A Hidden Gem

This quaint little cottage is on the highway just near the bridge at Wardell, which is between Woodburn and Ballina. Normally you wouldn't see it as you flash past at 100 kph but we were stopped by a roadworks crew working on the bridge so we were surprised to see such a hidden gem right next to us. Worth a visit next time we are coming north.

You can only imagine how old the cottage is. Wardell is an old sugar town and the wooden loading docks are still down by the bridge. In the old days they used to cut the cane, transport it via small gauge railway to the river docks and then load it onto large cane barges. From there they would take the cane to the local mill... in this case the mill at Broadwater.

Broadwater mill today. These days the cane is transported to the mills via a fleet of cane trucks which run back and forth 24 hours a day during the cutting season.