Mar 27, Ouyen, Hopetoun, Warracknabeal, The Grampians

We stopped in downtown Ouyen to see the Roxy Theatre and we noticed th bakery across the street. A sign said, "The Home of the Vanilla Slice". So we went in to find out about it. Turns out it is vanilla custard between cracker thin crusts, dusted with confectioners sugar. And we tried some. It was a little tricky to eat, the crust was good - with seeds in it, but it wasn't easy to cut. The custard reminded of custards my grandmother made, really rich and sweet. All in all a good treat, but a bit rich for 8:30 in the morning. There was a couple in the bakery from England on their third trip around Australia. They were really going off the regular tourist roads.
In Hopetoun we saw a mural covering the history of the Mallee Region. And the information ladies directed us to Lake Lascelles. There was a campground there with rooms to rent. The rooms were made out of metal silos on stilts.
On the edge of town there was a woman with a little shopping cart hitchhiking. We picked her up to take her to Rosebery, a crossroads 14 km down the road. She said she didn't have much money and she wanted to use it for groceries instead of gas.
In Warracknabeal we stopped in the info center and spent some time talking with the volunteer and her husband. He was a retired wheat farmer and she told me about visiting her son in Darwin and how much she liked it there.
We took a walk along the Yarriambiack Creek. It was a large creek that ran right through town and had huge old gum trees along the banks. There were lots of ducks on the creek and cockatoos in the trees.
From there into The Grampians. We went off the main road to see some Aboriginal art at Ngamadjidj Shelter. It was unusual because the figures were white. At MacKenzie Falls we hiked down to the base. It was very steep and it started to rain, but it was worth it - beautiful cascades over black rocks, very dramatic.
We're still in the Grampians. We stopped at an overlook and the clouds started to come in, so we're here for the night.
Pictures-vanilla slices, silo rooms, Aboriginal art at Ngamadjidj Shelter, Jeanne at MacKenzie Falls