Cam and Dan on Dan's first day in Kindy at Cable Beach Primary School - note Dan's brand new shoes that he was immediately told "We don't wear shoes in the classroom Dan". Cam, Viv and Dan at Town Beach - this is just 1 minute drive down the road from us. We were here at sunset - note the huge low tide behind us. Love the boab tree!

22^nd November, 2009

Thought it’s about time we got back to the blog and updating everyone on what we’ve been doing. We’ve been living in Broome for about twelve weeks now and still loving every bit of it.

We’re now renting a two bedroom unit in what is called the Old Broome area. Broome’s not that big so we’re close to town, amenities and beach. We’ve bought beds, a fridge and a washing machine and everything else we’re using is our camping kit. Although we’ve decided to stay here for a while, we don’t want to get too loaded down with belongings which would make it difficult to leave someday. The traveling life is not yet behind us, and we’re still making plans for the next part of the journey.

Steve is still working for NorWesCom and it’s great being able to plan our days around set starting and finishing times.

Cam is absolutely loving school. He tells me every week how he “goes to the best school in the world”. I marvel at his resilience. I was so worried about what impact our traveling would have on his schooling and here he has left grade two behind and jumped into grade three with ease. He has kept up with his class mates and is doing really well. He’s even had to learn a new script as the handwriting here in WA is quite different to what he learnt in NSW. He has made a close friend at school – Nick – which also makes quite a difference. They’ve just joined the school choir together. Cam is involved in music classes, loves the school’s science lab, and does after school sports twice a week. Report cards will be coming out soon, so we’ll get a good picture of what is really going on in his head.

Dan has started Kindy at Cable Beach Primary School. This programme is available two days a week. It is about readiness for Pre-primary next year which will be 5 days a week. He’s been on the Kindy waiting list for a while now, so as soon as his enrolment was confirmed we went out and bought him his uniform and socks and runners. He was so proud in his get up, but as soon as we dropped him off at school the teacher says “Dan, take off your socks and shoes and put them in your pigeon hole – we don’t wear shoes in the classroom.” It’s a lot more relaxed here. (Even Cam comes home from school barefoot most days.) He still goes to Day Care twice a week as well as Kindy twice a week until school holidays. Then he will go to the Out of School Care programme (BOSCCA) with Cam. Then he’ll officially be a “Big Boy”.

I have started working in Tourism Sales at the Broome Visitor Centre during school hours 4 days a week. My day is working on the front counter planning and booking tours for people visiting. I joined just towards the end of the dry season which is extremely busy but now that the wet season is upon us things have quietened down heaps. The team is great fun and I’ve started to comfortably settle in. Two of the days I’ve worked were when cruise ships have come in to port. Boy – what a day. It’s a bit like working a sports day. We had PA’s going, stalls out the front of the centre, tour operators everywhere! Such a buzz, exhausting but fun.

Life is fun and relaxed with our afternoons being spent on either Cable Beach or Gantheume Point. There is much more to tell but I’ll put it all in different segments.