Roman Stuff: Did Romans Reach New Zealand?

Interesting to ponder, with all their technology and know-how, did the Romans ever get as far as New Zealand?

Surely, it's possible. I explain it like this; Romans traded with the east. There were a number of trade routes, some over land, others using the Persian Gulf. But one much lesser known route was from Egypt, down the Red Sea, across the Arabian Sea, around the Indian coastline, across the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea, then to the Mekong River, and then up the Mekong to the trading point. Maybe trade along the way too, you know? The Romans would pick up silk and drop off pottery and other utilitarian items.

Fine, but how has that got anything to do with NZ? Well, the winds blow west to east. The journey out is quite fast, with the wind always at your back. But what if a storm blew up and lasted for days? It could mean being blown off course, and out to the Indian Ocean, eventually bumping into Australia. With the winds the way they are, it is hard to work your way up the west coast of Australia, so any ship would bump along the bottom of southern Australia, eventually arriving at Tasmania. Then across the Tasman Sea and bumping into the west coast of New Zealand.

Knowing they had to work their way north, the Roman vessel would work its way up the west coast, possibly stopping to pick up wood (to repair the ship with) and water (to stay alive, lots of water available). Then free of the NZ coast line, they'd slowly find their way to the SE Asian islands and find the Mekong. Or they'd expire looking, who knows.

The point being, I've just outlined Abel Tasman's journey, except he began in SE Asia and went around, but the part where he bumped along Australia is very real, it's just how it works. The wind being the wind and all that.

And if the Romans could have done this, what about Persians, Egyptians, Portuguese and Spanish? Why is the only explanation that Polynesians arrived at a certain time, followed by the Dutch, English and French. I may be overreaching but how exactly did the Kumara get to NZ seeing as that's South America?

The answer will be, there is no evidence for my hypothesis. Fine, that'd be right. But still, conjecture is fun too and most discovery is made by a fair bit of dreaming and let's give it a kick in the guts to see if it works.