I arrived in London and found my hostel in Clapham common. I was happy as it was large and relatively clean. That night I met up with Cass, Mark, Kel, Hayley, Anna and Nina at the small St Pauls church near covent station. It fantastic but so surreal having us all together on the other side of the world. Needless to say there was a large amount of nattering and quite a few ales consumed that evening. It really was like a day had not gone past. The following day we were to meet at Wimbeldon. I got there waited in line to enter for an hour and then went straight to court 2 where I waited for another hour or more. But didn't matter as I met a nice Aussie boy in line how helped to pass the time. No gossip mongers, he was just nice. I had no idea at this point how I was going to find the others. On arriving in court 2 I immediately spotted Norman (kelly's green purse) as Kel and Cass were seated directly across from us. We were there to watch Hingis play. Some embarrassing Aussie guys behind Kel and Cass provided the before game entertainment by beginning the wave and singing love songs to Hingis. The match was great, but was cancelled after one set of play. We waited around hoping the rain would stop, but no such luck :(. Well, at least we can all say that we went.
The following day we all met at Harrods, sadly Anna had left, but happily it was the first chance to catch up with Ten and Lisa. I am sure we did walk around Harrods but I didn't really see anything as I was too busy talking. Big surprise I know. That evening we all met up again for celebrations for Cass's 30th B'day (the inital reason for the gathering). I was very late as the bus decided to stop in well buggared if I know instead of Putney, so I had wondered around for quite a while before I realised what had happened. Bec and Tim also joined us and told me of there engagement. I was so excited!!!! We had dinner at a very yummy Indian resturant and great night was had all around. The following days we went to the tate modern, the natural history museum, ate more and hung out at hyde park. Each day somebody eles would have to leave. It was quite sad as I was unsure when I would see anybody again. Leaving really sucks!!!!! Most of the girls got to check out Ten's new fella Davi. I think he passed the girlfriend test with flying colours. On the last night with Ten and Lisa we went for drinks at Project Orange. I met Bec and Tim there and went for scrumptions dinner. After dinner I met up with the others at Mish Mash. As I walked into the place I immediately felt over dressed. I mean I had too many clothes on. :) I thought "Oh, well I will just dance with the girls". I went to the dance floor and got stuck there. I mean literally my feet stuck to the floor and I could not lift them. Quite funny. We had a great night. We had to wait about 30min to catch the bus, after being on the bus for a out 2min I realised that we were about 5min walk from the hostel. Ten and Davi didn't even notice as they were asleep. Actually, Lisa was also quite sleepy that night. Lisa went missing for ages, I got really concerned. I was calling her name out but there was no response. Eventually, I found her sound asleep, but I will let you all ask her where she was :). (Sorry Lisa the bribe didn't came through in time ) :). The following day the last of the minkes left town. :(
On Sunday I met Diddi at the train station and we went to her abode near North Newton, Somet. It was great to see Diddi as it had been way way to long. Diddi was working as a vet in the area. I went out on farm visits with her which were fantastic if not a little smelly at times:). I saw Diddi remove a cows cancerous eye, fix up a pigs anal prolapse, calve calves alive and dead(one was really quite gruesome and very difficult). It was fasinating to me. Diddi was great despite the farmers always giving her a look of "who the hell are you little girlie". It was so cool to see the farmers attitude change as they realise that she knows exactly what she is doing. I also made day trips to Bath and wells. I saw the roman baths in Bath and went on a tour throught the entire town in the pouring rain (true english fashion). Wells was a gorgeous little town too with an amazing cathedral and bishop palace. I still in complete awe at the extent of histroy throughout Europe. While at Diddi's place I went for a run with Diddi and realised in a very painful way that I am exceedingly unfit. Oh well, I will fix that when I settle. To finish a fantastic week with Diddi we went to the local beer festival. I thought it would be a little local affair with maybe a hundred people as we were in the country afterall. Oh my GOD no. The place was packed with people, paddocks filled with tents, numerous bands and food stalls. I had a great night. Met some interesting people and tasted a a variety of beers and scrumpy. scrumpy is cider that doesn't taste like alcohol but I can tell you is very toxic. I had a great night and a slow start in the morning when I headed off to Cambridge. I visited Atlanta and her Dad there. They were fantastic hosts. It is a gorgeous green and leaft area. We went on a lovely walk, bike ride and we also went punting. Atlanta's Dad was well versed in punting and gave me great lessons. I even managed to keep the boat straight, but I can't claim to have been moving anywhere in a hurry. Atlanta and I also went throught the collages of St John, King and Trinity. Wow, they are truly ornate. Trinty college Wren library is what impressed me the most though. They had an original copy of Issac Newton book with hand made corrections that he had made. There certainly alot of amazing people that went to Cambridge. Currently, I am in London again as I am flying out to South Africa tonight. I am very excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, have I got alot to catch up on. Well, Braga is a gorgeous little place but I only stayed one night before heading on to Villa de Geres. The bus ride was a constant climb though gorgeous lush forest with the mountain dotted with little villages. It was a hot afternoon when I arrived in Geres (for short) and I stopped at the first place I found, which of course turned out to be the most expensive place. It did not matter as the next day I moved to a lovely homey place that could have easliy been mistaken for an old person home due to crowd that sat out the front. At my know abode they spoke little English but served some fantastic trout and caldo verde (potatoe and leek soup which is strangely green). On my first full day there I set out to find the horse riding facility described in my Lonely planet. Much to my disappoint I found out after asking (in terrible portugese and some quite funny sign language) that the riding school had closed down a few years before. After swearing at my lonely planet (yet again) I set off on a lovely four hour walk. Despite the fact that the path was very well marked I went the wrong way for about two hours (all up hill of course). It didn't matter though as it was all gorgeous. It was amazing how much the vegitation changed during this walk. Initially it was dense humid rain forest with ferns and moss everywhere. Soon it change to a sparse rainforest and then a pine forest, then thick shrubs only to knee height. During my hike I heard a russling in the forest. I knew it was a large animal. Wow, could it be the wolves they described in my trustee pamphlet??? Nope, it was a pony that trotted right up to me. It didn't act wild but was in the middle of know where without brandings. By the time I finished the hike I was completely stuffed as it was really hot and mostly straight up hill. I really enjoyed my time in Geres and would love to go back, but I had to move on as the festival of St joao was to held in Porto and I did not want to miss that. I met up with Line (from Montreal) we went to the festival together. We started the evening traditionally with sardines, capsicum and potatoes. YUM!!!! We walked the streets. There were people everywhere with many sitting at large tables lining the streets eatting similar fare to us. Also, everybody was carrying plastic hammers and were hitting anybody taht went past with the hammers or sometimes with garlic flowers too. We were told that this to warn off the evil eye. It was bazzar. Line brought me a hammer and we started to join in. At midnight the fireworks went off. They were fantastic. We were so close that I could actually feel the force of the fireworks as they lite up the sky. We were standing near a stage at the end of the fire works. The crowd was thick, actually too thick. People were getting crushed and starting to panic. We were Ok, but it was quite scary. So we ended the night at that point which meant along walk home as transport was impossible because the crowds were so huge. The following day we went on a tour of Porto. It was really interesting and pointed out historical sites that I would never noticed otherwise. We also did a port tour and tasted a variety of ports. So good!!!!! Loved it. The following day I flew out for London. I was really quite sad to leave Portugal as I loved it for its food, port, people, history and nature. I would like to return one day.