Does 2 red lines mean positive.....and does positive mean good??

Reading back through my last post dated May 19 2011, I believer more than ever, that no matter how you might be feeling, thinking or living one day, your existence can change in a mere second.  Whether it's fate or serendipity, or whatever the romantics might call it, you can basically count on the fact that, shit happens.

So it has been just over 2 years since I last updated this blog and in that time many things have changed.  Rick and I completed the Appalachian Trail taking 142 days and summitting Katahdin in September 2011.  We spent a few weeks in Nepal, a country that opened our eyes to a people and a culture that seemly had nothing, but in essence had everything.  And, last but not least, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in December 2011. I would say unexpectedly but that doesn't seem right as I had 9 months warning so let's say her conception was a surprise.

If you do the math, you'll notice that there is not much of a break between us finishing the hike and welcoming our daughter into the world and hence, this brings us back to my last post...............May 19th 2011 in Erwin Tenessee.  I literally wrote that post about 5 hours before I found out I was pregnant.  Skinny jeans here I come.........bah!!! Whatever I wrote or thought or felt that morning was about to be turned upside down with a mere second of peeing on a stick.

And 7 months later to the very day we welcomed Evie Katahdin Nooft into our lives and yes, she's a hiker.

I am now finding time to get back to the blog with the little one becoming more self sufficient everyday.  I hope to write more soon about hiking pregnant to provide encouragement and guidance for any women who might find themselves in the same situation..............so stay tuned!

Hiking the Appalachian Trail - Georgia to Maine USA

3,510 kilometres from start to finish - no kidding!  At the moment, I'm sitting in a public library in Erwin, Tennessee.  It's one of those quaint little mountain towns that you would see in American movies.  Think Dirty Dancing, Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride (and not Deliverance or Blair Witch Project).

Today is day 25 on the trail and we have had one full day off so far.  In the hiking world this is called a zero day as there were zero miles hiked that day.  Today we are having a nero day which is a small amount of miles hiked and the rest is usually taken in town, in a hotel room, eating lots and lots of food!

The scenery so far has been beautiful.  Coming from Australia, the land of the perennial drought, I've never seen anything so green and wet.  There is water anywhere.  The one problem we had back in Oz was always water - walking from water source to water source, hoping that the tank or well wouldn't be dry.  Well, we've just walked out of 4 days of downpour and water, water everywhere!  I probably would have taken drought over the last few days we had.  It was about 5 degrees celcius Tuesday and Wednesday, it rained all day, we were wet and cold and tired and hungry.  But we kept our tent and our sleeping bags dry and we had each other to get through the cold nights, and it made the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet we just ate all that much more worth it.

The climbs are steep, but usually not long.  You would think that would be okay except that you can climb sometimes 5 peaks in a day!  Plus, you will (very) often climb to a peak for an hour, get to the top, and not have any view to speak of!  That is frustrating.  The trail either skirts just below the peak of the mountain, or there's so much brush you can't see past it.  OR, it's so foggy and misty that all you can see is nothingness.  Talk about a anti-climax!

You're probably wondering why I'm doing this then, right?  There's a few reasons such as, I'm running up mountains faster than I ever have before and am actually thinking of running a marathon at the end of this hike.  My fitness has improved so much and I feel so strong.  Plus, I've lost between 5 and 10 kgs and feel great.  Skinny jeans here I come!  I'm unemployed with no responsabilities, so why not.  I'm not sure when I'll next get 6 months spare time to just walk in the woods.  Plus, being outside with only bare necessities, thinking only of fuelling my body, and staying warm and dry, helps remind me how lucky I am and how not to take things for granted.  Whether that be hot water out of a running tap, having a healthy body, or having the awesomeness of mother nature and all things alive around me.

So, we're 547 kilometres down and about 4 months to go.  I'll try and put some pictures up when I can.  I'm off to eat my weight in McDonalds now.

Anyone on the East Coast of the US right now, let me know because chances are, I'll be walking near your neck of the woods one day soon and it would so good to catch up (and maybe use you for a warm shelter for the night!).

Pacific Crest Trail Hike 2010

There's only one way I can describe this hike and that is as being the best time of my life.  Yes, I got Giardia (a water-borne illness which makes you throw-up from every which way you can think of), yes Rick looked like an escaped convict from Van Dieman's Land and yes, we had to walk up and down mountains for 500 miles in 32 days......but I wouldn't give it up for a night at the playboy mansion. 

If anything, there's not a day that goes by when I think, 'why am I not hiking right now'?  You'll understand why when you look at the pics............

go to https://picasaweb.google.com/rennygerhardt/PacificCrestTrailHike2010?feat=directlink

The story of the farting motoconcho, and other things of that nature.....

El Limon waterfall on the Samana Peninsula

Ahh, the Dominican Republic, what can I say?  It's different, it's nice, it's unusual.  We have now become somewhat locals of the country after now being here for 23 days with another 11 still to go.  Our week in Santo Domingo was eye opening.  We had no idea how little english anyone spoke, nor the amount of harrassment you would receive from various vendors while walking down the street.  We weren't ready for the poverty that we saw, nor the happy, party-go-lucky people we would meet.

Our first day involved walking around the Colonial Zone, which history shows, was the first established European settlement of the Americas.  Columbus arrived here in 1492 and there are still several ruins and buildings in this area that prove it.

The reason we ended up in the DR in the first place was so I could make an appointment at the US embassy to get a US travel Visa.  This was an experience.  My cabdriver didn't speak a word of english and took me to the wrong place before I ended up at the consulate.  I walked through the door after being searched several times, and after walking through a throng of people begging outside.  Once inside, I had to make my way through a sea of about 300 Dominicans.  I'm not sure what they were all doing there at 8am as I'm pretty sure they weren't US citizens.  I guess there must be a lottery of some sort to obtain admission to the US, or something along those lines.  I had an 8:30am appointment that ended up starting at 12:30 and lasted a whole 2 minutes in duration.  But my visa was approved and my passport arrived safe and sound 5 days later.

Santo Domingo is full of culture, history and party people, but 1 week was enough and Rick and I jumped on a local bus up to the north coast to a place called Cabarete.  The scene here is more touristy with many all inclusive hotels, lots of europeans and beautiful beaches.  One of the ways to get around this town is on a motoconcho.  These extremely diligent motorbike drivers will usually scream "moto" at you as you walk down the street.  We usually submit because a) it costs about $1 to go about 3km, b) it's pretty fun and they are actually very good drivers, and c) you just want them to shut up and leave you alone so you can enjoy your holiday!  And the bonus?? the two of you might be on the back of a motoconcho, enjoying a lovely ride home in the pouring rain, not understanding a word the driver is saying, and then he farts.  He doesn't hide it, he's not embarrassed.  In fact, he's quite proud and mutters something in spanish along the lines of "take that gringos", and laughs.  But it's okay, at the end of the ride he gave me his card to make sure we could have the pleasure again.

So we are enjoying our time here.  The people don't have much but they are happy.  We've met some great ex-pats and other fellow travellers.  Right now, we are trying to cleanse our livers while we take in some action sports and improve our spanish.

Adios for now, amigos!

English, anyone?

It has been a couple of weeks since I last updated this blog and since I first went live with the website.  Thanks to everyone who sent me messages, I really appreciated it and will get back to you all individually when I can find an internet connection that lasts more than 3 minutes, or I learn to speak Spanish.

So, que pasa?  The last week on the yacht saw us end up in St Christopher, otherwise known as St Kitts.  We arrived there after a very early 5am start out of Saba Island. The sea was angry that day and resulted in some sorry stomachs by the crew onboard.  We had a new crewmember on board, Marissa, whose stomach had less legs than the rest of us after sailing for only 1 day, and in the biggest seas we had seen on the trip so far.  Lucky green is her colour.  I seemed to have finally got my sea legs which allowed me to sleep through the whole experience. 

On the way to the Marina at St Kitts we blew our screecher sail out and the boys had to act quick so as not to lose it completely.  This nasty surprise came just after the fantastic surprise of a family of dolphins who came to swim alongside us for about 15 minutes.  It was totally surreal.

St Kitts is tourist central with a different cruiseship due there everyday from now until Feb next year.  We decided to get away from all the chubby whitehairs and park the boat around the corner in a protected bay called Frigate Bay.  There were a few nice restaurants and bars on the beach which suited us just fine.  A security parking lot may have been more appropriate though because the car we hired for 2 days ended up getting its battery stolen.  We had to pay for the replacement but it wasn't too expensive.

Rick and I left the boat on Thursday and headed for the Dominican Republic.  Our day started at 4am with a dinghy ride in the dark in a dinghy that has two speeds - doesn't work and flat out.  After counting our blessings that the hire car was intact (and that I didn't drop my backpack in the ocean) we worked our way to the airport.  We had heard a story that a tourist had hired a car and parked it in front of his hotel, and when he came out the next morning, the car was up on blocks and stripped of its tyres!

Two flights and 8 hours later we were sitting in our small but very comfortable hotel room in Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic (it has a shower and a tv!!!)  I didn't know what to expect from this country.  All I really knew was that they were next door to Haiti.  Turns out, they are lovely, lively proud people WHO DON'T SPEAK ONE WORLD OF ENGLISH.  I have been floored the last couple of days that we can't actually do anything without knowing Spanish.  It's fun and forcing me to brush up on my espanol, but it's a struggle at times.  Rick and I ordered dinner the other night expecting a burrito and a cheeseburger and we got tacos.  Then we asked the hotel for a chair for our room and we ended up with a whole office!  Classic.

Well, that's probably enough for now.  I will elaborate more on Santo Domingo in my next post as this place is truly unique.



Glitz & Glam in the French West Indies

Where in the world am I today.  As I write this blog, I am sitting on the boat in the St Barts Marina.  Directly opposite my cabin window I see Hermes, Louis Vuitton, & Cartier shops, just to namedrop a few.  Yes, St Barthelemy, or St Barts as it is more commonly know, is a very la-di-da kinda place.  But not in that, I'm too good, I'll turn my nose up at you, kinda way.  This island and its people just like to enjoy the finer things in life.  It is a beautiful island with sharp volcanic hills set against a backdrop of the clearest bluest water you are likely to ever see.  The people are very friendly, especially when compared to the attitude you receive when you are actually in France.  I think it must have to do with the weather here which has been perfect blue skies with very very little rain, warm through the day while cooling off enough at night where you can get a good night's rest.

We hired some scooters to shoot around the island on and are having too much fun.  They're priced pretty well at 40 Euro a day.  If you're a jetski enthusiast however, things are a little different.  A 1/2 hour jetski rental will cost you 90-150 Euro. Yowsers ! 

Prior to docking at St Barts we had a lunchstop at a small island called Ile Fourche.  Here I found a snorkelling paradise. An underwater world that was just insane.  There were underwater caves and archways and the water colour and visibility were like nothing I'd ever seen.

Earlier in the day we had set sail from St Martin.  While in St Martin we anchored off Marigot Bay and Grand Case Beach.  Grand Case has a very french influence and is known as the gastronomical capital of the caribbean.  The restaurants and bars were both elegant and casual and most nights we ate first rate food shoeless with our toes in the sand.

Anegada, British Virgin Islands

Cow Wreck Beach, Anegada, BVI

Now, I have been to a lot of beaches: Australia, Fiji, Thailand, Greece, France, Vanuatu.  I have to say, this is definitely up there as one of the best.  There was crystal clear azure coloured water, coral reefs with amazing snorkelling and a thousand different fish to see, and a serve yourself beach bar right on the water's edge.  What more could anyone want?