The Green Lagoon
Holly Blackmore
This is a short tale of ambition, adventure and arguable insanity. Late last year, we decided to cycle from the township of Byron Bay to Killen Falls.
It didn’t sound that bad at all. Only 16kms one way, Google Maps told us. It would be tough ride but definitely achievable, we thought, as we pedalled along the track out of town. When the track ended, and we transitioned onto a snaking, one-lane highway, the ride was still achievable – or so we thought. What we didn’t think about was the ascents and descents. Google Maps didn’t tell us about the “longest incline in the region”, but a local farmer did.
We ordered a Maxi Taxi and lay like lizards in the farmer’s driveway. Thirty minutes, forty minutes later, and it was nowhere to be seen. Our phone reception was sketchy and our morale was faltering. Just as we had accepted defeat and begun to cycle home, we spotted the Taxi emerging from a cloud of dust in the distance.
Our driver had vividly pink hair, an unnerving laugh, and a perplexing habit of reminding us that all of the surrounding macadamia farms were fronts for drug trade. But she got us there; and so, in the latter hours of a lucent afternoon we careened down to the Falls.
Our very own private Green Lagoon. Hot water spilled out from over the rock-face and itched against our bare skin. We encountered some boys of similar age who laughed at our ludicrous cycling venture.
Despite our earlier ordeal, we decided to ride home and evade another ridiculously overpriced taxi fare. It was testing in every sense of the word. Almost two hours of ups and downs, ups and downs, along precarious rural roads. Cars had to veer over the centre line to pass us. As night thickened, and the highway twisted away from the township, our hopes of surviving were thin. Those last few kilometres became a distressed, dusk-lit haze.
The lesson here is that Google Maps lied to us – the cycle ended up being close to 60km in total. However, if we had of known this, we probably wouldn’t have embarked on such a journey in the first place. We would have missed out on one of the most exhilarating afternoons of our lives.
