Our first stop on the westward journey from Alice Springs was another of the West MacDonnell's gaps: Simpsons Gap.
You do in fact start to get them a bit muddled together in your head, so many of these spectacular scenic spots are there. But they never pale. They're all spectacular indeed. Simpsons Gap is a little like Emily Gap, but with a lot more water, and the photo opportunities are many.
Simpson, who also has a desert named after him of course, was one of the chaps who helped organise the surveyors' expedition to set up the overland telegraph line, that brought Alice Springs into being as a European settlement.
Other names who crop up a lot are Sturt, Stuart, and Todd. Sturt and Stuart were both explorers, and Todd was the Superintendent of Telegraphs. Alice was Todd's wife.
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