Tuesday 12 June we left Santiago de Compostella and headed down to Porto, Portugal. It was only about a 3 hour drive and we arrived at the caravan park early afternoon. I booked in for one night, thinking we will see if we like it first before deciding to stay longer. The campsite is very large and only a block from the beach. It reminds us of home because it is scattered with gum trees, though we haven't spotted a koala yet ;-)

After a drive around we decided on a pitch within reasonable distance of one of the toilet / shower blocks. We are setting up and while Loche is putting the last pegs in for the awning I decide to get the chairs and table out. We have a camping table that came with the caravan and it has metal, fold-out legs, so you push hinges down and the legs fold out. The safest way to unfold it is to put it on it's side or upside down and gently unfold the legs. Well, I wasn't really thinking when I did it and just held it up and pushed down on the hinges which meant that both legs swung down really quickly. I didn't get one of my right fingers out of the way in time and the hinge caught it. I felt it cut through and knew it was bad and called (screamed) out to Loche. He had a look at it and said to me, 'don't worry, it's not bad it's just ripped the nail'. Me: Are you sure, because i felt it go through...he had a closer look and looked back at me and said, 'I think we'd better take you to a hospital.' Oh crap!!

Before we left Australia, Loche organised very good comprehensive travel insurance - we weren't taking any risks. For your claim to be covered, you need to call the insurer before you call an ambulance or go to the doctor / hospital etc. So we made sure when we packed that we had the policy printed out and put in a safe place with all the other necessary paperwork and the emergency hotline numbers were in our phones - we were organised!! But as is always the case, when we actually needed the policy do you think we could find it? We tried ringing the number in our phones but it wasn't connecting for whatever reason. So Loche is rummaging through the caravan looking for the policy, I'm pacing around in pain telling him to hurry up, he's telling me to sit down before I faint and I'm saying no way can I sit down! We eventually found the policy, jumped in the car to get to the park reception so they could direct us to a hospital. They suggested they could call an ambulance and by this time Loche has got onto the insurer who confirmed this would be okay. We probably had to wait about 15 minutes for the ambulance and they took a look at it and said it wasn't too bad and my finger wasn't falling off! Phew!! They also said they couldn't give me anything for the pain. b*****!!

Off we went to the hospital, lights and sirens on and driving flat out - I'm not sure if that was entirely necessary, but we got there pretty quickly. Through all of this, I forgot to mention how young, funny and good looking the ambulance men were! That was enough to take my mind off the pain while we were in the emergency room waiting to be admitted. They were very nice and stayed with me the whole time making light of the situation. When they told me they were taking me through to surgery I think I had a horrified look on my face and he said, don't worry they are just going to cut it off and put a new one on! Yeah thanks!!

Everyone at the hospital was very helpful and thought I was having some bad luck considering I had just arrived in the country a few hours before. About 8 or 9 different people looked at it and agreed because it was the nail and the skin under the nail, it couldn't really be stitched - it was best to just bandage it and get it re-dressed every 2 days. I asked what I should do about the pain and was told to take paracetemol or ibupofen - hmmm I thought it would warrant panadeine forte or something stronger, but no! (Mind you by this stage the pain had eased off quite a lot).

Loche and Cara had managed to find the hospital by this stage and were waiting for me when I walked out of the surgical ward, looking a lot happier than when they last saw me. I only ended up taking one lot of neurofen that night and haven't had any since, it has been surprisingly okay except if I accidentally bump it.

We ended up staying in Porto for two weeks getting bandage changes every 2 to 3 days. Porto is a beautiful city on the coast and this region is where port originated. The city itself is perched on the hills on either side of the river Duoro. We really loved Porto and found the locals to be so helpful and friendly. We spent 2 days on the open-top red bus tours (or broken roof buses as Cara calls them) to have a look at the major sights. On the second day we hopped off at the beach and had some lunch at a restaurant that was literally on the beach. It had lovely lounges and bean bags to relax in. A few locals were just lazing around sunbaking and taking it all in....what a great way to live! Restaurants like this are scattered all along the beaches here. We also took Cara on her first sky lift ride that takes you from river level to the top of the mountains.

Another day we visited the famous book shop - Lello Bookstore which is set in a beautiful old building with an amazing staircase. After this we walked to the St Clara church, which is quite hard to find, but well worth it when you get there. It's a very unassuming little church but when you open the door and step inside, it is just gorgeous. It is entirely wood paneling inside with intricate carvings and then painted in gold.

While we were staying at the caravan park we met the Lee family from Korea. Lee Song Hun and his wife Lee Song Ae are travelling with their two daughters Lee Song Hyun, 6 and Lee Song Ju, 4 for three months through Europe. The girls were great company for Cara and they all spent lots of time playing. One night we had a BBQ together each bringing our own different food and we had a fantastic night.

We also met a couple from New Zealand, Peter and Marlene Rudd who we met the weekend of the Saint John's Festival where the local Porto people spend Saturday night celebrating the Saint by eating sardines, setting off fire crackers and generally partying until dawn. All weekend there were fair stalls set up with dodgem cars, merry-go-rounds and food booths on both sides of the river. Saturday afternoon we wandered through the stalls with Peter and Marlene and gave Cara a ride on the dodgem cars - which she absolutely loves. She hasn't quiet grasped the concept of steering properly yet and often gets into a spin - we believe she gets her driving ability from her father ;-)

Interesting Facts:

• Porto - Port originated in Porto
• The Portuguese are by far the friendliest people we have met so far
• It is rumoured JK Rowling got her inspiration for Harry Potter in the Lello Bookstore
• In years gone by barrels of port were shipped up the river Duoro on the wooden boats that look like gondalas