After a restful afternoon and night at Warmun Roadhouse we set off the next morning for Larrawa Station, a working cattle station half-way between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing.
As we approached Halls Creek there wasa growing sense of anxiety after hearing stories of crime, anti-social behaviour and rock-throwing at passing cars… We weren’t planning on stopping for fuel in Halls Creek as we had filled the jerry cans back in Kununurra but with no fuelling options until Fitzroy Crossing we decided that we should top up the tank anyway.
We pulled into the fuel station at Halls Creek and it was still reasonably early in the morning and everything looked fairly calm. We filled up, paid and go going as quickly as possible. Once clear of the town we relaxed a bit and continued enjoying the drive and the passing landscape. It’s so sad that these places have such bad reputations and the solution(s) to the problem remain completely intangible…
Continuing on to Larrawa Station we pulled into a rest stop viewing area for the Mueller Ranges. There was a stunning break in the ridge line and the colour of the earth was so deeply red that it was almost purple. Utterly stunning.
Larrawa Station is about 6km off the Great Northern Highway. The gravel road was well graded and so no difficulty for us. The camping area is set off to one side of the homestead area and is sparse but well appointed. All sites are unpowered but there are plenty of taps for water hookup. No power meant no air-conditioning for the night but that’s a small price to pay for having such a great place to stay.
For a bush camp the amenities were absolutely brilliant. Two flushing toilets and two showers. Toilets and howers were separate and built as simple silver-grey colourbond sheets on a concrete slab base. Both were open at the bottom and open at the top. The showers were fantastic. Both had rainshower nozzles and you could see blue sky out the top and red earth out the bottom. Despite having a gas hot water system driving them, the cold tap was all that was needed as the air was hot and cold water was tepid… One of the most enjoyable places to take a shower on the whole trip thus far.
There was a shelter with bench tables and seats and the whole area had a number of wood BBQ’s that sat atop a post and could swivel so as to stop any wind from adversely affecting the fire. It would have been nice to cook on one but we weren’t carrying firewood and didn’t feel like scrounging around for any in the heat of the day.
The site was empty when we arrived but by the end of the evening another half-dozen or more vans and campers had settled in. After the heat of the day we thought we were in for an uncomfortably hot night without air-conditioning but a breeze sprang up in the late afternoon and turned into a light wind that was surprisingly fresh without being cool. We open up the vans windows and vents and were quite surprised at how comfortable it became.
The evening presented us with yet another glorious sunset that spanned the usual range from orange to red to purple. You can never get sick of this daily lightshow. The highlight of the stay though was sitting out under the stars with a cold beer/cider and just simply enjoying the night sky. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a fire. Even if we had firewood we would have been a bit reluctant to light one given the gusty winds.
We were sad to leave Larrawa Station and could happily have stayed another night or two but Broome was calling and we were yet to pass through Fitzroy Crossing and wanted to get that over and done with!