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Ray woke this morning and declared that he couldn’t possibly leave the Cape Range National Park without doing the snorkel drift at Turquoise Bay. Our planned leisurely pack up suddenly became a frenzy of activity.

This would mean that he would launch himself into the water off the beach near where our camp was. Because the wind was so strong, he would drift with the current around to Turquoise Bay where Caleb, Aaron and I would walk and be waiting for him after his adventure. Ray reported spending his time drifting with sting rays and a small shark. He loved that he was able to spend this time alone with the marine life in the serenity of the clear water. That is an experience that you certainly can’t pay for.
We did some schoolwork while we waited patiently on the beach for him to return. The morning was very blustery so it made journal writing difficult, but Caleb persevered and got the job done. He is getting much better at accepting his school commitments and we have created a routine of reading, writing and maths. Just to keep the skills up. There are kids that we have met travelling who don’t have to do any schoolwork at all. Unfortunately, Caleb has a teacher for his mum so he won’t get away without at least finding some time to practice the basics. There is so much to do and see while you are travelling that kids actually learn in spite of themselves. They become interested in everything going on around them and as long as there are some boundaries in place where digital devices are concerned, they will learn plenty without even realising it. The Australian Curriculum is out there in full on 3D for them to experience themselves!
We hitched up and left Exmouth and made it to Coral Bay by lunchtime. Ray spotted the big prawn so we just had to pull in for a photo. The original plan was to stop for lunch, beach and then a free shower on the foreshore. Once we saw the bay that plan was never going to happen. The town hugs the coast and while it’s a tiny place, it has absolutely everything you could want. We heard that people travel far and wide to set up and stay for months at Coral Bay and we could certainly see why. We pulled into the caravan park, set up and whiled away the afternoon reading and enjoying the sunshine. Ahhhhh …this is living!