Blogs from Tasman Sea, Pacific, Oceans and Seas - page 4

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! 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

The Australians call in "Tarka" weather, it's like normal weather but a little otter! There have been some comments, well only one, who has mentioned it that our crazy adventure stories are a bit long! So we've thought about this and decided to narrow it down a bit! Thus far in Australia we have done the following; Been to Hervey Bay and saw humpback whales, and spent the day on Fraser Island in a 4wheel drive lorry,  Enjoyed a session at a winery and sampled some wine, bought a coupla bottles and sampled more later, Went to Great Keppel Island and stayed 2 nights in a safari tent, listened to lots of wild life throughout the night, and some blokes wild girlfriend in the morning! She should have been approached with more caution, or not fed ... read more

Well after we boarded our magic 'back to the future' which fast forwarded us 24 hours as it hit the runway doin a mysterious 88 mph we arrived in auckland at 4.05am after waiting around a bit.. Phoning some people and havin a long over due shower we made our way to collect what we will be calling home for the next few weeks! After gettin a airport shuttle bus thingy, with a driver who didnt know where he was takin us, we got dropped off about half a mile from the depot for our camper! Not a good start! To make things better it turned out the reservation on there computer said it was an airport pick up! Thats not what it said on MY email! So a half mile walk with our world on ... read more