Simpson’s Gap

After our walk at Standley Chasm we made our way to Simpson’s Gap.  The MacDonnell Ranges are a nice backdrop as you drive along.  So many lovely gorges hiding in there! Every so often we see these roadsigns that have been added to in a lovely fashion.  :)  They nearly look like they were designed this way! During the dry season you can walk down the riverbed.  It’s full of sand, on a warm day that sand is very hot if you decide to remove your shoes. For some reason everyone was drawn to this low-hanging branch.  The tree was huge and right in the middle of the path, the kids couldn’t resist. More to climb!  This was a short, easy walk.  Thank goodness since it was so hot. Thankfully once we got closer to the end it was very shady.  And beautiful.  Did I mention beautiful? The end of the walk is where you reach the water.  I’m not sure if you can wade through the water or not, we didn’t see anyone trying it and I’m not sure how deep it is.  What a gorgeous spot this is! The kids took turns sliding down the side of this rock.  They climbed up one side and slid down the smooth part on the other like it was playground equipment. See all those rocks in the background?  There was a sign saying not to climb there so as not to scare away the rock wallabies.  We didn’t see any, I’ve heard they only come out at dawn and dusk.  Apparently there used to be quite a number of them here but they are harder to find now that this has become a popular tourist stop. These two found a couch-shaped rock and hung out there for awhile. On the way back we walked the trail rather than the riverbed.  It was much easier to walk on than all that sand.  In the wet season you can’t make it down the riverbed as far as we did, but I think the trail next to it is still open. We had one more stop that day, if the kids could stand it.  🙂