and body shape. The body and the tail seem shorter and the snout pointier. It has a set of aggressive looking short needle like teeth, is a similar color to and often slightly bigger than most rats. It is likely to be a Bandicoot, a marsupial omnivore with bad habits.
The Channon
The road passes through two tiny settlements, the best known of which is The Channon. At The Channon the general store/post office/café/ launderette rural conglomerate sits shabbily but proudly above the road on an elevated site. On its veranda, with a washing machine and dryer rumbling in the background, one can sit for a very long time enjoying the local comings and goings while waiting for coffee to appear. Cycling along the valley a Fox might be seen casually crossing the road and further up the hill at the end of the valley, a whiff of considerable pungence will grow in intensity until a rumpty looking pig farm is left behind. The road winds its way up almost, it seems, for ever until it tops a high ridge. Through big eucalypt trees there is a wonderful view over a picturesque countryscape of misty hills, bush and in the far distance, the town of Nimbin. It is a hard ride to get here but arguably it is the most enjoyable and attractive section of the trip thus far.
There follows a splendid freewheel down into the valley with a sudden stop if one is lucky enough to have a large Echidna swagger across the road ahead. When being watched the Echidna gabs hold of vegetation and with a shivering wobbly motion digs itself vertically down into the road verge. This defensive strategy makes it very difficult to attack as its array of painfully sharp spines is almost impossible for any predator to deal with.
By the time legs get really tired Nimbin appears so cut across the end of the town and ride straight to the hostel. The hostel is at the end of long uphill drive and by the time one arrives a shower, a meal, a beer and a bed in a damp tent like hut will be as welcome as a room in Shangri-la.
The Cannabis Capital of Australia
Nimbin is Australia’s self styled cannabis capital city. Here hooch is actively promoted and openly smoked. Its acrid smoke grabs one by the throat frequently while walking past small scruffy groups of strangely dressed individuals that seem to be clustering about on the footpaths. Every year the town has a “Mardi Grass” and after the last one there were angry letters to the paper complaining because the police had the temerity to arrest a few token locals for possessing cannabis.
The hostel seemed to be a semi permanent home to a few lost souls who did nothing but play pool, laze around and smell of dope. The manageress was an ebullient likeable young woman who was constantly busy tidying up and being camp mother to her flock. After a couple of days you will have had enough secondary smoke and done a local area ride so prepare for the thoroughly enjoyable ride back to Murwillumbah.
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