Brian with a Y

Well Hello! Welcome back to WWG Adventures. Yeah it was more than a brief delay but thats because it was Chriswanzaka and the New Year so I hope you all had happy holidaze! I've got a few more entries before I wrap up my NZ experience. And when I get my memory cards back I will post photos! So back to the south island and stepping off the water taxi in the Marlborough Sound at the Brightlands Farm. The cove we motored into to get to their dock was filled with the lines I saw from the plane. They were mussel lines for the famous green-shelled mussels that are a NZ delicacy! They had 2 large workboats moored in the cove that they use to assist in harvesting the tons (literally) of mussels they have hanging ... read more

Greetings Friends! Heading into Nelson Lakes Nat Park for an 11 day backcountry hike in a bit so I won't be able to update y'all till after that. Stay tuned! WWG... read more

Greetings Friends! So you've all heard the hype about me flying to NZ and sitting next to the lead singer of the Wailers, Junior Marvin. Well, I rearranged my vaca plans so I could attend their concert in Auckland the Saturday after I arrived in Auckland. So after some sightseeing in the city and a trip out to Raglan we returned for the Wailers live at the Power Station! The Power Station is very similar to a certain choice club that is also a time of day (night) located at 9th and V St in Wasington DC. The Power Station, like the 9:30 Club has the stage at one end with a horseshoe shaped standing room and a second tiered level with a railing that wraps around the entire second floor, overlooking the stage and concert ... read more

Greetings Friends! Ok, back to NZ and off to Raglan we go. So with Julia as the designated driver and I, the navigator we hopped in Paul's car and headed down the road to one of the country's best known surf beaches. "Courdory sets" it has been described as. Once we got to the interstate our printed directions were a bit dodgy ... and we got lost. We pulled off at a place called the "Greenstone Store" where I went in to ask directions. The owner of the store greeted me and showed me a map of where I wanted to go as I wrote down directions. Then looking around the store I noticed an incredible amount of greenstone (jade) that they cut and polish right there from the locally gathered stones. The jewelry and artwork ... read more

Greetings Friends! Remember those awesome sci-fi movies that came out in the 80s? Whether you saw them in the theater (like me) or much later on video or TV, they were stories that captured our imagination. Good versus evil, Darth Vader versus Luke Skywalker ... and Princess Lei as Jabba the Hut's personal slave??? I digress. But then remember a few years went by and George Lucas was all like "Oh yeah, there are more Star Wars movies and they happened BEFORE the ones you have already expereinced"! And you thought finding out "Luke, I am your father!" was a mindblowing. Well in true Star Wars fashion I WWG, have a story that happened before this previous trilogy of blog entries ... I KNOW! It is not my personal blog entry, but it involves me directly ... read more

Greetings Friends! Before we head down the road to Raglan I wanted to wrap up my Auckland, Part I series. So after my mad-capped marathon through the musuem, we had just enough time before meeting Paul and Inga for dinner, to head over to the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is a big tourist destination in downtown Auckland. It is the highest building in the country standing at 328 meters, thats nearly 1100 feet. It has casinos and restuarants in the first few floors, hotel rooms in the middle and a restaurant near the top and the opportunity to bungee jump from approximately 2/3 of the way up. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to do it, not to mention it is a "controlled" jump that is attached to a runner that drops you slower than ... read more

Greetings Friends! So about the spotty reports from NZed but posting the blog is a distant second to actual expereinces that I am having. But here is some more info for y'all out there in cyberspace. After getting my bearings at Pauls just outside Auckland Julia and I were ready to do some sightseeing. But first things first World Wide Gomes (WWG) needed a little bit off the top and sides. Yes, a good ol haircut, Kiwi style! We were very lucky to be able to borrow Paul's car, and since they drive on the OTHER side of the road and Julia was here 10 years ago for student teaching and driving then, she was the designated driver! So off we went. Driving just a couple of miles to a neighborhood shopping center ( think of ... read more

Kia Ora! Welcome to the World Wide Gomes Adventures, I'm your host Bryan Gomes. Today we are going to review my passage to New Zealand. Flying from LA to Auckland (a mere 14 hour ride over the Pacific on a hefty 747) I had an aisle seat and there was an empty seat and then a man sitting at the window. He was an older black getleman with shoulder length dreads and wearing lightly tinted sunglasses. He asked if anyone was sitting in the seat between us and I said "I hope not, I'd like to stretch out". We laughed, introduced ourselves and he said his name was Junior. About 5 minutes later a stewardess stopped at our row and passed a piece of paper over to him and asked him to sign it. Why The ... read more