The last two days have been stress free as we soak up our remaining time in Cairns. 
Last week we spent a day at the Kuranda Markets after travelling up there on the scenic railway. We didn’t actually get to complete the markets as we had to catch the Skyrail back before we were done. We were set to finish the job we had started. We drove the 16km up the winding hill (much quicker this time) to the town of Kuranda. The markets operate most days of the weeks and are very dependent on the tourists disembarking off the nearby Sky and Train rails. We wandered through the stalls we hadn’t yet seen and I managed to buy a new pair of earrings. We look a look in the fossil museum and were impressed with the range of rocks with fossilised flowers, insects and even dinosaur poo! My favourite was a huge black piece with fossilised chrysanthemums in it. Apart from it not being for sale, we would have had to leave Caleb behind in order to make it fit in the caravan! It was really beautiful. Someone had put up a map of Australia and charted their trip around Australia (just as we are). Caleb compared our trips and they were quite similar, although we believed they had missed some of the more spectacular parts of Western Australia like my absolute favourite, Cape Leveque. 

The amount of places that we have come across while we have been travelling that have offered some educational value has been immense. The variety of museums, even just collections from locals who have rallied together to showcase artefacts found within the local areas have been plentiful and there have always been volunteers so willing to share their knowledge. These collections have most commonly been the best learning experiences for Caleb as anything too formal just turns him off as it is too much information. He loves to just wander and find things that pique his interest and will ask questions and absorb information on his own terms. We can then build his writing and spelling work around these experiences and he will often do more research about the topics. Half of our schoolwork battle is won when he is engaged and eager to find out more.

We spent the next day firmly plopped on our bottoms, going nowhere and not doing much. I signed up for an online course and had a blissful day getting the cogs of my brain turning again. I miss being a learner and often look for something to do at night (a result of being a teacher and being used to the never ending quest to seek knowledge and having a never ending workload in addition). The course will give me something to focus on other than….well…nothing. This trip has taught me that I function best when I am doing something constructive, when I can ponder and summise before putting something into action. I find it difficult to enjoy total relaxation, I need to be occupied. (That’s not news to many people but through this travelling experience I can now admit it to myself).