By Jo Hindle

A short drive from Alice Springs is Simpsons Gap, a rocky passageway through in the ridge of the ‘West Macs’. I followed a winding stone path over the sand of dry Roe Creek on my quest to reach the narrow gap in the sheer rock face.

The contrast of desert tones was amazing. The deep red rock melded with the creamy sand of the creek bed and dotted among the crevices were river red gum, White Cyprus pines, fig trees and ghost gums with their snow-white trunks and vibrant green leaves. The intense blue sky completed the Simpson kaleidoscope.

The Gap was drawing nearer and the wind whistled swiftly through the natural tunnel, blowing off my hat. The gust cast ripples across a wide rock pool, a permanent waterhole discovered by the Telegraph Line men and their thirsty cattle in times gone by.

I learnt that Simpsons Gap is a haven for the Black-footed Rock Wallaby, a miniature version of a kangaroo that scampers over the rocky slopes. Visitors are likely to see them foraging for food at the right time of day, on my visit I wasn’t so lucky.

I continued on to the next natural wonder of the West Macs, Standley Chasm, named for Ida Standley, a schoolteacher in Alice Springs and the first European woman to walk through the Chasm. I retraced Ida’s path and what I found on my walk was amazing.

Cathedral-like walls of red rock shield a whole new eco-system of plant life from the desert sun. Huge ghost gums stand alongside cycad palms, white Cyprus pines and delicate ferns in a lush gully floor. I sat on a rock to soak up the surroundings and observed how shady and cool it was in the deep passageway – a remarkable contrast from the desert terrain I had become accustomed to.

A shadow flitted overhead – it was an enormous Wedge-tailed Eagle soaring in the blue sky above. The contrast of red rock on blue sky with green gums jutting out from high rocky outcrops above me was amazing. But I was soon to discover that the real surprise lay at the end of my walk.

I soon reached the Standley Chasm and it was well worth the journey. At the end of the path I was rewarded with a unique spectacle. Rock that resembled the surface of Mars became a narrow cleft that looked as though its vertical walls could almost touch over the passage of pebbles that runs through them. I was there at the perfect time of day as the midday sun shone down over the Chasm, setting the walls ablaze in a fiery red glow.

After an age of staring in awe, I made my way back through the fertile jungle. I was off on another adventure but I knew that Standley Chasm was an experience that would stay with me long after I returned home.

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