Glycosmis Bay is a little protected anchorage just around to the east of Cape Londonderry (the most northern part of Western Australia). Conditions were so calm for the days that we explored this area that we did not bother to take SeeBeeZee over the sandbanks into the inner harbour, and were able to comfortably remain anchored off the beach on the outside.
The tour guides recommend a walk to the top of the cliffs by following a line of scree on the inside of the bay, but this proved to be very difficult, ending in a defined cliff. Easier was the climb up ridge from the middle of the beach just outside the bar. From the top of the cliff, it was a two kilometre walk through the dry sandstone country to the dry waterfalls at the head of the bay. The rocks of the cliffs have been been severely undercut, leaving overhanging cliffs where we could sit on the edge and watch the sea life in the water below.
There was a trickle of water coming from the bottom of the falls, but the creek at the top has stopped running now that it is so late in the dry season. We explored the flat rocks of the dry creek bed at the top of the falls, where water has scoured deep potholes into the flat layer of sandstone rocks. Occasional layers of igneous rocks have been exuded through the sedimentary layers, with pieces of quartz and crumbles of cinders cemented together.
We followed the creek upstream looking for waterholes to swim. In the first one, we found a cool pool with clear water over a rocky bed. Tiny fish found the skin of my feet particularly attractive, and made a meal of my skin. After re-hydrating, we followed the creek further upstream, and found a sandy beach which was covered in small crocodile slides. The slides appeared to be made by an animal about the size of a small goanna that we would see back at home, and with sharp eyes, we spotted a small freshwater croc hiding in the vegetation along the bank. Aware that it had been seen, it made a dash for deep water, and it appeared to be only about 1 metre long. Not a maneater, but still, this will serve as a reminder for us to keep a good look out in these high creeks.
The walk back seemed to have doubled in length in the heat of the midday sun. It was easy to follow our tracks back through the spinifex grass, sticky with resin and brittle from the dry. The weather here is definitely changing, with much more humidity than only a few weeks ago.
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